ROARLIST
Shot lists & storyboards · The Mad Lions Lab · Experiment 04
The shot list, frame by frame. Scenes and shots with size, angle, movement and lens, a picture for every shot, and a PDF the crew can read on set.
Free · Mac, Windows, browser · updates itself · see an example
01 · Only here
Why a director stops keeping the shot list in a spreadsheet.
Drop a picture on a shot, paste it with ⌘V, or choose one. Switch to Storyboard and the list becomes a board of frames, each with its number, size, angle, movement, lens and length. Frames follow the format you shoot in.
Print the list, or the storyboard, in one go: landscape, A4 or Letter, with the title, client, director, DoP, shoot day and notes on top and the page number at the bottom. The crew reads it on set, nobody needs an app.
Every shot gets its number by itself: the scene, then a letter. 1A, 1B, 1C, and never I or O, because on set they read as 1 and 0. Type a length any way you like and the total running time is always in view.
02 · For the set
Fast to fill in, true to the format, and always the newest version.
A new shot comes in right below the one you are on, with the same lens, and the cursor is already in its description. A new scene is ⌘⇧↵. You set up a whole scene without touching the mouse.
Pick the aspect of the shoot and the frames, the storyboard and the PDF follow it. Vertical formats print five frames across instead of three.
The Mac and Windows apps look for a new version in the background and tell you when it is ready. Press Restart; if you quit instead, it installs on the way out.
The same design as RoarMe: the Simba and Pumba themes, day or night or as the system, ten accent colours, eight fonts, text size, spacing and corners, with a live preview. Power Saving turns off blur and motion.
03 · Everything
The rest of RoarList, briefly.
A scene number like 12A and a heading like INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. For each shot: size, angle, movement, lens, what we see, cast, length and notes, with the usual values a tap away.
Title, client, director, DoP, shoot day, format and general notes for the shoot, on screen and on every PDF.
Tick a shot when it is in the can. Shots done out of total and the running time show on top and beside every list.
Drag a shot by its handle, inside its scene or into another one. Scenes move up and down with a button.
Every change saves itself as you type. ⌘Z brings back deletes, moves and pictures, up to 50 steps.
Hide frame, size, angle, movement, lens, cast, length or notes from the list and the PDF. The details stay, ready to come back.
Send a .roarlist file with the frames inside; on a computer with RoarList it opens with a double-click. Or save one web page that opens in any browser.
A sidebar with a cover for each list, search with ⌘K, and a right-click to rename, duplicate, print or delete. The last list you had open opens again.
New shot, new scene, search, PDFs, undo and settings all have a shortcut, with a page that lists them (⌘/).
The whole app, and the PDF, in either language, or as your system. Your scenes and notes are never touched.
The browser version fits a phone screen or a narrow window: the lists slide in from the side.
A sample shot list for a night shoot, with drawn frames, opens with no account. Change anything; it resets when you leave.
04 · Yours
On the computer, a shot list is a folder on your disk. In the browser, it lives in your own account. Nobody else sees it unless you send it.
The Mac and Windows apps keep every list on your computer. No account, no server, and it works with no connection.
In the browser, your lists and frames are kept in your account, in private storage only your account can open.
The same account as RoarMe, Roardino and RoarMail. Lists you made in the browser before signing in move into it.
On the computer a deleted list goes to the system Trash. Ask before deleting a shot, if you like, in Settings.
05 · Download
Free, and in beta: an experiment of The Mad Lions Lab that we use on our own shoots.
It updates itself. The Mac and Windows apps fetch new versions on their own and ask for a quick restart.
First time on a Mac? The app is not signed by Apple yet: right-click RoarList in Applications and choose Open, or press Open Anyway in System Settings › Privacy & Security. On Windows: More info › Run anyway.
06 · Questions
Yes. No subscription, no ads.
Not on Mac and Windows: everything stays on your computer. In the browser you sign in with your RoarMe account, the same one as RoarMe, Roardino and RoarMail. The example needs nothing.
Not yet. The apps keep lists on the computer and the browser keeps them in your account. To move one, save it as a .roarlist file and open it on the other side. The RoarMe account is coming to the desktop apps too.
As a PDF, the list or the storyboard. As a single web page that opens in any browser. Or as a .roarlist file, for someone who has RoarList, with all the frames inside.
From you: a still, a reference, a photo from the recce, a sketch you scanned. Drop it on the shot, paste it with ⌘V or choose it. PNG, JPG, WebP and GIF; big photos are made lighter so the list stays fast.
By the scene number and a letter: 1A, 1B, 1C. The letters I and O are skipped, because on a slate they read as 1 and 0. Move a shot and the numbers follow.
16:9, 2.39:1, 1.85:1, 4:3, 1:1, 4:5 and 9:16. You can set the one new lists start with, and the lens a new list starts on, in Settings.
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