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Shot planning for cinematographers and directors.
CINEside is built to help find the film on paper — staying in the background, supporting the translation of emotional intention into the technical notes you eventually need to prep and shoot. And to make sure the decisions stay creative ones, not ones made by a schedule or a budget.

CINEside is a Mac app that brings your shot list, script, references, and department notes together in one place — built for cinematographers and directors preparing narrative work. The script stays connected to the visual ideas — so what's practical never loses sight of what's emotional.

Your director sketches the shot on a napkin at dinner. You photograph it. It's anchored to scene 12 in the blink of an eye.

It works completely offline. Your script doesn't have to leave your computer.



What it does

CINEside is built around the screenplay. Your script sits on the right, your shots and notes on the left, and everything stays anchored to the scenes it belongs to.

  • Import screenplays as PDF and let CINEside detect your scenes automatically
  • Build your shot list with size, angle, lens, camera move, POV/OS, multi-camera setup, unit assignment
  • Anchor shots to specific passages in the script — or assign any script block to an existing shot
  • Attach reference photos, location images, sun position diagrams, floorplans, and storyboards — per scene and per shot
  • Place camera, character, light, and grip anchors directly on floorplans and lighting plans — mark positions, rotation, and coverage right where they happen
  • Open the Scene Board — a dedicated second window showing all visual references for the current scene. Works on a second monitor or iPad via Sidecar.
  • Keep everything together — each project saves as a self-contained folder with all references and backups included.
  • Color-tag scenes across the whole project — visual groupings for locations, blocks, shooting days, or anything else
  • Add notes for specific departments: Director, Gaffer, Art Department, Costume, Make Up, Key Grip, and more
  • Flag VFX and SFX shots and export separate shot lists for post production
  • Build a multi-day shooting schedule — assign scenes to shoot days, drag and drop shots into order, and export a complete schedule per day or across all shoot days
  • Generate a Location Dossier for tech scouts — notes, photos, floorplan, and all scenes per location in one document
  • Export your shot list optimised for iPad — larger text, and a labeled write-in notes box with a dot grid after each shot for Apple Pencil annotations
  • Export your complete shooting script as a facing-pages PDF, shot list only, or notes sheet
  • Share your work with one click via CINEside CONNECT

Deliberately understated
CINEside is not a visual presentation tool. It doesn't try to create a mood — your images do that.
The interface is the paper: white, neutral, out of the way.

Yours to keep.
One-time purchase. No subscription, no cloud, no recurring costs.

No AI. No magic. Just your work.
CINEside doesn't generate ideas, suggest shots, or have an opinion about your visual language — that's entirely yours. What it does: keeps your preparation organized. Collect everything you need to discuss with your director and every department. Track decisions, open questions, technical requirements — shot by shot, scene by scene. When you work on the schedule or talk through the next shooting day with your AD, select the scenes, drag and drop the shots into order, and export as PDF. All the prep work in one place — the script, the shots, the notes, the references. Nothing more, nothing less.

Works the way you actually work.
CINEside adapts to how the project is structured. In Cinematographer mode, the interface shows everything — lighting plans, sun position, crew and equipment notes, department discussions. In Director mode, it rearranges around a different workflow: lighting and equipment give way to discussion notes for screenwriter, casting, actors, editor, and composer.

When you're ready to share, export a share package with one click. The other person receives a single .cnsf file — it contains the project and all references. They open it in CINEside and it becomes a normal editable project on their machine. Nothing gets lost in transit.

Try before you buy.
Download CINEside and work through a real scene with your own screenplay — import the PDF, plan your shots, add references, draft your department notes. Two things are disabled in Demo Mode: saving your project as a .cnsd file, and exporting to CONNECT for your director. PDF exports work, but are watermarked.

