Playlists

Build review sessions, organize dailies, and share work with clients and stakeholders

Playlists let you organize assets and shots into review sessions for feedback, approvals, and presentations. They’re essential for dailies, client reviews, and team reviews.

What are Playlists?

A playlist is a curated collection of:

• Shots or Assets (not mixed)
• Specific preview versions for each item
• Organized order for review flow
• Annotations and feedback on each preview

Playlists support:

• Team dailies and reviews
• Client presentations
• Director/supervisor feedback sessions
• Milestone showcases
• Department-specific reviews

The Playlists Page

The playlists page (~/workspace/source/src/components/pages/Playlist.vue:1) has two main areas:

Playlist List (Left Sidebar)

Shows all playlists for the current production:

• Thumbnail from first item
• Playlist name
• Last updated date
• Task type filter (if applicable)
• Color-coded by task type

Sort Options:

• Updated At: Most recently modified first
• Created At: Newest playlists first
• Name: Alphabetically

Click New Playlist to create one.

Playlist Player (Main Area)

Displays the selected playlist:

• Preview player with playback controls
• Entity filmstrip showing all items
• Navigation and organization tools
• Add/remove entity controls

Creating Playlists

Only Managers and Supervisors can create playlists.

New Playlist

To create a playlist:

1. Click New Playlist button

2. Fill in details:

   • Name: Descriptive title (e.g., “Week 12 Animation Dailies”)
   • Entity Type: Asset or Shot
   • Task Type (optional): Filter to specific department
   • For Client: Make it client-visible
   • For All: Available across all episodes (TV shows)

3. Click Confirm

The playlist opens, ready to add items.

Auto-Generated Playlists

Quickly build playlists with smart filters:

Build Daily (Today’s submissions):

• Finds shots/assets with previews uploaded today
• For the selected task type (if set)
• Adds in sorted order

Build Weekly (This week’s work):

• Includes all pending reviews from the week
• Useful for end-of-week reviews

Add Episode (TV Shows):

• Adds all shots from current episode
• In sequence/shot order

Add Movie (Films):

• Adds all shots in the production
• Useful for full movie reviews

Add Sequence:

• Click the button next to a sequence name
• Adds all shots from that sequence

Adding Items to Playlists

Manual Selection

With a playlist open:

1. Click Show Add Entities
2. The entity list appears below
3. Click any shot/asset to add it
4. Already-added items show with purple border
5. Scroll to load more items

Search and Filter

Find specific items to add:

seq010 anim=wfa

Filters shots in SEQ010 where Animation is “Waiting for Approval”.

Click Add Selection to add all filtered results.

Drag and Drop

Drag entities from the add list into the filmstrip:

1. Drag an entity thumbnail
2. Drop between existing items
3. Or drop at the end to append

Sequence/Bulk Add

For shots, click Add Sequence next to sequence names to add all shots in that sequence at once.

Organizing Playlists

Reorder Items

Change the review order:

1. Drag items in the filmstrip
2. Drop where you want them
3. Order saves automatically

Remove Items

Remove items you don’t need:

1. Hover over item in filmstrip
2. Click the X button
3. Confirm removal

Note: This removes from playlist, not from production.

Change Preview Version

Select which version to show:

1. Click item in filmstrip
2. Preview loads in player
3. Use version dropdown to select different preview
4. Playlist updates to show selected version

Useful for comparing revisions or showing specific versions.

Playlist Player Features

Video Playback

For video previews:

• Play/Pause: Spacebar or click button
• Seek: Drag timeline scrubber
• Frame Step: Arrow keys
• Speed: Playback speed control
• Loop: Repeat current preview

Navigation

• Filmstrip: Click any item to jump to it
• Previous/Next: Arrow buttons or keyboard
• Auto-advance: Automatically play next item

Full Screen

Click the fullscreen button for distraction-free viewing.

Annotations

Draw on previews during review:

1. Select drawing tool (pencil, rectangle, arrow, text)
2. Draw on the preview
3. Annotations save to the preview file
4. Visible to everyone viewing this preview

See Tasks for detailed annotation features.

