Video & Scoring

NeonDAW plays a movie in sync with your project. Drop a film on a video track, flag the moments that matter, and a sweep cue counts you into every hit.

Add a video track and drop in a movie

Open the NEW TRACK menu and pick Video Track. Then drag a movie file from Finder onto its lane.

You can also skip the first step: drop a movie anywhere on the timeline and NeonDAW makes a video track for it, named after the file. NeonDAW keeps its own copy of the movie, so the project still plays if the original moves.

The movie lands as a filmstrip clip: a row of frames you can see at a glance. It moves and trims like any other clip. See Clips & the Arrangement.

The video window

Double-click the filmstrip clip to open the movie in its own floating window. You can also right-click the clip and choose Open Video Window.

• The window floats above the arrangement, so the picture stays visible while you arrange and record.
• Resize it freely: it keeps the movie's shape.
• The timecode reads out in the corner at all times, as hours : minutes : seconds : frames.

Hover over the window and transport buttons fade in: jump to the clip's beginning, play or pause, stop, and a flag that drops a hit marker on the frame you're looking at. These buttons drive the project's own transport. The picture just follows.

Staying in sync

The picture is locked to the playhead, always:

• Press play and the movie runs in time with the music.
• Scrub the timeline and the window shows the exact frame under the playhead.
• Record and the picture rolls along with the take.
• Before or after the video clip, the window holds the nearest frame and waits.

Hit markers

A hit marker flags a moment in the film you want the music to land on: a cut, a door slam, a look.

• In the video window, hover and click the flag button. The marker lands on the frame on screen.
• Or right-click the filmstrip clip and choose Add Hit Marker at Playhead.

Markers live on film time, not musical time. Reshape the tempo all you like: every marker stays glued to its frame.

The sweep cue

You never have to guess when a hit is coming. For the three seconds before each marker, a magenta bar sweeps across the picture, left to right. It reaches the right edge exactly on the hit, where a green flash blooms around the frame and fades out.

It works like a conductor's cue: watch the bar, breathe with it, and play the hit instead of reacting to it. When two markers sit closer than three seconds apart, the bar simply travels faster, starting after the earlier hit.

Extract the movie's audio

Right-click the filmstrip clip and choose Extract Audio to Track. The movie's soundtrack lands on its own audio track, in place.

Use it to keep dialogue or temp music audible while you write, and mute it when you don't need it.

Scoring workflow

Markers and the tempo track work as a pair:

• Watch the film once and flag every hit first. Don't write yet, just mark.
• Show the tempo track and shape the tempo so barlines and downbeats land on your markers. The markers hold still while the grid moves.
• Now write to the grid. Downbeats fall where the picture needs them, and the sweep cue carries you into every hit as you record.