Linear view vs Production view

Linear and Production are two views of the same shots. Linear is in script order — the way the director and script supervisor read it. Production is in shoot-day order — the way the 1st AD plans the schedule. Everything else in this guide is about the differences.

This guide assumes The basics and Shot list essentials.

Switching views

Use the left navigation rail: click Linear Shot List for the linear view, or one of the Production day N entries beneath it for a production day. On phone, use the bottom navigation instead. Shift + L doesn’t switch views — it toggles the column layout (fit ↔ scroll) within either view, useful when you want to see more columns at once.

Linear shows every shot in the project; Production shows only shots assigned to a shoot day. For scheduled shots, both views show the same shot — edits made in one show up in the other immediately.

The partial-scene split rule (Production only)

In Production view you’ll reorganize shots by shoot day. Most of the time you’ll move whole scene blocks. But if you move part of a scene to a different day, CineLog splits the scene at the source: the moved shots become a separate segment at the destination, and the unmoved shots stay where they were under a separate header. Both segments still belong to the same scene narratively, but they’re scheduled independently.

This is the only way the schedule can represent “we shot half of scene 14 on Tuesday and the other half on Friday.” It can look like a bug the first time it happens; it isn’t.

Selecting in Production view

Production view enforces a scene-scope rule on multi-selection to protect the shoot-day grouping:

• You may select any subset of shots within a single scene.
• You may select one or more whole scene blocks (with their headers).
• You may not mix partial selections from different scenes.

While you drag, the drop gap snaps to the nearest valid slot — an invalid position is never offered, so there’s no spring-back on release.

Linear view has no such restriction. Mix freely.

Selecting a whole scene

In Production view, select the scene header — that selects its whole scene. In Linear view, scene headers can’t be selected; select the shots themselves instead. Drag any selected row and the whole scene block moves together.

Banners

Banners are non-shot rows that mark meal breaks, company moves, wraps, or other schedule markers. They exist only in Production view.

• Add a banner. In Production, Cmd / Ctrl + N adds a banner instead of a shot (keyboard shortcuts work on desktop and tablet layouts, not phones). Or use the call sheet schedule’s + Add banner action — it adds to the same production day, between whole scenes.
• Move a banner. Same drag mechanic as shots.
• Delete a banner. Right-click → Delete.

Inserting a banner mid-scene splits the surrounding scene at the banner: shots above stay under the original header, shots below get a new header inserted above them. Deleting a banner that sits between two segments of the same scene merges them back into one.

Cross-view sync

Edits and reorders are immediate and bidirectional within the same view, but the two views update each other a little differently:

• Edit a shot’s description in Linear → the same edit is visible in Production.
• Add a shot in Linear → it appears in Production once you assign it to a day.
• Reorder in Linear → does not change the Production schedule; the schedule has its own order.
• Reorder in Production → changes only the schedule, not the script order in Linear.

Delete differs between views

This trips up new users:

• Delete in Linear removes the shot from the project entirely. It disappears from every Production day too.
• Delete in Production removes the shot from the schedule for that day only. The shot still exists in Linear and can be rescheduled later.

So “delete in Linear” means remove; “delete in Production” means unschedule.

PDF export adapts to the view

Cmd / Ctrl + P exports the active view to PDF. Rendering is local — no upload, no server-side render.

• From Linear — one PDF of the whole list, grouped by scene in script order. Useful for the script supervisor.
• From Production — a single-day PDF: enter the day number in the export dialog and the PDF contains only that day’s shots. To export several days, run the export once per day. Useful for the 1st AD.

Large media on shots is downsampled before export.

If this isn’t working

“My scene got split when I rescheduled part of it.” That’s the partial-scene split rule. Move the whole scene block to avoid the split.

“I can’t drag my multi-selection in Production view.” Your selection probably crosses scenes. Either narrow it to a single scene, or select whole scene blocks (with their headers).

“I deleted a shot in Production but it came back.” You’re seeing it in Linear, where it still exists. Production delete means unschedule, not remove.

“My banner deleted a scene header when I removed it.” When a banner sits between two segments of the same scene and you delete the banner, the segments merge back. The header you saw was the second segment’s; that’s expected.