Review: Bernard Review and playlists

This page explains how a supervisor or a lead reviews the team's work: you gather files into a playlist (or simply open files), watch them and annotate them in Bernard Review, then Bernard writes the result onto the tasks: notes, corrections (retakes) or approval.

Bernard Review is the review player. It is installed with Bernard and it is free.

Choosing the player

Bernard can open media with two players:

• Legacy: the viewer built into Bernard. This is the default choice;
• Bernard Review: the review player described on this page.

The choice is made at two levels.

For the whole studio. Administrators only. Bernard › Settings › Global Settings › Bernard Image Viewer sets the studio's player.

For your workstation. Bernard › Settings › Local Settings › Media player offers three values:

If Bernard Review is not installed on the workstation, Bernard opens the Legacy viewer, whatever the setting.

The settings are described in Local Settings and Global Settings.

Playlists

A playlist is a list of files to watch in order. Since version 2.1.48, a playlist is a special group of the tree, with its own icon. It can contain project items (project items), tasks and files from a single project.

What the playlist accepts:

• only files that the player can read: the others are refused and Bernard lists the extensions that were set aside;
• never a Script task (there is nothing to review in it);
• for a project item, its own files, then those of its tasks marked Show On Item.

The content always follows the order of the project: folders and items as in the tree, then the tasks in workflow order, then the file names. A file added later takes its place in this order, in the tree as in Bernard Review.

A project must accept playlists

An existing project only accepts playlists once the Bernard team has enabled it. Until then, the Create a Playlist & Add entry is greyed out and shows "this project does not take playlists yet". The temporary playlists work everywhere.

Playlists from the old system are not converted: their data stays in the database but is no longer displayed. The old Playlist view no longer exists; a saved tab that displayed it opens as a spreadsheet.

Adding files to a playlist

1. Select files, project items or tasks (in the spreadsheet, the tree or the Properties panel). The selection must belong to a single project; otherwise the menu shows "(the selection spans several projects)".
2. Right-click › Add To Playlist, then: - the name of an existing playlist of the project; - or Create a Playlist & Add to create one on the fly; - or Create a Temporary Playlist & Add for a temporary playlist.
3. If the selection offers several possible files, a choice window opens (see below). Otherwise the files go straight into the playlist.
4. The playlist opens. If Bernard Review is already open on this playlist, the new files join it.

You can also drop files onto a playlist in the tree.

To remove files: right-click on the selection › Remove From Playlist › the playlist concerned. The submenu shows "(in no playlist)" if nothing is in a playlist.

Choosing the files

An item or a task can carry several readable files. The choice window (Add To Playlist, or Create a Playlist & Add) presents them in a grid:

• one row per project item, with its thumbnail before its name;
• one column per department, with its colours and its icon, in workflow order; the Item files column groups the item's own files;
• filters by department, by file type and by name (Filter by file name box);
• an Ignore v0 box, ticked by default: it sets aside files in version v000 (a file chosen by hand stays);
• the Last file button, used by default: for each row, it takes the files of the most advanced task of the workflow;
• ways to take a row, a column, a cell or a single file.

The confirm button shows the number of files kept ("Add N files" or "Create & add N files"). Cancel cancels.

When there is nothing to choose (only files, or a single file per item), the window does not open and the files go straight in.

Large selections. Since 2026-11-06, creating a playlist or adding to a playlist from around a hundred shots prepares the choice in a few seconds. A Preparing the playlist window shows the progress of the reading and a Cancel button stops it.

Opening a playlist

Right-click on the playlist in the tree › Open Playlist (or Open Playlists for several). A playlist also opens as soon as it is created. If it contains no readable file, Bernard replies "No playable file was found in this playlist.".

For several playlists at once, or if Bernard Review is not the chosen player, the files open in the studio's player, one after the other.

Temporary playlists

A temporary playlist behaves like a playlist: same choice grid, same order, same player, review published file by file. The difference: it is not written into Bernard. It is kept on your workstation, for your company and your user, until you delete it or save it as a playlist. It is used to watch shots at different stages of production, without creating anything in the project.

It is managed from the context menus: Add To Playlist, Create a Temporary Playlist & Add, Remove From Playlist, and a submenu per temporary playlist with Open Playlist, Rename…, Save as Playlist and Delete. Save as Playlist is greyed out as long as the project does not accept playlists.

Opening files to review them

You do not need a playlist for a review. Open on a file, a double-click on a thumbnail (spreadsheet or Properties panel) or Open on a selection launch Bernard Review.

