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How to build a shot list

Who can do this: Free plan on your first project, Supporter on all projects. Building shots needs project edit access; members with view access get the read-only shot list. The Builder is for desktop and tablet.
A shot list gets built in three passes: call the shots against the script, add the camera details, then put the shots in the order you will shoot them. This page takes one scene through all three and points to the detail for each. Find it under Visual → Builder.

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Open a scene

  1. Open Visual and click Builder.
  2. Click a scene in the left sidebar.
The scene’s script loads in the middle and its shots on the right, with the entry row above them.

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Call the shots

  1. Select the script text the shot covers.
  2. Type a Size, such as ws or cu, and press Enter.
  3. Press Enter on Angle and on Move to skip them, or fill them in.
  4. Type the character’s name in Subject and press Enter.
  5. Type a Description and press Enter.
Adding a shot: the selected action is marked on the script, cu and Maya resolve as you type, and shot 1A lands with its line on the script The shot lands in the list with its line drawn on the script, and the row clears for the next one. Start with the master: type master in Size.
  • To add a shot with no script text behind it, skip the selection.
  • Press Cmd+D (Mac) or Ctrl+D (Windows) to copy the last shot as the next letter.
Every key and cell: Builder and coverage.

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Check who is covered

The dots above the shot list are the scene’s scorecard. Master fills when the scene has a wide shot. Each character’s dot fills when a shot credits them. A hollow dot is someone the scene has no shot for yet. The coverage strip above the shot list: a Master dot and one dot per character For the whole script at once, open the Coverage report.

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Add the camera details

  1. Click a shot in the list.
  2. Open Framing & Movement, Camera & Lens, or Production and fill in what you know.
  3. Click Update Shot.
  4. Click Back to list.
A shot open in the inspector, with Back to list at the top left and the grouped form under it This pass can wait until your DP has picked cameras and lenses.

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Move to the next scene

  • Click the next scene in the sidebar.
  • Click the Lists tab and pick a shoot day to work through only that day’s scenes.

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Put the shots in shooting order

  1. Click View Full Shot List.
  2. Set Shoot day to a day.
  3. Drag the shots that share a camera position together.
  4. Open the row menu (the three dots) on the last shot of that group.
  5. Click Add Setup Under.
  6. Name the setup and click Add Setup.
The View with Day 1 picked in Shoot day: the day's shots across scenes, with an End of Setup marker under the first three If you are working one of a day’s scenes from the Builder’s Lists tab, the button in step 1 reads View Day 1 Shot List and opens that day directly, so step 2 is already done. A day pools its shots across scenes, so one setup can hold shots from scenes 1, 3, and 5. The days come from your schedule’s day breaks. Until you add day breaks, every scene sits on Day 1. To group shots inside one scene instead, see Managing shot lists. You can build setups before the schedule is final. When a day break moves a scene to another day, its setups go with its shots. More on days and setups: Shot list groups and settings.
  • Click Export, then Shot List PDF, to print the scene or day you have open.
  • Open More and click Share to make a view-only link for crew who have no account.
Details: Printing your shot list and Sharing a shot list.