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Version: 0.5.0

Rehearsal Notes

A note is a timestamped observation taken during a run — "LX 24 was late", "tighten the quick-change", "vocal mic 3 popping". ShowRevue ties every note to the exact moment in the recording (and the cue and timecode at that instant), so reviewing them later means jumping straight to the frame, not hunting through pages of paper.

This guide walks the whole loop:

  1. Capture a note — in the app, from a phone/tablet, or in the browser.
  2. Review it — in the Notes panel, the web viewer, or the Live Notes feed.
  3. Discuss it — threaded comments on cloud notes.
  4. Annotate it — draw straight on the frame.
  5. Sign it off — mark complete, with who and when.
  6. Export — every note in the session PDF.

Most note-taking works at every tier. Cloud Live Notes, comments, and resolving notes from the web require the Production licence tier or above. See Licence Tiers.

1. Capturing notes​

In the app​

During recording or playback, take a note against the current moment. Each note is stamped with the video time, the LTC timecode, and the last lighting cue (plus how long after it), so the context travels with the note.

  • Rapid entry — department hotkeys (1–0) tag a note by department (lighting, sound, video, cast, stage management, props, wardrobe, scenic, automation, FX…). The composer stays open so you can fire off several notes in a row during a fast run.
  • Pick a department so the note colour-codes and filters later.
  • Notes attach to the recording and are saved with it — no separate file to keep.

From phones and tablets — Live Notes​

Crew don't need the Mac. Live Notes serves a web page that anyone on the team can open to submit notes from their own device, in real time:

  • LAN Live Notes — served straight off the Mac for devices on the venue network; no account needed.
  • Cloud Live Notes — a hosted page at showrevue.com/livenotes/<code> your team reaches from anywhere, with accounts and membership.

Submissions appear in the Notes panel instantly and are saved with the session. Full setup is in Live Notes.

In the web viewer​

Anyone you share a recording with can open it at showrevue.com/viewer (nothing is uploaded — the file is read locally). For a cloud show, a signed-in team member can add a note at the playhead right in the browser:

  • Press N (or + Note), pick a department, type the note.
  • The note is anchored to the current play position and posted to the show's cloud notes, so it shows up for the whole team.

2. Viewing notes​

The Notes panel (app)​

In Playback, the Notes panel lists every note for the session, colour-coded by department and tagged with its timestamp. Click one to jump the playhead to that moment.

The web viewer timeline​

In the browser viewer, notes appear as rows in the side timeline (distinct from cue rows) with a department glyph. The toolbar lets you:

  • Filter by status — All / Open / Done / Mine.
  • Jump to the next outstanding note with the W key.
  • Step between notes with [ and ].

The Live Notes feed​

The Live Notes web page shows a live feed of incoming notes as they're taken, so the team sees them arrive during the run.

3. Comments​

Cloud notes are a conversation, not a dead end. Open a note's detail and add a threaded comment — "agreed, parked for tech", "fixed in the desk", "ask the director". Each comment records who wrote it and when, and is visible to everyone on the show team.

Use comments to resolve ambiguity before marking a note done, or to leave a paper trail of how a note was handled.

4. Annotations — draw on the frame​

A picture beats a paragraph. When a note needs to point at something on stage, draw straight on the video frame — an arrow at the misplaced prop, a circle around the dark patch, a freehand scribble.

  • When adding a note in the web viewer, draw the annotation over the paused frame before posting.
  • The annotation is stored with the note (normalised to the frame, so it lines up at any size).
  • On review, the drawing is shown over the live video at the note's moment — click Show on video to replay that instant with the annotation overlaid.

5. Marking notes complete​

Work through the notes and sign each one off as it's dealt with:

  • In the web viewer note detail, a signed-in member clicks ✓ Mark resolved (or ↩ Reopen note).
  • A resolved note records who completed it and when — shown as a relative time ("3h ago", "2 days ago"; hover for the exact timestamp).
  • Use the Done / Open status filter to see what's left, and Next outstanding (W) to drive through the open ones.

This turns the recording into a working notes session: capture during the run, then clear the list afterwards with the whole team able to see progress.

6. Exporting to PDF​

Every note is included in the session report PDF. Enable Preferences → General → Auto-export PDF summary after each recording, and ShowRevue writes a report after recording stops containing:

  • session information and the show timeline / running times,
  • the full cue list with timestamps,
  • the notes, with their department, timestamp, and cue context,
  • optional cue snapshots.

The report can be re-exported later and stays accurate, because the timing and cue data are saved into the recording itself. Full detail in Reports.

PDF export requires the Capture licence tier or above. Free cannot export PDFs.

See also​