Media App and Playlists

asterisk Contents

The Media App in Flow Production Tracking is where you can browse, manage, and review your media across all your projects. There are two primary modes for the Media App: Global and Project.

The Global Media App is accessible via the Media button in the top Global Navigation Bar and provides you with a view of all your media and playlists across all of your projects. The Project Media App looks similar, but it accesses media from within a project and shows media and playlists associated with the selected project.

Media App

  1. The Global Media App shows all projects. The Project Media App displays the name of the project here.
  2. Browse media.
  3. Browse Playlists, either smart Playlists or Playlists you've created.
  4. Browse cuts.

Accessing the Media App

You can get to the Media app from any page in Flow Production Tracking via the Media button in the global navigation bar or within any Project via the Media link in the Project navigation bar.

The Media App can also be accessed without specifying a Project by navigating to the following URL, replacing the bold italicized text with the base URL for your Flow Production Tracking site:

https://mycompany.shotgunstudio.com/page/media_center

When the page loads, you'll be presented with a Project picker. You can choose an existing Project or create a new one.

Uploading media

The easiest way to get media into Flow Production Tracking is to drag movies, images, and PDFs onto a drop zone in the Media app. Dragging files anywhere over the page highlights the available drop zones with a white, dashed outline. When you release files over a drop zone, Flow Production Tracking will instantly create a Version for each file that you dropped and start uploading your media. Once your files have been uploaded, they're queued for transcoding so they can be viewed on the web.

 

You can continue working in the Media app while your files are being uploaded and transcoded. A blue banner at the bottom of the screen shows the cumulative progress of all active uploads.

Versions being processed are indicated in the right pane with uploading media_status_uploading.gif and transcoding media_status_transcoding.gif animations.

When a Version's media has finished transcoding, the thumbnail appears and the transcoding animation changes to a blue play icon media_app_blue_play_icon.png . This means the Version is ready to be viewed. If you have set additional fields as required for Version creation, you'll be greeted by the familiar Version Creation menu when you drop files onto the Media App. This will ensure that all desired fields are populated with the data you need.

Browse

Project Hierarchy Tree

You can easily browse the media on a project via the Project Hierarchy Tree that's on the left side of the screen. This is a visual representation of how your project and media are structured. How data and media are organized in this view is driven by how you've defined your Tracking Settings

6_3_gma_hierarchy_closeup_v01.jpg

Reviewing a Version

You can review any Version in the Overlay Player by double-clicking on it in the right pane. A playable Version is any Version that has transcoded media, indicated by a blue media_app_blue_play_icon.png or gray media_app_gray_play_icon.png play button next to its thumbnail.

Play in choices

You can also review Versions in RV, the Review Notes app, or Screening Room. Right-click on any Version and select "Play in RV," or add the Version to a Playlist, right-click on the Playlist, and select "Launch Review Notes App."

Defining how media opens

You can customize how media is opened within the Media App. This helps cut down on clicks if you only review local files instead of the streamable media. Rick-click on a Version, and Set Default.

Set default

Viewed and Unviewed Versions

For each Version, Flow Production Tracking tracks whether you have viewed that Version in one of its review tools. A Version is "unviewed" by you when it's created and becomes "viewed" when you open it in the Overlay Player, RV, Screening Room, or when you explicitly mark it as viewed. In the Media App, unviewed Versions are indicated with a blue play button media_app_blue_play_icon.png and viewed Versions are indicated with a gray play button media_app_gray_play_icon.png .

Versions can be marked viewed or unviewed in the Media App by right-clicking on them and selecting the "Mark Viewed" or "Mark Unviewed" options in the context menu.

Finding Versions

Filter panel

You can quickly locate Versions that match certain criteria by using the filtering tools on the right side of the Media App toolbar.

When you enter a search term into the "Search Versions..." field and press the return key, any Versions that do not match the entered text will be removed from the page. The "Search Versions..." field is highlighted blue while a text search is active. You can clear the text search by clicking the X icon media_app_search_versions_clear_x.png .

More complex searches can be created using the filter panel , which can be accessed by clicking on the Filter button media_app_filter_button.png . The filter icon is blue media_app_filter_icon_blue.png while filters from the filter panel are active.

Viewing Version metadata

There are two display views in the right pane of the Media App: thumbnail view and list view. You can change the current view by toggling the mode switch media_app_mode_switch.png .

Three fields are always displayed for each Version: the Version's thumbnail, name, and a media status indicator media_app_blue_play_icon.png .

In thumbnail view, up to two additional fields can be displayed. You can add, change, or remove fields by clicking on the "More" button More button in the toolbar and selecting the "Fields" submenu.

In list view, you can display as many additional fields as you wish. Fields can be added or removed by right-clicking on the column header and choosing the "Insert Column" or "Hide Column" options.

You can drag-and-drop to reorder any columns that you've added. The three standard columns (thumbnail, name, and media status) cannot be removed or reordered.

