The Project Shelf

The Project Shelf is the first thing you see after signing in, and where every film comes back to. Each project is a card; folders gather cards together. From here you start a new film, open one you are working on, find a lost one, keep a copy on this iPad for offline work, check what your credits went on, and share a finished cut. Tap a card and the film opens where you left it; a new project starts in the Writers’ Room, where the pipeline begins.

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The shelf at a glance

Three regions. Across the top is the bar you find in every room: settings and help on the left, your credits, your account and the + button on the right. Below it on the left is the shelf proper: a row for finding films, then your projects and folders as cards, grouped by the month you made them. On the right is a column that belongs to Ozu: a small console that shows how your studio is doing, and a chat where you can ask him to do shelf work for you.

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1 · The top bar

Left to right. The gear opens Ozu’s settings: you, how the app looks, studio defaults, how the shelf opens, your own API keys, storage, and the legal pages. The ? opens this guide. The credit pill shows how many credits you have; tap it for plans and credit packs, and read how a price is worked out before you spend. Your avatar opens the account menu: storage on this iPad, feature ideas, support, bug reports, reporting a concern and log out. The + on the far right starts something new: a project (you name it, and it opens straight away) or a folder. The very first time you arrive, a welcome card sits over the shelf. It tells you your starting credits, explains how your work is handled (it stays yours), and once you tap Next it asks you to name your first project. Ozu creates it and takes you in; Skip for now leaves you on the shelf with the + button pointed out. New accounts also get a small demo project so you can look around the rooms without spending credits. Now and then a slim notice appears under the bar when the Terms have changed: Review them, or tap Got it.

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2 · Finding a film

The row above the cards narrows the shelf. Type part of a name in the search field and only matching projects and folders stay; the × brings everything back. The date pill keeps only films created in a window: this month, the last 30 or 90 days, this year, or a custom range with a From and a To day. The Sort pill orders the shelf by recently updated, recently created, or name. The last button switches between big cards and a compact list; which one the shelf opens in is a setting. A search or a date filter looks inside folders too, so a film you filed away still turns up. When nothing matches, the shelf says so, and names whether it was the name or the date that ruled everything out.

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3 · Cards, rows and folders

Your films are grouped under month headers, newest month first, and the header stays pinned while the cards slide under it. Each project card shows the film’s name, when it was created or last edited, a chip for the room the film has reached (WRITERS ROOM, STORYBOARD, EDITING ROOM…) or WORKING while something is generating, a chip with the credits it has spent, a small tick when it is kept offline, and a strip of stills from its storyboard. Tap the card to open the film. The ••• in its corner (or holding the card) opens its menu: Make Available Offline, Move Out of Folder when it lives in one, Rename and Delete. Delete asks first, and cannot be undone. A folder card shows its name, how many projects it holds, what they have spent between them, and a tray of their names. Tap it and the shelf shows only that folder, with a back chevron and the folder’s name at the top; inside, films are listed by name so numbered scenes read in order. To file a film, drag its card onto a folder card. The folder’s ••• offers Rename, Ungroup (every project back on the shelf, folder gone) and Delete (the folder and everything in it, after you confirm). Move films out first if you want to keep them. In list view the same things are rows. A project row opens the film; swipe it left to move it out or delete it. A folder row is different from the card: tapping it opens and closes the folder in place, with its films indented beneath; swipe it left to ungroup or delete.

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4 · Opening a film, and keeping one on this iPad

Tap a card and Ozu fetches what the film needs before it opens. If everything is already on this iPad you go straight in; if not, a cover shows the download’s progress, and Cancel takes you back to the shelf keeping whatever has arrived, so the next tap resumes rather than starting over. To work somewhere without internet, choose Make Available Offline from a film’s menu. A ring on the card fills as it downloads, then becomes a tick. If it stalls, Retry Download picks up where it stopped. Remove Download frees the space on this iPad; the film itself stays safe online. Everything Ozu keeps on this iPad, and how much room it takes, is listed under Manage Storage in the account menu.

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5 · The studio console

The small panel at the top of Ozu’s column. Its resting face is Studio Pulse: your credits on hand, how many projects you have, how many are generating right now, and how many have a finished cut ready to share on this iPad. Under the numbers, seven bars show credit spend over the last seven days, today on the right; taller means more spent that day. A line at the bottom notes the latest thing that happened on the shelf. The ⓘ in the console’s corner always explains the face that is showing. The console changes face when you ask Ozu for something. Ask where your credits went and it becomes the Spend Report: one row per kind of spend, a bar for how much, the total on the right, and the grand total in the header. Ask him to find a film and it shows Project Hits, the names that match and the folder each is in. Make or move a folder and it shows Folders: how many folders, how many projects, and the latest move. Ask him to share a finished cut and it reads Exporting while he packs the file, then Share Ready with the link to copy and, underneath, when that link expires.

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6 · Talking to Ozu

Below the console is your chat with Ozu about the shelf. He can create a new project, dig through old ones, sort them into folders, check your credit costs, help you share a finished cut, or just talk filmmaking. Type in the composer and press Return, or dictate. When he has something you can act on, choice chips appear above the composer: Open a film he found, Buy credit packs, or, on an empty shelf, a couple of story starters that create a named project in one tap. What you say here is remembered between visits. Sharing a cut needs a finished export on this iPad; if there is none yet, he tells you so and offers to open the film so you can run Export first.

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What happens next

Tap a card, or name a new film, and you leave the shelf for the pipeline. A new project opens in the Writers’ Room, where you write the script with Ozu; from there the film moves on to the Recording Booth, Script Breakdown, Director Review Board, Storyboard, Editing Room, Mixing and Export. Whenever you close a project you land back here, and the card’s chip shows how far it got.