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Review Shots in the Timeline

Goal: Scan your full shot list in the timeline view, check durations, spot missing coverage, and build a picture of how the film flows before rendering anything.

The Timeline gives you a bird's-eye view of your entire project laid out horizontally — every scene, every shot, every gap where something still needs to be created. Reviewing the timeline before you commit to rendering saves time and credits by catching problems early.

If you are new to film terms: the timeline is the same idea as a music sequencer or a video editor's timeline — time flows left to right, and each block represents something that plays in sequence.

Steps​

  1. Open the Editor. From the project dashboard, click the project name to enter the Editor. The Editor opens in its default three-column layout.

  2. Click the Timeline tab. In the center panel header, click Timeline. The center panel switches from the script view to the timeline view. You will see horizontal rows of colored blocks.

  3. Read the scene layout. Each horizontal band is one scene. Scenes appear in script order from top to bottom. The width of each band reflects its relative duration — wider scenes have more shots or longer clips.

  4. Expand a scene to see its shots. Click the arrow or the scene name on the left edge of a scene band. The band expands to show individual shot blocks inside it. Each shot block displays the shot number and, if rendered, a thumbnail frame.

  5. Scrub through shots to preview them. Drag the playhead (the vertical line) left or right across the timeline. The video preview at the top of the panel plays the frame under the playhead. This lets you skim through the film without pressing play.

  6. Check shot durations. Each shot block shows its duration in seconds printed inside the block — for example, 3.2s. Shots that seem too short (under 1.5 seconds) or unexpectedly long are worth flagging before you render.

  7. Spot shots that haven't been generated yet. Shot blocks without a thumbnail have a grey hatched fill. These shots exist in your script but have not been rendered yet. A fully grey scene band means no shots in that scene have been generated.

  8. Filter shots by status. Above the timeline, use the Filter dropdown to show only: Generated, Pending (not yet rendered), or Flagged (shots you or a teammate have marked for attention). This is faster than scrolling through a long project.

  9. Zoom in on a specific scene. Hover the timeline and scroll your mouse wheel up to zoom in. The selected time range expands so you can see finer detail — individual shot edges, exact frame counts, and transition markers become visible.

  10. Jump from the timeline to the Shot Panel. Double-click any shot block to open that shot in the Shot Panel (right column). The Shot Panel shows the full prompt, camera settings, and regeneration controls for that specific shot.

  11. Return to full-project view. Scroll the mouse wheel down or click the Fit to Window button (the double-arrow icon in the timeline toolbar) to zoom back out and see the entire project at once.

Tips​

  • Run a timeline review before you start rendering — it costs nothing and often reveals scenes where shots are out of order or duplicated.
  • Use the Flagged filter as a shared to-do list when collaborating. Any teammate can flag a shot; the timeline filter surfaces all flagged shots across the entire project.
  • The playhead scrub is not the same as rendering — it shows you the last-generated frame or a placeholder. To see the actual video play, press the space bar with a shot selected.

Next steps​