Splitting and Merging Strips

Sometimes a scene needs to be shot over more than one day, or several short scenes are best treated as one. Think Crew’s Split and Merge tools let you divide a strip into parts or combine several strips into one, while keeping track of the originals so you can always change your mind.

Splitting a Strip

Split a strip when you need to shoot a scene in parts, for example half of a long scene on one day and the rest on another.

To split a strip:

1. Select the strip on the board. You can select several strips to split them all at once.
2. Click the “Split” button in the board pane’s menu bar, or press Alt + Ctrl/Cmd + C (Option + Cmd + C on a Mac)

You can also choose “Split” from the “Breakdowns” menu in the schedule menu bar.

Each strip is replaced by two new strips, placed where the original was:

• Scene numbers get a part number. For example, scene 12 becomes 12PT1 and 12PT2.
• Pages are divided between the two parts in eighths. If the pages don’t divide evenly, the first part gets the extra eighth. For example, 1 3/8 pages becomes 6/8 and 5/8.
• Duration is divided in half
• Everything else, including the elements, description, set and comments, is copied to both parts

After splitting, adjust each part’s pages, description or elements in the breakdown pane so they match the part of the scene they cover. See Adding Data to a Breakdown.

Splitting a Part Again

You can split a part again. Splitting 12PT2 gives you 12PT2 and 12PT3. You may want to renumber the parts afterwards so they run in order. See Renumbering Breakdown Scene Numbers.

Merging Strips

Merge strips when you want to treat several scenes as a single strip, for example a series of short scenes in the same location that will be shot as one setup.

To merge strips:

1. Select two or more strips on the same board. Shift-click to select a range, or Ctrl/Cmd-click to pick individual strips. See Updating Multiple Breakdowns (Multi-Select).
2. Click the “Merge” button in the board pane’s menu bar, or press Alt + Ctrl/Cmd + V (Option + Cmd + V on a Mac)

You can also choose “Merge” from the “Breakdowns” menu.

The selected strips are replaced by a single strip, placed where they were:

• Scene numbers are combined into a list, such as “12, 13, 15”
• Script pages are combined into a list in the same way
• Pages and duration are added together
• Other fields, such as the description, set and INT/EXT, come from the first strip you selected. If the first strip’s field is empty, the value from the next strip is used.
• Elements come from the first strip you selected. After merging, check the merged strip in the breakdown pane and add any elements from the other scenes that are missing.
• Links to script scenes from every merged strip are kept

Only strips can be merged. If your selection includes a banner or a day break, nothing happens.

Undoing a Split or Merge

Think Crew remembers the original strips, so you can reverse a split or merge at any time:

• To rejoin split parts, select all of the parts and click “Merge”. The original strip comes back, with its original scene number, pages and duration.
• To separate merged strips, select the merged strip and click “Split”. The original strips come back with all of their own information.

This is different from an ordinary split or merge, which creates new strips. You can also press Ctrl/Cmd + Z straight away to undo.

Splits and Merges in Other Scenarios

Strips are shared by all of the scenarios in your schedule. When you split or merge strips, Think Crew makes the same change in your other scenarios, putting the new strips where the originals were on each board. That way the same scenes aren’t duplicated or missing in another scenario. See Managing Schedule Scenarios.

Good to Know

• All of the selected strips must be on the same board. Otherwise the Split and Merge buttons are grayed out.
• Split and Merge aren’t available in the Duration view. Switch to the Strips view first. See Board Views (Strips, Calendar, Duration).
• You need permission to edit the schedule. Otherwise the buttons are grayed out.
• Want strips to move together without combining them? Use Group instead. See Grouping Strips.

Splitting and merging give you the flexibility to schedule scenes the way they’ll really be shot, without losing track of how they appear in the script.