The reference breakdown

One page per reference, covering only the layers the stage needs.

Write a breakdown for every reference [proven] for the method; the format is a working default. File it beside the stills, and link it from your reference library. Later stages read only its "What it means for us" line; the raw analysis stays in the breakdown.

{Title} ({brand}, {year})
Credits: {agency} · {director} · {production company} · {cinematographer, editor, composer where known}
Award: {award, year, category}   Link: {URL}   File: {where it is, or "by URL only"}
Found by: {the problem or technical search that found it}
Stage and layer: {stage} · {layer}
Problem it solved: {one sentence}
Mechanism: {one line}
Originality label: {same idea / same mechanism / same feeling}: {what it means for our idea}
Setup, turn, payoff: {three short lines}
Department: {camera / light and colour / edit / music and sound / wardrobe / design / performance / casting}
Take: {the exact quality, e.g. "4:1 side light from one window, faces half lit"}
Ignore: {what not to copy: subject, setting, signature composition}
Evidence: {cut map / stills / palette / tool report, quoted as the tool's}
Numbers: {average shot length, cut offsets to beats, holds in frames: measured, never guessed}
What it means for us: {one or two lines tied to a decision}
Used in: {deck, version and page, or the department sheet}

Take one quality; write the ignore line. If a reference is being copied rather than learned from, rewrite its ignore line (subject, setting, signature composition) and keep one quality only.

The library: the files, stills, contact sheets and breakdowns in the project's References folder, with one line per reference in your project record. Name files {brand}-{title}-{year}. A stage reads the library before it searches again.

Sources

• The take-and-ignore form follows how treatment writers caption their stills: Christine Dávila in Filmmaker Magazine's "On Decks" (article).