Share your work — CINEside CONNECT
Export your shooting script with one click. The other person opens it in CINEside CONNECT — a free companion app — adds their notes to shots, script passages, and images, and sends it back. You import the notes into CINEside and see all their feedback highlighted in context. CONNECT is read-only, works completely offline, and is free for all collaborators.

Get CINEside
CINEside

CINEside for Mac

€129 excl. VAT

One-time purchase. Free updates, no subscription. Universal app — runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon. macOS 10.13 (2017) or newer.

Download to try with your own screenplay — saving, CONNECT export, and unwatermarked PDF unlock with your license key.

Buy CINEside — €129 excl. VAT
Download
Try free, no signup.
Getting Started → User Manual ↗
CINEside CONNECT

CINEside CONNECT for Mac — Free

For directors, cinematographers, and collaborators. Read-only. Works completely offline — your script never has to visit a cloud. Universal app, macOS 10.13 (2017) or newer.

Download CONNECT User Manual ↗
About

CINEside comes from Matthias Grunsky, a cinematographer based in Munich and working internationally. The tool grew out of his own preparation work — especially for shoots where director and DP start working across time zones, long before meeting physically for the real prep time. The quiet, methodical process that shapes how a scene eventually looks on screen.

All walkthrough videos are also available on Vimeo.

Latest Updates | July 2026

CINEside v1.2.5

  • Fixed: Character anchor rotation handle now aligns with the nose (facing direction) on rotated floorplans.
  • Fixed: Rotation cursor no longer appears on lighting plans after placing a light or grip element.

CINEside v1.2.4

  • Shot List export: shot-less scenes now also appear when they only carry notes or other info — lighting, sun and floorplan notes, additional crew, equipment, links, location details, or my notes (when that toggle is on) — not just when they contain images.

CINEside v1.2.3

  • Shot List export now also includes scenes that have no shots yet, as long as they contain material for an active toggle (floorplans, reference photos, sun/lighting, or location info) — useful during prep before shots are added.

CINEside v1.2.2

  • PDF exports are now grouped consistently — Location, Scene Level and Lighting each form a clear block, separated by divider lines, across every export.
  • Sun Position now appears in the Schedule and Location Dossier exports (when Lighting is on), with its note printed below.
  • Every plan and photo caption is now included in all exports — nothing entered in CINEside is left out of the PDF.
  • Lighting legends now stay on the same page as their plan, with a divider between consecutive floorplans and lighting plans.
  • Section titles (Floorplan, Lighting Plan, Reference Photos, Sun Position) never get stranded alone at the bottom of a page.

CINEside v1.2.1

  • Camera positions can now be placed on any floorplan of a scene, not just the first — each shot's anchor shows which floorplan it sits on.
  • Fixed: rotated floorplans and lighting plans no longer jump when a scene renders (on first open, after undo, or after rotating).
  • Fixed: the view no longer scrolls away when deleting a floorplan or lighting plan.
  • Clearer buttons: "add lighting plan" and "add scene reference photo".

CINEside v1.2.0

  • Anchors on floorplans & lighting plans — place camera, person, light and grip anchors directly onto your scene floorplans and lighting plans. Position, rotate and annotate them — they carry through to your PDF dossiers.
  • Lighting types with symbols — the lighting-type picker now shows each fixture's symbol next to its name. Categories: Spot / Par, Fresnel, Soft Source, Tube, Spacelight / Lantern, Practical. Specific information about each light goes in the free-text field.
  • Scene Board shows anchors, live — your second-screen Scene Board renders all anchors (camera, person, light and grip) and updates automatically after every change.
  • CONNECT export — camera and person anchors are now baked into the floorplan images sent to CONNECT.
  • Fixed: SO Dossier (Scene Overview) now shows every floorplan and lighting image per scene, not just the first.

