Create a Reel from clips

Assemble these clips into a single 30-second Reel for the Winter Sale highlight. Order them: hero product close-up, lifestyle shot, quick demo, price card. Trim each clip to fit the 30-second limit, ensure transitions are smooth, and place the price card at 25 seconds. Export and save the draft titled WinterSale_Reel_Final for review by Friday at noon.

Before I hand this Reel to the creative director, make it easy to approve: show total run time at the top, present a-frame-by-frame storyboard and mark which clip contains the brand logo, indicate any abrupt cuts, and highlight where captions will appear. Suggest three alternative cut points to tighten pacing if the director wants a shorter version.

I sequenced the clips and the Reel runs 42 seconds but the platform limit and our brief are 30. The client expects a punchy ad, and Omar will reject anything longer. I'm not sure which scenes he values most: hero product or lifestyle. Which scenes are most defensible to shorten or remove to hit 30 seconds while keeping emotional impact, and what order would preserve flow?

Every campaign we overshoot the target run time, then scramble to cut during review calls, which makes us look slow and wastes the director's time. I need a repeatable approach so first assemblies meet limits. What three habits during clip selection and two checkpoints before review will keep first-draft Reels within the requested duration and maintain rhythm?