Running Order, Back-Timing and Hard Out: Edit Terms Explained

Why the vocabulary matters

When a newsroom asks us for a finished package, a handful of short phrases carry most of the instructions. Running order, back-timing, hard out, cutaway and lower third all sound like shop talk, yet each one decides something concrete about how long the item runs, where it sits and what the viewer sees. I spend most of my days behind a camera, but I sit in on enough edit sessions to know that a misunderstood term costs more time than a slow render.

This note is written for producers and editors who want the plain meaning of the words we use when we cut Newsroom Edit Packages. It is also useful for anyone briefing us for the first time, because agreeing the language at the start saves a round of corrections when the deadline is already close.

The running order

The running order is the list of items in a bulletin, in the sequence they will go out, each with its slot and its duration. When we cut to your running order, we are not choosing what comes first or how long it lasts. We are fitting a finished item into a space your editor has already defined. That is why we ask for it before we start, not after the first cut.

A package that is good but ninety seconds in a seventy-second slot is a problem for everyone. Knowing the neighbours helps too. If the item before ours ends on a sombre note, we avoid opening with bright music or a jaunty graphic. The running order is a plan for the whole programme, and our piece is one line in it.

Back-timing and the hard out

Back-timing means working backwards from a fixed point. If the bulletin goes to air at a set minute and your slot starts a given distance in, the time by which we must deliver is worked out from there, with a margin for checks and transfer. The hard out is the final frame the item must reach and no later, usually because the next item starts on the second, with no room to overrun.

In practice we agree both at the start of a job. The hard out tells the editor how to trim, and back-timing tells everyone when trimming must stop. If a story develops, we say plainly what can still change and what cannot, so nobody is surprised when the clock runs down.

• Agree the slot length before the first cut
• State the delivery time as a clock time, not as an estimate
• Say whether the hard out allows any overrun at all

Cutaways, GVs and sync

A cutaway is a shot used to cover an edit, such as a hand on a rail or a crowd seen from behind, so that a join in speech does not jump on screen. A GV, or general view, is a wide shot that sets the scene. Sync is a piece of speech where the viewer sees the person talking and hears them at the same moment, as opposed to voice-over, which is spoken over other pictures.

These terms matter because they describe what the camera crew must capture. A package edited from footage with no cutaways forces awkward jumps. When Owen's crew or another operator is shooting on location, we shoot for the edit as well as for the moment, so the editor has material that joins cleanly.

Graphics, captions and lower thirds

A lower third is the name and title strap placed in the lower part of the screen when someone speaks. Captions cover on-screen text more widely, including place names and, where you need them, subtitles for speech. We follow your house style for fonts, colours and wording, and ask for it with the running order so that our graphics match the rest of the bulletin.

The most common correction is a name spelt differently from the way the newsroom spells it. We check spellings against the information you send, and we flag anything uncertain instead of guessing. A wrong strap on air is more damaging than a short delay in confirming it.

Voice-over and the final check

Voice-over, or VO, is recorded narration laid over pictures. Some newsrooms supply the script and the voice, others ask us to record to a script they approve. Either way, the pictures are cut to the words, so we want the script before the final edit, not after it. A late script change can move every cut that follows it.

Before delivery we check duration against the slot, audio levels, caption spellings and the final frame. Then the finished item goes to your newsroom by secure transfer, with a short note of what is included. If something needs a change, the clear terms above let us find and fix it quickly.