Chapter 1 — Introduction

1.1 What Scene Cards Is

Scene Cards is a digital scene-card wall for film and television productions. It was conceived to replace the paper index cards that a production office pins to a corkboard during prep, and keeps working through the shoot and into post.

Each scene in your script becomes a card on a digital wall. These cards can carry everything a department typically needs for that scene.

  • Scene number, episode, location, a one-line brief
  • A still or concept image
  • Reference files — photos, PDFs, videos, location scouts, storyboards, camera plans, any file type
  • The raw script text for the scene
  • Revision colour, omission state, comments
  • Shoot-day assignment
  • Sound, camera and continuity report entries

The wall itself has three modes:

Mode Purpose
Script Scene order as it reads — the default view for breakdowns and story work
Location Group scenes by location for scouting and scheduling
Schedule Arranged by shoot day once a one-liner is imported

Scene Cards runs on macOS, iPadOS, and iPhone. Your document is a single .scenecards file that travels with you — iCloud Drive, AirDrop, or a USB stick all work.

1.2 What Scene Cards Isn’t

Knowing the limits up front saves frustration later.

  • Not a scheduling engine. Scene Cards reads a one-liner PDF and lays the wall out by shoot day, but it doesn’t generate a schedule from scratch. Use Movie Magic Scheduling, StudioBinder or similar for board-building; bring the resulting one-liner in.
  • Not a screenwriting app. You can import PDF and Final Draft (.fdx) scripts and read them inside the app, but Scene Cards is not an editor — revisions happen in your writing tool of choice.
  • Not a call sheet generator. You can attach call sheets to shoot days for reference, but generating them is outside scope.
  • Not a real-time collaboration tool. Scene Cards documents are single-user files. Sharing is handled by passing the document between team members (see §14 Collaborating on a Production).

1.3 Who Should Use It

Scene Cards was designed around the daily workflows of the crew members who live inside the breakdown and the schedule. You’ll find it most useful if you are a:

Role Typical use
Producer / UPM High-level overview across episodes, prep planning
1st AD Scheduling, day-by-day reordering, revision tracking
Script Supervisor Daily continuity logging, per-scene notes and photos
Sound Mixer Daily sound report storage, per-scene entries, wild tracks, playback etc.
DIT / Camera Dept. Camera report storage, slate references, camera layouts
Director / DoP Reference gathering, location scouts, visual planning
Production Designer / Art Dept. Location and scene reference boards, prop photos, set drawings.
Picture Editor / Assistant Pull stills and references for post; print scene cards; review shoot-day reports in Schedule mode

If you’re none of the above but still need to organise a shoot by scene — student films, theatre, documentary — Scene Cards will still do the job.

1.4 System Requirements

Scene Cards requires one of the following:

  • macOS Ventura 13.5 or later (Apple silicon or Intel)
  • iPadOS 16.6 or later
  • iPhone iOS 16.6 or later

Recommended:

  • 4 GB of free disk space per active production (stills, references and reports add up fast)
  • iCloud Drive enabled if you want documents to follow you between devices
  • A stylus is useful on iPad for annotating references, but is not required

⚠ Caution — a single .scenecards document can hold hundreds of scenes and many gigabytes of attached media. On iPadOS, keep an eye on local storage if you’re working offline.

1.5 Installation

1.5.1 🍎 macOS

  1. Open the Mac App Store.
  2. Search for Scene Cards.
  3. Click Get, then Install.
  4. Launch Scene Cards from the Applications folder or Launchpad.

1.5.2 📐 iPadOS

  1. Open the App Store.
  2. Search for Scene Cards.
  3. Tap Get, authenticate, and wait for the download to complete.
  4. Launch Scene Cards from your Home Screen or App Library.

1.5.3 📱 iPhone

  1. Open the App Store.
  2. Search for Scene Cards.
  3. Tap Get, authenticate, and wait for the download to complete.
  4. Launch Scene Cards from your Home Screen or App Library.

ⓘ Note — Scene Cards is a universal purchase. If you have already bought or subscribed on iPad or Mac, the same subscription is active on iPhone with no additional charge.

1.6 First Launch

1.6.1 🍎 macOS

On first launch, Scene Cards opens the Welcome window with four choices:

  • New Wall — create an empty wall, 8 cards wide by default.
  • Open… — pick a .scenecards package from disk or iCloud.
  • Import Script PDF or FDX — create a new document and import a script in one step.
  • Explore Sample Wall — open a bundled sample document (The Big Lebowski) pre-populated with 49 scene cards, stills, full script text, a 45-day shooting schedule and character colours. This is the fastest way to see what a finished wall looks like.

The Quick Start window also opens automatically on first launch.

1.6.2 📐 iPadOS

On first launch, iPadOS shows a Welcome screen with three choices:

  • Import Script PDF… — create a new wall and import a script immediately.
  • Explore Sample Wall — open the bundled Big Lebowski sample document so you can explore a fully populated wall before starting your own.
  • Open or Create a Wall — dismiss the welcome screen and proceed to the Files browser, where you can tap Create Document to start a new wall (6 cards wide by default) or open an existing .scenecards document.

✱ Tip — the Welcome screen only appears on first run. To revisit it later, see §17 Settings & Preferences.

1.6.3 📱 iPhone

On first launch, iPhone shows the same Welcome screen as iPadOS with the same three choices (Import, Explore Sample, Open/Create). Tap Explore Sample Wall to see a fully populated wall immediately, or Import Script PDF… to start your own project.

Because iPhone screens are narrower, Scene Cards uses a compact toolbar layout — the three wall-mode buttons are replaced by a single mode button that shows the current mode’s icon. Tap it to open a menu and switch between Script, Locations and Schedule.

1.7 Activation and Subscription

Scene Cards is an annual subscription. A 14-day free trial is available from the App Store — during the trial, all features are fully accessible with no restrictions. After the trial ends, the document opens in read-only mode until a subscription is active. Manage your subscription from the App Store account settings — not from inside Scene Cards. See §17.5 for details on restoring purchases across devices.

1.8 Conventions Used in This Manual

The following conventions appear throughout this manual. Familiarise yourself with them now.

Platform badges — where a procedure differs by platform, the relevant badge appears alongside the heading:

  • 🍎 macOS
  • 📐 iPadOS
  • 📱 iPhone

Callout boxes — used for information that sits outside the main flow:

ⓘ Note — supplementary information you may want to know.

✱ Tip — a shortcut or best-practice suggestion.

⚠ Caution — loss of data or time is possible if ignored.

🔒 Permission required — the action requires a macOS or iPadOS permission prompt.

Keyboard notation — modifier keys use Apple symbols: ⌘ (Command), ⌥ (Option), ⌃ (Control), ⇧ (Shift). Key combinations are joined with no separator: ⌘S means hold Command and press S.

Menu paths — file menu navigation uses →: File → New means open the File menu, then choose New.

Placeholder filenames — where examples need a filename, we use MyProduction.scenecards unless otherwise noted.

1.9 Where to Go Next

  • If you’re new to Scene Cards: continue to Chapter 2 — Quick Start.
  • If you want an overview of the interface first: skip to Chapter 3 — Orientation.
  • If you’re migrating from an earlier version: see Appendix D — Changelog by Version.