Log takes on set — the script supervisor's take log in SceneMatch

The take log is the record the edit room works from: which shot, which take, on which card and clip, how long it ran, which sound file goes with it, and whether it was any good. In SceneMatch it lives on the scene the take was shot for, next to that scene's script, continuity photos and notes, so the person logging it has the scene in front of them and the editor gets a sheet that matches the breakdown.

It is built for logging as you go — between "cut" and the next "action" — on a phone or a tablet, with or without signal.

What fills itself in

Most of a take is the same as the one before it, so a new take starts from the last one logged on the scene:

• The same shot, the next take number. After 14B take 2 comes 14B take 3.
• The same cameras, each on its next clip. Card A012 clip 007 becomes card A012 clip 008; the card stays, because the media has not changed.
• The same lens, as long as it is the same shot.
• The next sound file. REC1-0045 is followed by REC1-0046. A sound that does not end in a number (say, "boom only") is not guessed at, and the next take's sound starts empty.
• A fresh time, status and description. Those belong to each take. Most supervisors describe a shot on its first take and note what was different on each later one.

Type a different shot and SceneMatch treats it as a new setup: the take goes back to 1 and the lens is cleared. Type the first shot again and its take number and lens come back. "14 b" counts as the same shot as "14B", since spaces and case don't matter. Anything you typed yourself stays as you typed it, whatever the shot.

The very first take on a scene has nothing to go on, so it starts empty. A take needs a shot and a take number before it can be saved; everything else can be filled in later.

To log a run of takes quickly, switch the dialog's save button to save and add another under More. Each save opens the next take straight away, already moved on.

Several cameras on one take

Each camera that rolled gets its own tab on the take, with its own card, clip, lens, status, description and details. The camera is named after the card: card A012 is Cam A. Adding a camera offers the next letter, so the second camera starts on card B012. A camera that did not roll can be taken off the take again.

In the takes panel, a multi-camera take shows its shot, take, time and sound once, under an MC ribbon, with a row for each camera. Tapping a row opens the take on that camera's tab.

Statuses

Status is set per camera, because a take can be good on A and soft on B.

You can mark a take without opening it: the Status button on its row offers all four, and a single tap saves the mark. Tap the chosen status again to clear it. A marked take is tinted in its status colour with a strip down its edge, so the circled takes stand out when you scroll a long scene.

How takes are ordered

Takes are listed by shot, then take, whatever order they were logged in: a take that was missed and filled in at lunch lands in its place, not at the bottom. Shot numbers are read the way people read them, so 2 comes before 2A, and 2A before 10. Each shot's takes are grouped, with a wider gap where the shot changes.

When a shot is picked up again later and its takes restart at 1, that second run is kept as a run of its own under the same shot, rather than mixed into the first.

Correcting and deleting

Tap any row to correct the take: a wrong clip, a lens, a note added after the fact. The details field takes formatting such as bold, and its counter counts only the text, not the formatting.

Takes are deleted from the trash button above the list: tap it, tap the takes to remove, then Done. A take only disappears once the server has deleted it. If the server can't, the take comes back in the list with the reason, so a log entry is never lost by accident. A take someone else already deleted from another device simply goes.

The takes sheet

The Shooting Takes Sheet is a PDF of a scene's takes, exported from the scene's menu. It has one row per camera of every take, in shot and take order, with card, clip, time, lens, sound, status, description and details.

Choose to include only the Good takes and the same export becomes the editor's sheet: just the circled takes, titled as such. A shooting day's export offers the takes sheet too, covering every scene on that day, which is usually what goes to the production office at wrap. Like every export, the PDF is built in the background, so you can keep working and download it when it is ready.

No signal on the stage

Takes can be logged, marked, corrected and deleted with no network at all. Each one is kept on your device with a Saved on device label and sent, in the order you made the changes, as soon as you are back online and SceneMatch is open. The next take still fills itself in from the last one on your device, sent or not, so the numbering keeps climbing through an offline morning. See working offline for what happens to a take the server turns down.

If you don't log takes

Not every department needs the takes panel. Hide it with the eye icon in its header and it is gone from your scenes. This only affects your own view; the rest of the team still sees it. It comes back from the bar at the bottom of the scene.