cinemasetfreeA scouting trip
Shoot photos in the app as you go, then turn them into scouted items with a vendor and a daily rate. The photos are the point: a note saying "they had a good desk lamp" is worthless three weeks later.
A worked example: a morning at a prop house
Shoot as you walk
In CinemaCrew, capture from Scouting so each photo files itself against the production. Shoot the item, shoot its label, shoot it next to something for scale. Three photos now beats a perfect memory later.
Create the item
Back at the office, New Item: name it, categorise it, and attach the photos. “1970s brass desk lamp”, not “lamp”.
Record where it came from
Set the vendor. If the prop house is already a Location in the project, link it and you get its address and contacts for free. If not, free-text the name.
Record what it costs
Daily rate. This is what makes the board a budgeting tool rather than a scrapbook. With rates on every item, the art department’s hire cost is a sum rather than a guess.
Set a status, including for the rejects
Most items start scouted. Mark the ones you’ve decided against as passed rather than deleting them. That is what stops somebody re-scouting the same lamp next month.
A 3D scan can be attached to a scouted item too, which earns its keep on a picture vehicle or a set piece you want to block against before it arrives.