Playlist Types

By Entity Type

Shot Playlists:

• Review cut/sequence flow
• Check continuity
• Show progress to director/client

Asset Playlists:

• Character lineup reviews
• Prop approvals
• Environment showcases

Sequence Playlists (for Sequence tasks):

• Review entire sequences
• Check edit flow

By Task Type

Filter playlists to specific departments:

• Animation Dailies: Only animation tasks
• Lighting Review: Only lighting tasks
• Comp Review: Only compositing

Click the task type filter in playlist settings.

Client Playlists

Mark playlists as For Client:

• Different visual style (purple)
• Can be shared externally
• Client users can view and comment
• Typically final/approved work only

Playlist Settings

Edit Playlist

Click the settings icon to change:

• Playlist name
• Entity type (can’t change once items added)
• Task type filter
• Client visibility
• For All setting (TV shows)

Delete Playlist

Click delete to remove permanently.

Deleting a playlist is permanent. All playlist-specific data (order, selected versions) is lost. The shots/assets and previews themselves are not affected.

Build Jobs

For very large playlists, Kitsu can generate downloadable video files:

Create Build

1. Click Build in playlist settings

2. Choose options:

   • Full build: Concatenate all previews
   • Individual files: Separate video per item

3. Job starts in background

4. Download link appears when ready

Build Status

Build jobs show:

• Running: Processing
• Done: Ready to download
• Failed: Error occurred

Click the download icon on completed jobs.

Review Workflows

Daily Reviews

1. Create playlist: “Daily - [Date]”
2. Use Build Daily to auto-populate
3. Reorder by priority
4. Present in team meeting
5. Add verbal feedback as annotations/comments
6. Artists address feedback

Client Reviews

1. Create For Client playlist
2. Add only approved shots
3. Order narratively (story order)
4. Annotate key points for client
5. Share playlist link
6. Collect client feedback in comments

Supervisor Reviews

1. Create task-type specific playlist (e.g., “Animation - Week 12”)
2. Add all WFA (Waiting for Approval) items
3. Review systematically
4. Annotate issues directly
5. Update task statuses (Approved/Retake)
6. Export annotations for artists

Sharing Playlists

Share playlists for review:

Internal Sharing

All team members can access playlists for their production. Simply share the URL.

External Sharing

For clients or stakeholders:

1. Mark playlist as For Client
2. Share the playlist URL
3. Client users (with accounts) can:
   • View all previews
   • Add comments
   • Draw annotations
   • See task info

Playlist Sorting

Sort playlists in the list:

• Updated At: Most recent activity first
• Created At: Newest playlists
• Name: Alphabetically

Persists across sessions.

Task Type Filtering

Filter the playlist list:

1. Select task type from dropdown
2. Only shows playlists for that task type
3. Or “All” to show everything

Useful when you have many playlists.

Best Practices

Naming Playlists

Use clear, descriptive names:

• Include date: “2024-03-15 Animation Dailies”
• Include department: “Lighting Review - Week 12”
• Include purpose: “Client Review - Milestone 3”
• TV shows: “Ep05 - Layout Review”

Organization

• Create playlists regularly (daily/weekly)
• Delete old playlists after review
• Keep client playlists separate
• Archive important milestone playlists

Review Process

• Review in story order when possible
• Address critical issues first
• Take notes during review
• Follow up after with task updates
• Communicate feedback clearly

Performance

• Large playlists (100+ items) may load slowly
• Consider splitting into smaller playlists
• Use build jobs for very large reviews
• Close unused playlists

Annotations

• Use different colors for different note types
• Combine with text comments for clarity
• Be specific with placement
• Extract snapshots for archival

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Space: Play/pause
• Left/Right Arrows: Previous/next item
• Up/Down Arrows: Frame-by-frame (video)
• F: Fullscreen
• Escape: Exit fullscreen

Related Features

Tasks

Update task status from reviews

Shots

Build shot playlists

Assets

Build asset playlists