Sequence order
Also known as: shot order, running order
The order the chosen clips appear in, which carries as much of a finished edit's effect as the selection of those clips does.
Updated
What it means
Order is a separate decision from selection. The same twenty clips arranged two ways produce a sequence that builds and one that meanders. Nothing else is this easy to change or to get wrong.
It is where structure actually lives. An Opening sequence, an escalating middle and an ending are all statements about order rather than about content.
Chronology is the default and rarely the best answer. The session happened in one order; the edit works in another, and the two agreeing is a coincidence. Nobody films in edit order.
How it works in practice
Roles come before positions. Sorting clips into establishing, building, peak and release turns ordering into arranging four small groups instead of twenty individual decisions, which is easier to argue about than a running order.
The peak is placed first. Deciding where the Climax sits fixes how much room the build has, and the rest of the order follows from that one choice in both directions.
Variety inside a section keeps it moving. Alternating angles, distances and speeds is what Pacing means in practice, and Screen direction has to survive the rearranging as well as the pacing does.
What to watch out for
Descending by quality is the natural mistake. Best first is how raw footage plays and the opposite of how an edit should, which leaves a viewer nothing to arrive at. Interest falls away from the second cut onward instead of building.
Repeats become visible only in order. Two similar clips can each be strong and still read as one shot shown twice, which is a Duplicate shot detection question that appears once they are adjacent.
Chronological order hides the problem. A sequence that follows the day feels defensible and frequently has its strongest material in the middle, where nothing is paying attention.
How RawClip handles it
Clips are ordered rather than left in the order they were recorded: establishing material first, the strongest moment late, and a quieter shot at the end. Music is aligned to that arrangement, which is what separates a sequence from a playlist.