Problem[01]
Four hundred files called DJI
Every clip on the card is DJI_ and four digits, and every thumbnail is the same patch of sky. The one clean orbit of the lighthouse is in there, somewhere between two battery swaps.
For Drone pilots
The best seconds of every flight, without scrubbing
A 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.
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.
Works withA Mac with Apple silicon · macOS 26+
ClaudeClaude Desktop and Claude Code
ChatGPTThe ChatGPT Mac app and Codex
DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1Timelines through its own MCP server
Any drive or NASThe Prewatch folder travels with the media
Problems
What slows Drone pilots down
Problem[02]
The good part is in the middle
Each clip starts with the climb out and ends with the flight home. The usable pass is forty seconds somewhere in between, and a gust may have wobbled half of it.
Problem[03]
The client wants it tomorrow
A listing, a site progress report, an event recap. The flights took an hour. Scrubbing through 4K files one by one to pick the shots takes the whole evening.
What Prewatch gives you
Your footage, already watched
Prewatch indexes every clip on your Mac, so Claude or ChatGPT knows what is in your footage and can build the cut with you in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
| What you get | Where it runs | What it does for you |
|---|---|---|
| Steady seconds, measured | On your Mac | Every shot classed locked off, steady, handheld or shaky from the picture, and the five steadiest stretches of each clip ranked. Gust wobble and jello count as shake. |
| .LRF proxies used | On your Mac | When the .LRF files sit beside their originals, Prewatch analyzes the small proxy instead of decoding every 4K file, so a full card indexes faster, even from a network drive. |
| Flights by day and place | On your Mac | Clips grouped into days and scenes by capture time, and by place when the file records a location. Coordinates stay on the Mac, with no network lookup. |
| Blown skies and dusk shots flagged | On your Mac | Overexposed and underexposed shots, soft focus and stretches where the picture barely changes, flagged per clip, so the blown sunset pass is out before you look. |
| Reveals and camera moves | Claude or OpenAI | When a move starts, when it settles and when the subject comes into view, with in and out points and a 1–5 usability score. With your own Claude or OpenAI API key. |
| The reel built in Resolve | Your AI app | Claude or ChatGPT lays the chosen passes on a timeline in DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later, through Resolve's own MCP server. |
Prewatch · ClipsMac app
The screenshot arrives with the app
Ask it
One question instead of a day of scrubbing
You ask in Claude or ChatGPT. Prewatch answers with the clips, the seconds and the timecode, and your assistant builds the timeline in DaVinci Resolve Studio.
01
Find ten steady seconds of the coastline from Saturday's flights.
The steadiest stretches from that day's clips, ranked by shake, with in and out points and a still to check each.
Your AI app02
Which clips reveal the house from behind the trees?
The reveal moments the description model found, each with its in point, a still and its usability score.
Your AI app03
Make a 30-second aerial reel for the listing.
A timeline in DaVinci Resolve Studio with the establishing shots and reveals, each trimmed to its steadiest seconds.
Your AI appDoes it read DJI footage and .LRF proxies?
Yes. It reads DJI MP4 and MOV files that macOS can decode, from the card or any folder. When an .LRF proxy sits beside its original and matches it, Prewatch analyzes the proxy and keeps the original's name, timecode and metadata.
Does it read flight telemetry, like altitude or gimbal angle?
No. It reads what the file's container records, including a location when there is one, but not the per-frame telemetry a drone stores in a data track or an .SRT file, and not yet the ISO and shutter of drone clips. Camera motion is measured from the picture instead.
What runs without an API key?
Shots, keyframes, camera motion, steady stretches, flags, image tags, days and scenes all run on the Mac. Descriptions, moments such as reveals and shot roles need your own Claude or OpenAI API key; keyframe stills, a contact sheet and any transcript text are sent, never video or locations, at a cost shown up front.
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.
Try it on your own footage
Point Prewatch at a folder you have already shot, then ask about it in Claude or ChatGPT.
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.