If the default row height in list view is too cramped or not dense enough for your liking, there are two other row height options: Tall and Compact. You can change the current row height setting by clicking on the "More" button in the toolbar and selecting the "Row Height" submenu.

You can share with your colleagues a specific Version or Playlist with the "Copy Internal Version Link" option. On any Version, right click and select "Copy Internal Version Link", and then copy the URL to your clipboard. You can also copy the link from the Actions menu in the Overlay Player. Then share this link with another Flow Production Tracking user for feedback.

You can also do the same for Playlists via the "Share" button on a Media App Playlist detail view.

Share playlist

Playlists

The Media App can also be used to create new Playlists or to manage and review existing ones. Playlists are just ordered lists of Versions. You can use them to prepare review sessions, as dropboxes for artists' work, or to share a collection of Versions with someone else in your organization.

Smart Playlists

gma_playlists_tab_v01.jpg

There are three views in the Smart Playlists section of the Media App's left pane. These provide quick access to a filtered subset of Versions in the current Project. Clicking on any of these views will display the matching Versions in the right pane:

Finding a Playlist

There are two ways to find a playlist. You can search for it by name via the "Find a Playlist..." search bar. As you type, a list of matching Playlists appears beneath the search field. Selecting one of these Playlists will add it to the top of the Recent section in the left pane and load its contents in the right pane.

If you don't know the name of the playlist or you're just browsing, you can view all playlists via the "All Playlists" option.

6_3_gma_all_playlist_closeup_v02.jpg

Creating a new Playlist

You can create a new Playlist by clicking on the "+ Playlist" button to the left of the Playlist search icon. The new Playlist is given a default name and added to the top of the Recent section. The Playlist's name is immediately editable.After clicking the plus button, you can type a new name for your Playlist.

Just like with Versions, if you have set additional fields as required for Playlist creation, you'll be greeted by the familiar Playlist Creation menu when you files onto the Media App. This will ensure that all desired fields are populated with the data you need.

Recent and Favorite Playlists

In the left pane, Playlists are organized into two sections: Recent and Favorites.

Recent Playlists are ordered by the time that you last accessed them, with the most recently accessed Playlists appearing at the top. Playlists are added to the Recent section when you create them or search for them.

By default, only five Playlists are displayed in this section. You can change the maximum number of Playlists displayed by moving your mouse over the "Recent" title and clicking on the clock icon media_app_recents_clock_icon.png .

A menu will appear that allows you to display up to 50 recent Playlists.

You can remove a Playlist from the Recent section by moving your mouse over its row and clicking on the "X" icon media_app_remove_recent.png .

You can also favorite a Playlist so that it's always shown in the left pane. Favorite Playlists appear in the Favorites section, under the Recent section. Favorite Playlists are indicated with the "star" icon media_app_favorite_icon.png .

You can favorite a Recent Playlist by moving your mouse over its row and clicking on the "star" icon. Clicking the "star" icon again will unfavorite the Playlist.

Adding Versions to Playlists

You can add Versions to Playlists in the Media app using drag-and-drop. Select one or more Versions in the right pane and drag them over to Playlist section in the left pane. When you start to drag, the available drop zones in the left pane will be highlighted with a white dashed outline. As you move your mouse over a drop zone, the drop zone's outline will turn solid blue. When you release the mouse, the Versions that you dragged will be linked to the Playlist they were dropped on.

 

You can also drag media from your desktop directly onto Playlists in the left pane. The resulting Versions will be added to the Playlist that the media was dropped on.

Reordering Versions in a Playlist

 

Versions in a Playlist can be reordered using drag-and-drop or sorting by columns.

To set a default sort order:

  1. In the list view, sort the media as you need it.
  2. Select Sort menu > Save Current Sort as Sort Order.

Save Current Sort as Sort Order

Note:

Save Current Sort as Sort Order only works in list view. Drag and drop media only works when there are no filters applied and the media is sorted in ascending order with the # column # column. A blue banner at the bottom of the page tells you when drag and drop is not possible.

Editing Playlist details

Playlist namePlaylist name

A Playlist's name can be edited by either double-clicking on the name of the Playlist in the left pane or clicking on the name in the header area of the right pane. Below the name is a field for a description. The description is not required, but can be useful for distinguishing between many similarly purposed Playlists.

If you wish to edit more fields on the Playlist, either right-click on the Playlist in the left pane and select "Edit Selected..." or click the details arrow media_app_playlist_details_arrow.png that appears next to the Playlist name when the mouse is over the header area. This will open the Playlist detail page in a new window.

Reviewing a Playlist

Playlist thumbnail

You can review a Playlist by clicking on the play button in the composite thumbnail at the top of the right pane. This will open the Overlay Player with all of the Versions in the Playlist loaded in order.

Play Playlist

You can also review a Playlist in the Review Notes App, RV, or Screening Room. Click the Action menu button at the far right of the screen, next to the Follow and reload buttons. Then choose an app from the menu that's displayed.