• Files already present on the workstation open right away. The others are downloaded, then join the player as they arrive.
• A thumbnail that points to several files opens them together in a single player.
• A multiple selection (files, or shots or tasks of the same type) opens as a playlist, in selection order, with the Previous and Next buttons and a loop button (none, one video, the whole list). For items or tasks, the Open menu lists each readable file by department; missing files are downloaded first and those that cannot be read are flagged.
• Opening a file to review it no longer requires putting the task in WIP.
• A review always opens its own player: a Bernard Review that you already have open is never touched.

Validation tasks. On a validation task, right-click › Open Files To Validate plays the files to validate, each one once, in selection order. Bernard first looks for the "Validate on playlists" files, otherwise those of the tasks to validate, otherwise those of the upstream task of the same department.

In Bernard Review

Bernard Review plays images, sequences and videos, keeps your drawn annotations and your notes, and gives a verdict on each file. This page describes what Bernard gives it and what it gets back.

Bernard passes to the player, for each row: the file, the project, the item, the task, the version, the department and the artist.

• Other versions. The other versions of each file are offered on request. A version that is not copied to the workstation is downloaded when you play it, and the review is published on that version.
• Earlier notes. An Earlier notes section shows the task's previous notes and corrections (20 per page, most recent first, with thumbnails and replies). It stays up to date live: a note added, edited or deleted in Bernard appears immediately, with the total number of notes.
• Annotations. Drawn annotations are kept for each shot of the playlist; all of them are attached to the note or correction you add from that shot. Changing video no longer asks "Do you want to save the changes?".
• Frame numbers. They are the same in Bernard and in Bernard Review: a video starts at 1, an image sequence takes up the numbers of its files.
• Verdict. For each file, you give Approved, Not Approved or Pending (see what each verdict triggers).

Publishing the review

When you close Bernard Review, nothing has been written into the project yet. Bernard first displays Preparing the publication while it prepares the annotated images, then the summary: one card per reviewed file.

Each card shows:

• the annotated images, with their frame number;
• the project, the item, the department and the task, the file and its version;
• your note, editable one last time: you can read it in full, correct it, copy it (Copy) or go back to the original text (Restore);
• the category of the correction, with Bernard's colours and icons; the one for your role is offered first;
• the verdict, in colour;
• the task that will change state.

You can also add images on top of the annotations: drag and drop, Ctrl+V or the Add pictures… button.

Untick what must not go out, then click Publish. The button shows how many files are going out and stays greyed out as long as none is ticked.

Special cases:

• A plate reviewed without a task (file attached directly to a shot) also appears in the summary: you choose the task of the shot that will receive the review.
• A verdict alone (no note or annotated image) does not write an empty note: it closes the open corrections and asks for Done.
• Writing a note on a Pending row publishes it as a simple note.
• An already published row shows its note read-only.
• If images are missing or the review cannot be found, the summary says so clearly.
• Assign me. A box lets you assign the task to yourself; it applies before the switch to Done.

What each verdict triggers

A correction is notified to everyone assigned to the task. The full rules are in Workflows, states and templates; the notification channels (in Bernard, by email) are set in Local Settings › Notification.

Which task goes to Done?

An approval moves the workflow forward by a single step:

1. As long as the work task (the one that carries the files) is not finished, it is the one that goes to Done.
2. Then, Bernard walks the workflow downstream, step by step. It passes through scripts, gates, compounds and validations that are already finished, and keeps the first validation task that is not finished. If there are several at the same distance, on parallel branches, they all go to Done.
3. It never goes beyond the next work task. When the whole chain is validated, the summary says that no validation remains.

The summary card names the task that will go to Done: check it before publishing. Each approval therefore moves the review forward one notch: for example Validation Lead, then Sup, then Real.

What can block a Done. An approval ticks the reviewer's instruction checklist when that is what prevents the switch to Done. It also names the unfinished upstream tasks it is waiting for, with their state. The summary is then displayed as a warning, and likewise when something was refused: the server stays in charge of the states and refuses a Done if a correction is still active.

Finding the notes on the tasks

Once published, notes and corrections are on the task, in the Notes tab of the Properties panel (see Notes). A note coming from a review carries:

• the reviewed file and version, in a banner ("current" or "current is v014" if a more recent version exists, "file removed" if the file no longer exists);
• the verdict of the review;
• a Play v012 button (the number is that of the commented version), which replays exactly that version;
• the annotated images, with an information banner (project, sequence, item, task, date, author, verdict, file, version) and their frame number as a badge.

Playing an old version from a note in the Legacy player still lets you add a note.

When you write a note by hand, the note window offers a File line to choose the file and version the note is about (most recent versions first) and the Assign me to this task box. A note created from the viewer is about the file and version displayed.

Retakes are also notified: in Bernard and, by default, by email (see Notifications).

From a script

A script can open a file the way Bernard does (studio player, Bernard Review or Legacy): see Scripts and Python API.

When something goes wrong