Shots and quality[01]
On your Mac
Shots, keyframes and a contact sheet for every clip. Camera motion, and flags for soft, dark, frozen or shaky footage.
Who it's for
Made for the people in the edit
Anyone with more footage than time to watch it. Prewatch indexes every clip on your Mac so Claude or ChatGPT can find any shot and build the cut with you in DaVinci Resolve. Pick your kind of work to see what that looks like.
14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.
[01] 4 audiences
Documentary and news
Interviews, verité and testimony, where the story is in what someone said. Every line is transcribed with its seconds and the speakers are told apart, so the quote you remember is one question away.
- Documentary editorsMonths of sit-downs and verité, transcribed on your Mac before the first assembly, every line timed. Ask for the line you half remember and get the clip, the seconds and the shots to cut against it.→
- Journalists and newsroomsInterviews, press conferences and phone video from the scene, transcribed on your Mac without uploading a second of audio. Ask what was said and get the line, the clip and the timecode.→
- Unscripted and reality TV teamsCameras roll all day for weeks. Prewatch transcribes every clip on your Mac, tells the voices apart and sorts the footage into shoot days, so story producers can ask for a beat instead of waiting on the log.→
- Nonprofit storytellersProgram visits on staff phones, a volunteer's camera cards, interviews in Spanish and Swahili. Index it all on one Mac, then ask for the parent who talks about the new school, in English, with the seconds to cut.→
[02] 5 audiences
Travel, outdoors and nature
Long days, several cameras, few words. Clips are grouped into days and scenes from their own capture times and places, and flagged for camera motion and quality before you open them.
- Travel and adventure filmmakersA mirrorless body, a GoPro, a drone and your phone. Two weeks of cards, sorted into days and scenes on your Mac. Ask for the market on day 3 or the take where you got the line right.→
- Wildlife and nature filmmakersLocked-off takes from a blind, long-lens tracking at first light, a season of cards. Ask for every clip where the otter surfaces and get the in point, not the hour of empty water before it.→
- Drone pilotsA card of DJI_0001 to DJI_0400, each with a climb out, a few passes and the trip home. Prewatch measures every move on your Mac, so you can ask for ten steady seconds over the ridge and get the in point.→
- Action sports filmmakersHelmet cam, chest mount and a friend filming from the bottom of the stairs: a day of runs and attempts, indexed on your Mac. Ask for the try everyone yelled about and get the clip and the seconds.→
- Fishing and outdoor filmmakersA chest cam, a boat mount, a GoPro under the surface and a drone, all day on the water. Ask for the moment the fish was hooked and get the in point, with the netting and the release after it.→
[03] 4 audiences
Creators and channels
Talking to camera, retakes and a growing back catalog. Find the clean take and the minute worth clipping, then let your assistant lay out the rough cut in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
- YouTubers and creatorsA card of talking-head takes, a sponsor read and three hundred b-roll clips. Prewatch logs it on your Mac, so you can ask which intro to use and get the cut started in Resolve.→
- Video podcast producersNinety minutes, three cameras, two hosts and a guest. Prewatch transcribes it on your Mac, so you can ask for the story about the first job and get the second it starts.→
- Educators and course creatorsA batch recording day: lesson after lesson to camera, a restart after every stumble, screen recordings in between. Prewatch transcribes it on your Mac, so you can ask for the last clean take of each section in module 3.→
- Social media teamsFive phones at the launch event, a founder interview, a folder of behind the scenes and last spring's product shoot. Ask for a ten-second hook about the new feature and get three lines, each with its clip and in and out points.→
[04] 4 audiences
Client and event work
Deadlines and deliverables. Speeches, soundbites and b-roll are indexed before the edit starts, and the index travels with the media to every Mac in the studio.