CINEside v1.1.15

  • Visible progress indicator for all PDF exports (Location Dossier, Prep Checklist, Notes, Equipment, VFX/SFX, Crew, Schedule, Discuss-With)
  • Location Dossier: fixed a performance issue where large exports could freeze the interface

CINEside v1.1.14

CINEside v1.1.15

  • Visible progress indicator for all PDF exports (Location Dossier, Prep Checklist, Notes, Equipment, VFX/SFX, Crew, Schedule, Discuss-With)
  • Location Dossier: fixed a performance issue where large exports could freeze the interface

CINEside v1.1.14

CINEside CONNECT v0.3.0

  • Fixed: Portrait floorplans are now shown in full — no longer cropped at the top and bottom in the scene view.

CINEside v1.1.16

  • Improved: PDF exports with many images are significantly faster — each image file is now read from disk only once per export run.
  • Improved: Location Dossier export no longer stalls on projects with rotated photos before showing the progress indicator.

CINEside v1.1.15

  • Visible progress indicator for all PDF exports (Location Dossier, Prep Checklist, Notes, Equipment, VFX/SFX, Crew, Schedule, Discuss-With)
  • Location Dossier: fixed a performance issue where large exports could freeze the interface

CINEside v1.1.14

  • Fixed: Part boundaries (splitting a scene into parts) could silently drift out of place after a script re-import. They're now automatically re-anchored where possible, or clearly flagged with a one-click fix if the surrounding text changed too much.
  • Improved: Shot anchors, camera moves, notes, and part boundaries left "out of sync" by a re-import are now tracked together, with a single clear way to jump to and fix each one in turn.
  • Added: Two new automatic safety backups — one per day, and one right before every script re-import — independent of the existing rotating backups.
  • Fixed: Manual corrections to a scene's heading (location, INT/EXT, DAY/NIGHT) made in Scene Manager could be silently overwritten by the next re-import. They're now protected.
  • Added: Scenes can now be deleted completely from within Scene Manager, not just merged into the previous scene.
  • Fixed: Undo (Cmd+Z) now works correctly while Scene Manager is open, with a visible Undo button there too.
  • Improved: The "scenes changed by last import" navigation now also works from inside Scene Manager, showing the actual script diff instead of just the plain scene text.

CINEside v1.1.13

  • Added: Scene-import review now shows uncertain candidates one at a time, with instant feedback and the ability to revisit and change any decision afterward.
  • Added: Side-by-side PDF page comparison for duplicate scene checks, with independent page navigation and automatic highlighting of the relevant line.
  • Fixed: Intercut scenes (cutting back and forth between the same two locations) could be incorrectly flagged as duplicate scenes during import.
  • Added: Progress indicator during script import, so longer scripts no longer appear to hang.
  • Added: Support for an additional scene-heading format used in some French scripts.

CINEside v1.1.12

  • Fixed: In the Shot List Only export, a tagged scene starting mid-page could overlap with the previous scene's content. Tags now always appear as a compact square badge next to the scene heading in this export.

CINEside v1.1.11

  • Fixed: CONNECT export could fail silently in rare cases without producing a file or an error message. Failures are now always shown with a clear explanation.
  • Fixed: A corrupted or missing shot entry in a scene could crash export functions that read all shots. Such gaps are now safely skipped.
  • Improved: If CINEside can't find your last project at startup — for example because the project folder was moved or renamed — it now shows a clear message instead of failing silently.

CINEside v1.1.10

  • Redesigned scene-panel typography hierarchy (group headers, location vs. scene distinction)
  • Renamed "Scene Details" to "Tags & References" for accuracy
  • Fixed a layout bug causing inconsistent label/button styling in parts of the scene panel

CINEside v1.1.9

  • Autocomplete suggestions added to Sub-location, Addt'l Crew, and Addt'l Equipment fields — same idea as the Location field, to help avoid accidental near-duplicates
  • Fixed: autocomplete suggestions no longer show the same name twice when it only differs by capitalization (e.g. "Main Floor" vs. "MAIN FLOOR")

