BlueCue · Training

Editor onboarding · DaVinci Resolve path

BlueCue for a Resolve-only edit

How the AV Script sheet, the timeline markers and the sync loop fit together, using the A Second Chance music video as the worked example. Motion graphics come later; this page is only the edit.

DaVinci Resolve timeline with 46 Cyan BlueCue markers along the ruler, an empty V2 asset track and the song master on A1 1 2 3 4
  1. 1Cyan markers — one per planned shot, pushed straight from the sheet. This is your edit map.
  2. 2V2, the asset track — where every cut goes. Empty at the start, full when you're done.
  3. 3Song master on A1 — timeline zero is the first frame of the song, so sheet time is timeline time.
  4. 4The timeline — each timeline gets its own sheet. Markers go Green as shots land, and sync carries that back.

01What BlueCue is

Every shot or asset the video needs is one row in a Google Sheet, the AV Script and Asset List. BlueCue pushes each row onto the Resolve timeline as a color-coded marker at its planned time, with the shot description in the marker note. You edit against those markers.

When a shot is cut in, you turn its marker Green. BlueCue syncs the sheet so Placed = TRUE, and the producer sees progress without opening Resolve.

Information flows one way in each direction. Shot definitions go sheet → Resolve. Only placement status comes Resolve → sheet. Never re-plan inside Resolve.

AV Script sheet one row per shot Resolve markers one per row, by type Edit in Resolve mark Green when placed Sheet updated Placed = TRUE PUSH edit SYNC next pass

02The five ideas you must know

Everything else on this page is a consequence of these.

ID

ASSET ID

Three-letter type plus three digits, e.g. BRL014. Unique within the project. If a row has an ID, the shot is planned.

BRL

Type sets the color

The prefix decides the marker color. On this project almost everything is B-roll: Cyan marker, Teal clip.

▼

Marker = plan

One marker per row, at the row's timecode, note = the shot description. The markers are the edit map.

✓

Green = placed

Only you turn a marker Green (or Mint), and only when the shot is on the timeline. That is the one signal that flows back.

00

Song clock = video clock

Timeline zero is the first frame of the song master. Every timecode in the sheet is song time.

Marker colors by asset type

You only need Cyan and Green on this project. The full table is here so the other colors don't surprise you on the next one.

INTInterview · Blue
BRLB-roll · Cyan
DRGResolve graphic · Purple
REMRemotion comp · Fuchsia
AFXAfter Effects · Pink
VOIVoiceover · Lemon
MUSMusic · Lavender
SFXSound effect · Yellow
IMGStill image · Sand
3DG3D graphic · Cream
MSCMisc · Cocoa
PLACEDGreen or Mint
01:00:52:0001:00:56:0501:01:00:0501:01:04:02 BRL013 ground-glow (placed) V2 · asset track V1 NAMEBRL014 brianna-hears-singing NOTE[BRL014] Brianna hears the singing… COLORCyan, then Green

03Day-1 setup checklist

Do these once, in order, with Ammon nearby for the two that need him.

  • GitHub invite accepted and the repo cloned: blueforest-studios/blueforest-bluecue
  • Install the Google libraries with system Python: /usr/bin/python3 -m pip install --user -r requirements.txt
  • Resolve Studio: Preferences → General → External scripting using → Local, then restart Resolve
  • Google OAuth: Ammon adds your Google account as a test user, then you run the one-time sign-in from SETUP_GUIDE.md Part 2. Your token lands in ~/.bluecue/, never in the repo
  • Claude Code installed and the davinci-resolve-mcp server configured (Ammon sets this up with you)
  • Open the project in Resolve and confirm the main timeline runs at 24 fps

04The loop

Plan → Push → Edit → Mark Green → Sync. Push happens once at the start; the rest repeats every session.

TIMECODESHOTVOICE (LYRIC / CUE)VISUALTYPEASSET IDACQUIREDPLACED
00:00:00:00S1-01♪ distant trumpet, Mahler's Resurrection motive, far offLooking straight up at bare tree branches, storm clouds behind, moving at jogging speed.BRLBRL001FALSEFALSE
00:00:05:19S1-02♪ the trumpet drifts closer on the windBehind Brianna as she jogs a wooded path toward the graveyard, earbuds in.BRLBRL002FALSEFALSE
00:00:11:17S1-03♪ she pulls an earbud, the sound is realReverse angle: Brianna catches the strange music and pulls out one earbud.BRLBRL003FALSEFALSE
00:00:52:00S3-01Trying to recall just what killed me…The incantation lands. Gustav's eyes snap open in the coffin, and he sings.BRLBRL011FALSEFALSE
00:01:16:07S4-03You woke me from… my deep deep slumberFrom above the grave: the coffin lid gives way and bursts open.BRLBRL017TRUETRUE
The AV Script, abridged. Every row is one shot. The ASSET ID column makes it planned; ACQUIRED and PLACED are written by sync, not by hand. (The last row shows what a placed shot looks like after sync.)

