Directors NoteBook Software has released Directors NoteBook Pro and Directors NoteBook SA. The products are built for directors of TV commercials and director/cameramen and function as a digital “project notebook,” with which users can organize preproduction, production, and post-production information.
Directors NoteBook Pro is a redesigned replacement for the original Directors NoteBook 1.0 software. It has a new “brushed metal” interface and adds the ability to record voice memos and associate them with individual shots. The Pro version also adds the “Telecine Screen.”
If you’re using an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop for color correcting digital still captures, you can import them into the Telecine screen, add any related info or notes, and associate them with all shot info (including storyboard images and efx plate images) previously entered. The info can be displayed or printed to PDF; the color correction instructions can be e-mailed to a colorist. The display and print layouts contain industry standard NTSC color bars and gray scales as control/comparison items, so all references remain constant.
Directors NoteBook SA (stand-alone) is a stand-alone application that doesn’t require FileMaker Pro, but which still has most of the features as the pro version. However, it doesn’t offer the customization and multi-user network collaboration capabilities and is only available for Mac OS X (NoteBook 1.0 and the Pro version run on Mac OS X and Mac OS 9.x).
Directors NoteBook Pro is a free upgrade to all registered users of Directors NoteBook 1.0 and $250 for a new user. Production company licenses (for up to 10 users) costs $1,000. Directors NoteBook SA is $169 for a single user license. Demos are available at the Directors Notebook Software Web site.