Cutsio Blog

Collections for Raw Footage: Organize Cinema Assets by Scene, Shoot Day, or Camera

PIX organizes footage by folders. Cutsio Collections let you group raw footage into visual hubs by project, scene, shoot day, or camera format — browsable alongside Visual Intelligence search.

How do you organize raw footage across multiple shoot days and cameras without getting lost in folders?

Cutsio Collections group clips into visual hubs by any criteria — project, scene, shoot day, camera format, selects, or custom categories. Unlike PIX's folder-based organization, Collections display video thumbnails from the review stream and combine with Visual Intelligence search so team members can browse visually or search by content within each Collection. This is one of several features that sets Cutsio apart as a PIX alternative for film and TV.

A feature film shooting for 30 days on Alexa 35 and RED V-RAPTOR produces thousands of clips. Without a structured organization system, finding specific footage requires navigating folder hierarchies or remembering exact filenames. Collections provide a visual organization layer that sits on top of the footage library, making it easy to browse without knowing filenames.

Collections are not folders — they are dynamic groupings that do not duplicate or move the original footage. A single clip can belong to multiple Collections simultaneously, allowing different team members to organize footage for their own workflows without affecting the master library.

What types of Collections should a production create?

Different team members benefit from different Collection structures. The following are common production patterns.

By shoot day. Each shoot day gets its own Collection: "Day 1," "Day 2," etc. This is the most common organization method and maps directly to how the DIT organizes camera cards. The director browses each day's footage chronologically.

By scene. Each script scene gets its own Collection: "Scene 24 — Kitchen," "Scene 25 — Car Interior." This is the most useful organization for editors and post supervisors who think in scenes rather than shoot days. Clips from multiple days that cover the same scene are grouped together regardless of when they were shot.

By camera format. Each camera or codec gets its own Collection: "A-Cam Alexa 35 ARRIRAW," "B-Cam RED V-RAPTOR R3D." This is useful for DITs and colorists who need to manage format-specific workflows separately.

By selects. The editor or DP creates selects Collections: "Day 1 Best Takes," "Vendor Selects," "Director's Favorites." These contain the best takes from each day, organized for the offline edit.

By department. Different departments create their own Collections: "VFX Plates," "Green Screen Shots," "MOS B-Roll," "Sound Sync Pending."

| Collection Type | Created By | Used By | Example |

| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Shoot day | DIT | Everyone | "Day 1," "Day 2," "Day 3" |

| Scene | Post supervisor | Editor, colorist | "Scene 24 — Kitchen," "Scene 25 — Car" |

| Camera | DIT | DIT, colorist | "A-Cam Alexa 35," "B-Cam RED" |

| Selects | Editor, DP | Editor, post team | "Best Takes Day 1," "Director's Favorites" |

| Department | VFX sup, sound sup | Respective teams | "VFX Plates," "MOS B-Roll" |

How do Collections and Visual Intelligence work together?

Collections and Visual Intelligence serve complementary roles in footage organization. Collections provide the browse layer — you browse by scene, day, or category. Visual Intelligence provides the search layer — you search for specific content across any Collection.

A typical workflow combines both:

1. The editor opens the "Scene 24 — Kitchen" Collection to browse the day's coverage
2. Within the Collection, the editor searches for "close-up actor drinking coffee" using Visual Intelligence
3. Visual Intelligence returns frame-exact results within the Scene 24 Collection
4. The editor finds the matching clip without leaving the Collection view

The search can be scoped to a single Collection or expanded across the entire library. This means an assistant editor searching for "car" can either search within "Day 3" Collection or search the entire production library.

How do Collections compare to PIX's folder organization?

| Organization Feature | PIX | Cutsio |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Folder structure | Yes — hierarchical | No — flat library with Collections |

| Clip grouping | Folders only | Collections (by scene, day, camera, selects) |

| Visual browsing | Filename list | Video thumbnails from review stream |

| Multi-group membership | No — one folder per clip | Yes — clip can be in multiple Collections |

| Combined with search | No | Visual Intelligence search within any Collection |

| Sharing | Share folder | Share Collection as link |

PIX organizes footage in a traditional folder hierarchy where each clip lives in one folder. Cutsio Collections are more flexible — a clip can appear in a "Day 1" Collection, a "Scene 24" Collection, and a "Best Takes" Collection simultaneously without duplicating storage.

How do you create and manage Collections during production?

Collections are created through the Cutsio interface and can be managed by any team member with appropriate permissions.

Creating a Collection:

1. Open the Collections panel in the Cutsio library
2. Create a new Collection with a descriptive name
3. Drag clips from the library into the Collection
4. Clips appear as video thumbnails with metadata

Managing Collections during production:

• Collections are updated in real-time. Clips added by the DIT appear in the Collection immediately.
• Collection names and clips can be changed at any time without affecting the library.
• Multiple team members can organize the same footage into their own Collections independently.

For long-running productions, Collections can be organized hierarchically by naming convention: "Week 1 — Day 1," "Week 1 — Day 2," "Scene 24 — Kitchen — Day 1 Coverage."

FAQ

Does PIX offer anything similar to Collections?

No. PIX organizes footage in folder hierarchies. Each clip exists in one folder location. There is no equivalent to Collections' multi-group membership, visual thumbnails, or search-inside-Collection capabilities.

Can Collections be shared with external collaborators?

Yes. Share links can point to a specific Collection. External reviewers see only the clips in that Collection, not the full library. This is useful for sharing specific scene selects with clients or vendors.

Do Collections consume additional storage?

No. Collections are metadata groupings, not file copies. Adding a clip to multiple Collections does not duplicate the video file or consume additional storage. The clip appears in each Collection as a reference to the single uploaded file.

Can I create Collections automatically based on metadata?

Collections are created manually. For productions that need automated grouping based on camera metadata, use Cutsio's search features to find clips by camera type, date, or other criteria, then save the results as a Collection.

How many Collections can I create in a production?

There is no limit on the number of Collections. A feature film with 30 shoot days, 50 scenes, and multiple camera formats might have 100+ Collections across the production team.