cinemasetfreeBreaking down a scene
Read a scene, create an element for everything it needs that isn't a person or a place, tag each to its scenes, and track it to do → ready → on set → wrapped. Tagged elements roll onto the call sheet for the day those scenes shoot.
A worked example: scene 12, the warehouse fight
Two characters fight in a warehouse. One is armed. There’s a fire. Traditionally this is where you’d get out the coloured pencils.
List what the scene needs
Reading the scene: a nickel-plated 1911 (prop), a squib rig (SFX), a fire effect (SFX), a fight sequence (stunt), blood makeup (makeup), and a crash pad (special equipment). Six elements, five departments.
Create each element
New Element takes a name, a category, a description and notes. Be specific in the description. “Nickel-plated 1911, period-correct, non-firing” tells the props master what to pull; “gun” does not.
Tag them to scenes
This is the step that matters. Tag the 1911 to scenes 12, 14 and 19, every scene it appears in. Tagging is what turns “we need a 1911” into “we need it on days 3, 7 and 12”, and it is the only reason the rest of the tab is useful.
Track through prep
Everything starts to do. The 1911 goes ready when it’s in the props store, on set on the day, wrapped when it’s returned. The stunt goes ready when it’s been rehearsed.
Let the call sheet do the rest
Because elements are tagged to scenes and the schedule puts scenes on days, the elements needed on any given day are derivable, and they appear on that day’s call sheet automatically. Nobody retypes them.
Needs a reference image? Promote an element to a design Prop and it gains a description, a scale and generated reference sheets. Promotion is a one-time copy that records where it came from. The two records do not sync afterwards.