Search and smart searches
The search screen finds two kinds of thing at once: bins and folders by name, and clips by their metadata. Open it with the magnifying glass in the toolbar, or with Cmd + F.
Typing a plain word searches names, slate information, lens names and the written notes on a clip. To search one particular piece of metadata, build a token.
The empty search bar names a few of the fields this production recorded, as a place to start: type one of them and it is offered as a token straight away.
Tokens
Start typing the name of a metadata field and it is offered underneath the search bar, with the field's key on the right. Pick it and it becomes a token; then type the value.
For example, typing lens offers Lens, and after picking it, typing 65 finds every clip shot on a 65mm, whatever the camera called it. Values are matched anywhere in the field and case is ignored, so 65 finds "Ultra Prime 65mm".
Once a field is chosen, the values that field actually holds on this production are offered too, with the number of clips carrying each. That is usually faster than typing, and it shows you what is there.
Tokens can also be typed directly, as key:value. A value containing a space needs quotes: note:"hand held".
Combining tokens
- Tokens naming different fields narrow each other.
lens:65 camera:Ais "on the 65, on A camera". - Tokens naming the same field widen.
camera:A camera:Bis "on A or on B". - Plain words all have to match, wherever they appear on the clip.
Values
Text fields match on any part of the value.
Measurements (focal length, ISO, focus distance, shutter angle, white point, tint, duration, rating, pixel width and height) accept more than one number:
| What you type | What it finds |
|---|---|
65 |
exactly 65 |
>85, >=85 |
longer than 85, 85 and longer |
<50, <=50 |
shorter than 50, 50 and shorter |
18-35, 18..35 |
anything from 18 to 35, both ends included |
A decimal comma works as well as a point (1,4 and 1.4 are the same), and a trailing unit is ignored, so a value copied out of the suggestion list can be pasted straight back in. Shutter is searched as an angle in degrees, which is how it is set on the day, not as an exposure time.
Yes/no fields such as Circled accept yes, no, true, false, 1 and 0.
A token with no value at all asks whether the clip carries that field: lens: finds every clip that names a lens, which is a quick way to see what is missing.
Which fields are offered
Only the fields this production actually uses. A show that never recorded a filter is not offered a Filter token, because it could only ever come back empty.
The key shown to the right of each field name is the clip's own metadata key, so a token can be typed either way: Lens and lens reach the same field, and so do focalLength and focallength. Field names from the API are accepted as typed; capitalisation never matters.
Playing what you found
Picking a clip from the results plays it right there, beside the list, and the player pages through the results rather than through the bin the clip happens to live in. Arrow keys and swipes walk the search, so a set of takes gathered from several shooting days plays as one run.
Nothing is left behind to come back from: the search stays on screen, so the query can go on being edited while a clip plays. Narrowing past the clip that is playing closes the player, and widening again brings it back.
On a narrow window the player takes the screen and the back arrow returns to the results, with the search intact.
Bins and folders in the results are not clips and have nowhere to play, so picking one opens it and the search is done.
Smart searches
A search worth keeping can be saved with the + button. Give it a name and it becomes a tab of its own beside Days and Scenes.
A smart search stores the question, not the answer. It is re-run every time the tab is opened, so a clip that lands this afternoon shows up in "circled on the 65" without anyone touching the search.
Along the bottom right the tab shows what the search asks for, with a menu to edit, rename or delete it. Deleting a smart search removes the search only. No clips are affected.
Edit opens the search screen on that query. Change it and you can either save the change back to the same tab, or keep it as a new search of its own beside the original. Nothing is written until you pick one, so exploring from a saved search never disturbs it.
Picking a clip plays it inside the tab, next to the results, the same way the search screen does. The tab stays where it is, so nothing is lost on the way back.
Smart searches are yours and follow your account, so one saved on the DIT cart is there on the laptop and the iPad. They are not shared with the rest of the production: nobody else sees them, and nobody else can change or delete them.
They belong to one project. A query written against one show's metadata rarely means anything on the next one, and tabs from another production would open empty.
What search can see
Search only ever returns clips you are already allowed to see on that project. Clips hidden from you by your permissions on the project stay hidden here, and the camera and circled filters set elsewhere in the app do not silently narrow a search: a search is its own filter.