CINEside v1.1.8

  • Renamed "Sketches" to "Floorplan" throughout the app and PDF exports, for consistency with the location-level Floorplan feature — same idea, just scoped to one scene instead of all scenes at that location
  • New: typing a new location name now suggests existing location names as you type, to help avoid accidental near-duplicates from typos
  • The location-rename safety check now also applies when other scenes share a location name, even before any photos or notes have been added there
  • Minor spacing improvements in the scene panel's Location section

CINEside v1.1.7

  • New: if you change a scene's Location field and the previous location had notes, photos or a floorplan attached, you're now asked whether to carry those over to the new name — nothing gets silently left behind
  • Fixed: renaming a location could cause the page to jump while scrolling

CINEside v1.1.6

  • Fixed: floorplan/location photos could fail to export if the scene's Location field included an INT./EXT. prefix, or relied on the scene heading as a fallback

CINEside v1.1.5

  • Fixed: floorplan images were not included in PDF exports even when the Location toggle was enabled
  • Fixed: location notes and photos could be missing from the Full export depending on which other toggles were active

June 2026

CINEside v1.1.4

  • Search expanded: now also searches shot and scene data, not just the script text
  • Search hits are now highlighted persistently instead of briefly flashing

CINEside v1.1.3

  • Added: Export date footer on all PDF pages
  • Fixed: Addt'l Equipment export button no longer visible when other reference sheets are selected

CINEside v1.1.2

  • Fixed: Scene headers no longer appear as script text in the preceding scene

CINEside v1.1.1

  • Fixed: Revision header lines (e.g. "Blue Rev. (Juni 2026)") no longer appear in script text

CINEside v1.1.0

  • Fixed: Bold text in Final Draft PDFs no longer renders as doubled characters

CINEside v1.0.9

  • Design improvements in shot list PDF

CINEside v1.0.8

  • Fixed: Repeated scene headers on page breaks no longer appear as action text
  • Fixed: Revision marks (*) at end of lines are now stripped on import

CINEside v1.0.7

  • Fixed: Revision marks (*) in imported PDFs no longer cause garbled text
  • New: ✎ Edit button in script anchor dialog for direct text editing

CINEside v1.0.6

  • Fixed: Actor name field now appears correctly in Discuss with notes (Director mode)

CINEside v1.0.5

  • New: Shot navigation dropdown in scene header — shows shot count, jump directly to any shot

CINEside v1.0.4

  • Fixed: CONNECT note navigation scrolls reliably to the correct note on first click
  • Fixed: Scene dropdown jumps accurately to the target scene on first use

CINEside v1.0.3

  • Fixed: Shot photos in CONNECT export and Share could be missed when shots are stored in scene parts
  • Fixed: Duplicate internal escape function removed

CINEside v1.0.2

  • Fixed: Schedule view covered by Demo Mode banner

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.9

  • Improved: Scene dropdown shows the currently visible scene while scrolling
  • Fixed: Jumping to a scene now scrolls to the top of that scene
  • Improved: Project title bar stays visible while scrolling

CINEside v1.0.1

  • Fixed: File icons for .cnsd, .cnsn, and .cnsf now display correctly in Finder.

CINEside v1.0

  • Improved: Discuss with now uses a clean recipient picker instead of a dropdown — faster and more reliable.
  • Fixed: Scroll position is now stable when adding or editing Discuss with notes.

CINEside v0.9.9

  • Fixed: Script page search (e.g. p42) now correctly finds scenes even when the page falls within a manually created scene's page range.

CINEside v0.9.8

  • Improved: Pages are now shown directly in the scene header bar.
  • Fixed: Scene number and Pages are no longer accidentally editable in the scene card — use the Scene Manager instead.
  • Improved: Removed redundant INT/EXT label from scene card.

CINEside v0.9.7

  • Added: Location Photos now have a Caption field.
  • Improved: Scene number and Pages are now display-only in the scene card — edit via Scene Manager.
  • Improved: Removed redundant INT/EXT label and duplicate mm placeholder in shot fields.
  • Added: Camera unit buttons now include E and F.