  1. Plan: read the sheet before you cut

    Columns on this project: TIMECODE · SHOT · SEQUENCE · FRAMING · VOICE (lyric / cue) · VISUAL · TYPE · ASSET ID · CAMERA · NOTES · ACQUIRED · PLACED · DURATION. VISUAL is the instruction. VOICE is the lyric the shot sits under. Timecodes are HH:MM:SS:FF; any other format is skipped by the push.

  2. Push: markers onto the timeline

    Run once at the start, and again only if rows are added. You get about 47 Cyan markers along the four-minute timeline, one per shot, note = the shot description.

  3. Edit against the markers

    Cut footage into each marker's span. Picture goes on V2, the asset track, above the song on A1. The marker note tells you framing, camera move and VFX flags.

  4. Mark Green when the shot is in

    Right-click the marker → Color → Green. Don't tick Acquired or Placed in the sheet by hand. Sync writes them.

  5. Sync at the end of the session

    Green markers become Placed = TRUE (and Acquired = TRUE). Markers you moved also update their timecodes in the sheet.

DaVinci Resolve timeline with Cyan BlueCue markers along the ruler
After the push on the scratch timeline: 46 Cyan markers, one per planned shot, sitting on the song clock above the master track. Double-click any marker to read its name and note; leave both alone.

Rules that bite

Frames are relative to timeline start. If markers land an hour late, the timeline starts at 01:00:00:00. Tell Ammon; don't drag markers.

  • Don't rename or delete markers. Move them if the edit moves; sync follows.
  • One sheet per timeline. A cutdown or alternate timeline gets its own sheet.
  • Sync is not undo. Turning a marker back from Green does not un-place anything.

05How push and sync are actually run

Through Claude Code with the DaVinci Resolve MCP. With Resolve open on the project timeline, open the BlueCue folder in Claude Code and say, in plain words:

Claude Code · BlueCue folder · Resolve open
push›Push the planned assets from the Second Chance AV Script sheet to the timeline.
sync›Sync placement status from Resolve back to the sheet.
status›Which planned shots are not placed yet?

Claude reads the sheet, drives Resolve, and reports what it did. Read the report every time. It lists rows it skipped and why: a bad timecode, a duplicate ID, an unknown type prefix.

You will also see a console/ folder in the repo. That is a separate browser UI backed by BlueForest's database and needs a key you don't have. Ignore it.

06A Second Chance: what you are cutting

Brianna jogs past a graveyard at night. An incantation wakes Gustav Mahler's gold-skeleton ghost. He spell-binds her into a two-world dance, graveyard and saturated studio, and drops back into his coffin at dawn with a wink.

Song

4:00.8

F major · ~116 BPM · video clock = song clock

Sequences

11

= the song sections · shot IDs S4-04

Planned shots

47

BRL001 to BRL047

Worlds

3

Graveyard (night ext) · Studio · Coffin interior set

Where things live

  • Song master: Music and SFX/A Second Chance - Final Master.m4a on the project drive.
  • Footage: Footage/2026-08-22/ (studio + coffin) and Footage/2026-08-31/ (graveyard), each with 6K Cine and 6K Pro cameras.
  • Storyboard with approved frames, lyric and audio per shot, and the AV Script sheet: both linked from the project's CLAUDE.md. Open them side by side.

Things the shoot decided that the edit has to honor

  • Reverse-trick shots. S4-04 (the rise) and S11-02b (the fall) were shot as falls. Play them backwards.
  • S11-02c is optional (leaves re-cover the coffin) and has no timecode. It only gets a marker if you give it one.
  • Bridge orbit continuity. Studio S10-02 sets the orbit direction and speed; graveyard S10-01 and S10-03 must match it.
  • Two Gustav looks. Glued-on bones only in graveyard and coffin shots; the studio look is clean-faced. Don't intercut a bones shot into a studio section.

07Exercises

Do them in order. Ammon watches the first two.

  1. Read the map

    Open the sheet and the storyboard side by side. For S5-01 to S5-04, say out loud what the lyric is, which world it's in, and what the VFX flag means.

  2. Push on a scratch timeline

    Duplicate the main timeline, name it TRAIN scratch, push markers to it, and confirm: marker count = planned rows, colors all Cyan, notes readable, first marker at 0:00.

  3. Place three shots, close the loop

    Cut S1-01, S1-02 and S1-03 into V2 on the scratch timeline, turn the three markers Green, run sync, and confirm the three sheet rows show Placed = TRUE and nothing else changed.

  4. Break it on purpose

    Move a marker two seconds, sync, and watch the timecode update in the sheet. Then delete the scratch timeline.

Glossary

  • AV Script — the planning sheet
  • Asset track — V2, where placed picture goes
  • Push — sheet → markers
  • Sync — markers → sheet
  • customData — hidden marker field holding the row key; never edit
  • Blair — BlueForest's central database
  • Console — the browser UI over Blair; not on your path
  • Reverse trick — shoot the fall, play it backwards