- Wedding and event filmmakersTwo shooters, a drone, a ceremony, five toasts and a dance floor: indexed on your Mac before you open Resolve. Ask for the line the maid of honor got a laugh on and get the clip and the seconds.→
- Corporate and brand video producersA morning of leadership interviews, three customer testimonials, a day of office b-roll and a list of key messages to hit. Ask for the best answer about sustainability and get the take, the line and its timecode.→
- ProducersEvery shoot day buys several more in the edit just to find the good bits. Prewatch watches the footage before the editor sits down, so the paid days go to the story.→
- Small studiosFive years of client jobs on the NAS, one folder per project, and only the person who shot it knows what's inside. Index it once, and anyone in the studio can ask for the harbor at dusk.→
[05] 3 audiences
Logging and archives
When logging is the job. Transcripts, quality flags and moments are written as plain files next to the footage, readable with or without Prewatch, years from now.
- Assistant editorsPoint Prewatch at the footage folder and it transcribes, flags and logs every clip on your Mac, writing plain files beside the media. Your time goes to the prep that needs judgment.→
- Oral history and research interviewsTwo-hour life-story interviews, recorded on video, some in a second language. Prewatch transcribes them on your own Mac with a time on every line, so the whole collection answers a search.→
- Family video archivesClips from a dozen phones, camcorder tapes a service digitized, twenty years of holidays on one drive. Prewatch sorts them into days and scenes on your Mac and transcribes every word. Ask for grandpa's story about the farm and get the clip and the minute.→
Whatever you shoot
Every clip gets the same record
The pages above show what matters in each kind of work. Underneath, every clip is indexed the same way, in plain files next to the footage.
Transcripts and speakers[02]
On your Mac
Whisper on the Mac's GPU in 100 languages, with an English translation. The same voice recognized across clips, named by you.
Days and scenes[03]
On your Mac
Clips grouped from their own capture times and places, so a shoot reads as days and scenes, not a folder of files.
Descriptions and moments[04]
Claude or OpenAI
Optional: what happens in each clip and the moments worth cutting, with in and out points. Your own key, priced up front.
What does Prewatch do?
Prewatch is a Mac app that watches your footage before you edit. For every clip it finds the shots, keyframes and camera motion, flags soft, dark or frozen footage, reads the camera metadata, transcribes speech, tells speakers apart and groups the clips into days and scenes. With your own Claude or OpenAI key it also describes each clip and marks the moments worth cutting, with in and out points. Claude or ChatGPT then answers questions about your footage from this index and, in DaVinci Resolve Studio, builds the cut with you.
Is my footage uploaded anywhere?
No video and no audio ever leaves your Mac. If you turn descriptions on and add your key, Prewatch sends still keyframes, one overview contact sheet and the transcript text of each clip to the provider you chose, Claude or OpenAI. Locations and anything about speakers are never sent. When you chat in Claude or ChatGPT, the assistant reads what Prewatch answers, as part of your conversation. Every step and where it runs.
Which cameras and files does it read?
Footage from Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Nikon, Fujifilm, Blackmagic Design, ARRI, RED, DJI, GoPro, Insta360 and iPhone, in the formats macOS decodes: H.264, HEVC (including 10-bit 4:2:2), ProRes and MPEG-2 in MOV and MP4, and AVCHD (.MTS and .M2TS). It reads the camera metadata that Fujifilm, GoPro, DJI, Canon and iPhone files carry, and uses the low-resolution proxies that DJI drones (.LRF) and Resolve's Proxy folder provide, so a card indexes faster. Raw formats (Blackmagic RAW, REDCODE, ARRIRAW, Sony X-OCN, Canon Cinema RAW Light, ProRes RAW) and MXF files are in development; today they appear in the list but are not analyzed.
Does it work with the free version of DaVinci Resolve?
Building timelines by chat needs DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later, whose built-in MCP server lets your assistant work in Resolve. With the free version you can still index your footage, search it and ask Claude or ChatGPT about it, then place the clips yourself. A file handoff that the free version can import is planned.
How does the free trial work?
Prewatch is an App Store subscription with a 14-day free trial: $59 a year or $7.99 a month after it. You manage or cancel it in your Apple Account's subscription settings; cancel before the trial ends and you are not charged.
See what your AI can do with your footage
Whatever you shoot, Prewatch watches it first, so you and your AI talk about the story, not the timecode.
14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.