Build your shot list

Plan your video’s story before you start editing. Use Merceq to shape your story, decide where each shot will go, and arrange your footage in the order you want. Start from a ready-made template or design your own narrative from scratch. Spot missing scenes, fill them with new footage, and plan more than one video from the same archive. Export your shot list, together with your selected scene ranges, as an editing-ready timeline for your editing app. That way, you can begin editing with a plan for where each shot goes instead of an empty timeline.

You’ve culled your footage and picked the shots you want to use. But which image will open the video? Which details will support the story? Have you found the right shot for the ending? A shot list helps you arrange the pieces of your video and see which are ready and which are missing.

For example, for a product video, you can create slots named Opening, Product appearance, Use, Detail, and Closing, then place suitable footage in each. This isn’t an editing timeline; it’s a plan showing which shots make up your video and in what order. Adding a clip to the list doesn’t remove it from its folder, cut the video, or change its culling decision.