CINEside v0.9.6

  • Fixed: Cancelling Use as Scene Header no longer deletes the selected line.

CINEside v0.9.5

  • Fixed: Scroll position is now stable when using Mark Deleted, editing scene numbers, and changing note colors.
  • Fixed: Removed incorrect separator line above Sun Position in the Lighting section.

CINEside v0.9.4

  • Fixed: Scroll position is now stable after adding or removing location photos, floorplans, tags, anchors and note colors.

CINEside v0.9.3

  • Fixed: Sub-location field no longer causes the view to jump to a different scene when opening, editing, or closing it.
  • Fixed: Scene Manager — the "Use as Scene Header" popup now closes when clicking outside of it.
  • Fixed: Scene headers with a period after the time of day (e.g. DAY.) are now correctly recognized.

CINEside v0.9.2

  • New: Scene Manager — select any unrecognized scene header in the script and use it to create a scene boundary. CINEside parses the selected text and pre-fills the form automatically.

CINEside v0.9.1

  • Improved: Sketch and Lighting Plan images now display at full height (up to 90% of the window) without scrolling.

CINEside v0.9.0

  • Improved: Scene header redesign — unified block dividers and lighter internal separators for a cleaner, more readable layout.
  • Improved: Day for Night, Atmosphere, and Mood flags now use fixed pastel colors (blue, green, yellow) — the color picker has been removed for a simpler, more consistent look.
  • Improved: Lighting section — redundant "Lighting Notes" label removed; "Lighting" header now appears in a distinct pastel yellow.
  • Fixed: Duplicate "Sketches" label removed from the Floorplan section.
  • Fixed: "from slug" indicator now appears next to the Location / Motif field where it belongs.

CINEside v0.8.9

  • New: Prep Checklist per scene — track everything you need to prepare before the shoot. Check off items as you go; checked items are hidden from PDF export. Export all open prep items as a dedicated PDF via the new "Prep Checklist" tab in the export dialog.
  • New: To Check at Location — a shared checklist per location for things to verify on site (check angles, ceiling heights, take specific stills…). Items are visible across all scenes at that location and can be included in the Location Dossier PDF.
  • Improved: Location / Motif and sub-location are now grouped inside the blue Location block — clearer visual hierarchy in the scene editor.
  • Improved: Consistent label sizing across all sections of the Location block.

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.8

  • Fixed: Opening a .cnct file no longer corrupts it — notes are now saved to a local session folder instead of overwriting the original file.
  • Fixed: PDF export now correctly saves as .pdf (macOS no longer silently appends .json to the filename).
  • Fixed: Loading files with sun position, sketch, or lighting plan images no longer causes a JSON error.

CINEside v0.8.8

  • Fixed: CONNECT export now reliably includes all reference photos. A file permission issue could previously cause exports to silently omit photos depending on system state.

CINEside v0.8.7

  • CONNECT export now verifies the exported file is a valid package. If something goes wrong, a clear error message appears instead of a silent failure.

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.7

  • Fixed: opening a .cnct file now reliably shows all reference photos. A file permission issue could previously cause photos to be missing depending on system state.

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.6

  • Notes can now be deleted — a Delete button appears on every note, including script passage notes.
  • User Manual added to the Help menu.

CINEside v0.8.6

  • The update check on startup no longer shows an error when no network connection is available yet — for example right after starting the Mac with CINEside open.

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.5

  • Older .cnct files now open correctly again — both via the Open dialog and by double-clicking in Finder. Photos are only included in files exported from the current CINEside version.

