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How to give notes on a film that make the next version better

Almost every expensive revision round is expensive for the same reason: the note said what somebody felt, and the studio had to guess what to change.

A black and white photograph of a film joining room: six women and a man at benches with reels of film, a splicer, strips of film hanging over the edges and small tins spread on a table.
The assembling and joining room at the Lubin Company studio in Philadelphia, 1914. Where a note becomes a cut. anonymous photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Nine 2 min to read 16 September 2026 4 sections The reading starts under this list.

There is a version of reviewing a film that converges in two rounds and a version that takes six, and the difference is almost never the film. It is whether the notes point at something on the screen.

Next in this piece: Notes that work

Section 01Notes that work

  • Name the moment. "At the fourth beat, when the number appears", not "in the middle".
  • Name the thing. The number, the underline, the pause before the logo.
  • Say what should be true instead. Slower, higher, gone, in our second colour.
  • Separate the two kinds of note. "This is wrong" and "I would prefer" are different instructions, and both are legitimate, mixed together they become an argument.

Next in this piece: Notes that cost money

Section 02Notes that cost money

  • "Make it pop." Nothing on screen to change.
  • "Can we see another version?" Another version of what, the colour, the timing, the script?
  • Three people, one document. The studio cannot take notes from a committee that has not agreed with itself.
  • Notes on a note. If round two is about round one's changes rather than the film, the brief needs another pass.

Next in this piece: The one question to answer first

Section 03The one question to answer first

Before any note: does the film do the job it was commissioned to do? If the answer is yes and the notes are about taste, say so, the round can be short. If the answer is no, say which part of the job it fails, and the notes become specific almost by themselves.

Next in this piece: Where the notes go in Nine

Section 04Where the notes go in Nine

In Nine, notes do not travel as a document. A review link lets the reviewer pause the film and pin each note to its moment, point at a spot in the picture, and answer Approved or Changes needed, with no account. The notes arrive on the film, where each one is marked done as it is dealt with, fixed by hand in the chamber, or sent to Nine to make a new version while the old one is kept. A note that names its moment is already half a change.

Next: Motion graphics vs animation: what the difference actually is

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