How a Shot Number Separates Master from Coverage

SlateX does not maintain a separate user-selectable Master/Coverage switch. The current distinction comes directly from the shot-number structure: a shot number with no letters is treated as Master and placed on the left lane, a shot number containing a letter is treated as Coverage and placed on the right lane, and an empty shot number is also treated as Master. The left and right lane positions are derived from that rule, so the structure carries the type instead of adding another independent label.

The Master/Coverage boundary is carried by the shot-number structure: no letter goes to the Master side, while a letter sends the shot to the Coverage side.

The type comes from the shot number, not a separate label

On the project home view, the side a shot lands on is decided first by whether its shot number contains any letter. No letter places it on the left lane, which is the Master side; a letter places it on the right lane, which is the Coverage side; an empty shot number also falls on the left. There is currently no separate Master/Coverage field for the user to select. A Master shot does appear as one value in the shot-size presets, but that is a separate text column and does not feed this decision.

This follows the role of shot identity described in Scene, Shot, and Take Numbers Explained: the shape of the shot number continues to carry information here. An older field that once stored shot type still exists in the data structure, but this decision neither reads nor writes it any more, so that column offers no independent Master/Coverage marker; today it only surfaces as shot-size text in a few lists.

Each shot is also expanded into camera lanes

After the left or right side is determined, each shot is expanded into lanes by its camera identifiers; when there is no camera identifier, one camera lane is supplied. The lanes are ordered first by that shot's starting script-item index, then by shot number, then by camera, and are placed with a greedy non-overlap assignment.

That step controls how existing shot ranges are laid out on screen; it does not create another Master/Coverage label. It also explains why one side can contain several lanes: the lane count comes from the actual shots and camera expansion rather than from a fixed number of columns.

The two side widths change with lane count

The left lane group where Master shots sit and the right lane group where Coverage shots sit each have a minimum width, but their final widths also grow according to the number of lanes on that side. More lanes therefore make that side wider, so the view is not a fixed-width two-column table.

That layout change only makes room for the lanes; it does not change the shot's scene, camera, or coverage-range relationships. For the separate question of which camera parameters carry forward when a camera is added, use Which Camera Parameters Carry Forward When You Add a Camera, because that is a different rule.

Hard boundary: renaming the shot can change its type

Because the type is derived from whether the shot number contains a letter, changing the shot number can turn the same shot from Master into Coverage or the reverse. The visible consequence is that its lane can move from the left side to the right side. The shot number also feeds a separate display decision about whether the shot number already carries the scene prefix, that is whether it shows as 12A or 1-12A; that rule reads the relation between shot number and scene number rather than the letter condition, but it depends on the shot number just the same, so renaming changes it too.

This should not be described as the user changing a type label, because no such input path exists. The user changes the shot number, and Master/Coverage is a derived result of that number.

There is no independent Master/Coverage marker to maintain; changing the shot number can change the derived type and the side on which its lane appears.

FAQ

What type is a shot number with no letters?

Under the current rule it is treated as Master; an empty shot number is treated as Master as well.

Can the user choose Master or Coverage separately?

There is no current input path for that. The type comes from whether the shot number contains letters, not from a separately editable type field. The Master entry inside the shot-size presets is separate text and does not feed this decision.

Why can one side contain several lanes?

Each shot is also expanded by camera and then ordered by starting script item, shot number, and camera before non-overlapping lanes are assigned.

Can renaming a shot move it from one side to the other?

Yes. If the rename changes whether the shot number contains a letter, the derived type changes and the shot can move between the left and right sides.

Axiom One LLC — SlateX. Figures current as of 24 September 2026.