CINEside v0.8.5

  • Scene tags now appear in the Schedule PDF — shown as a coloured line under each scene in the per-day Scene Overview

CINEside v0.8.4

  • Fixed a stray coloured line that could briefly appear at the left edge of the window after editing a tag colour

CINEside v0.8.2

  • Project files are now written atomically, so a crash, power loss, or full disk during a save can no longer leave a half-written file
  • If a project file is ever missing or unreadable, CINEside now opens the most recent good backup automatically

CINEside v0.8.1

  • Scene tags now print as a full-width colour bar across the top of both the Shots and Script pages in the PDF export, with the tag name auto-set to black or white for legibility
  • Tags can be renamed and recoloured after creation — changes apply to every scene using that tag — and deleted from the tag manager

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.4

  • CONNECT now opens maximized by default
  • The open file's name now appears in the window title bar
  • New "Check for Updates…" item in the CINEside CONNECT menu

CINEside v0.8.0

  • The open project's filename now appears in the window title bar
  • The editor stays exactly in place when adding shots or variants, editing fields, or undoing
  • New "Check for Updates…" menu item under the CINEside menu

CINEside v0.7.8

  • Fixed Tablet Edition export: shots and script now stay correctly paired in the left/right spread, even for scenes split into multiple parts

CINEside v0.7.7

  • Each shoot day now has its own Scene Overview, listing only that day's scenes
  • Schedule PDF shows Part numbers for scenes split into multiple parts
  • Cleaner PDF layout: lighter separators between shots, unified header lines across all exports
  • Export date shown as a consistent footer on all reference sheets
  • Save dialog now opens for every PDF export, so you choose where each file is saved

CINEside v0.7.6

  • CINEside now opens maximized by default

CINEside v0.7.5

  • Fix: jumping to CONNECT notes now lands correctly on the note instead of the scene top

CINEside v0.7.4

  • Fix: CONNECT export now includes all reference photos, sketches and lighting images

CINEside v0.7.3

  • Fix: scene navigator now jumps to the correct scene on first tap
  • Fix: undo restores scroll position to the edited scene
  • New: Script Notes and Lighting Notes appear inline in the script at the marked position
  • New: Script Notes and Lighting Notes are exported to PDF
  • New: Lighting Notes automatically populate the Lighting Notes field of the scene

CINEside v0.7.2

Bug fix release.

  • Fix: shot photos are now correctly preserved on save
  • Fix: imported CONNECT notes now navigate correctly in large projects

CINEside CONNECT v0.2.3

  • Fix: scene sketches and floorplans now display correctly
  • Fix: Jump to scene navigation is now sticky
  • Fix: notes navigation arrows now work for all scenes

CINEside v0.7.0 — iPad / Tablet Edition

True iPad formatting for Shot List and Schedule PDFs. All text scales to 1.35× for comfortable reading, and every shot card includes a dotted write-in notes box for Apple Pencil.

  • Shots & Script and Shots Only: full typography scaling in iPad mode
  • Shooting Order: new iPad / Tablet toggle with scaling and write-in boxes per shot
  • All iPad exports labelled "Tablet Edition" on cover and in filename
  • Fix: stray vertical lines in Location Dossier across page breaks

CINEside v0.6.9

Script annotations (notes, lighting, camera moves) now appear inline in the script and can be edited and deleted directly. Location references export as a dedicated toggle. Scroll position is now stable across all edits, window resizes, and fullscreen transitions.

CINEside v0.6.0

Scene Board — a second window for visual reference during prep. Open floorplans, location photos, lighting plans, sketches, and reference images side by side with your shot list. Works on a second monitor or iPad via Sidecar.

CINEside v0.5.6

Performance update for large projects. Scenes now render progressively — the app stays responsive with 100+ scenes. Edits update instantly without reloading the entire project.

CINEside v0.5.5

Multi-part scenes fully synchronised in PDF export — each part on its own spread. Anchor colors match between shot list and script. Shot variants A/B/C. Location floorplans. Schedule part-split.


May 2026

CINEside v0.5.4

Inline note, lighting, and camera move fields directly in the attach bar.

© 2026 Matthias Grunsky · CINEside