Community-run · peer-reviewed
The cinematic reference library.
Real frames from verifiable professional work, tagged down to the lens. Contributed frames publish only once a blind panel of reviewers agrees.
/refs is in build. The library opens October 2026.
New contributors start with a credit grant. No subscription — what you’ve earned never expires.
- Talk Meaning
- Frame Size
- Wide
- Lens Size Category
- Ultra Wide
- Capture Format
- Digital
- Lighting Quality
- Hard Light
- Interior/Exterior
- Exterior (EXT)
- Time of Day
- Day
Directed by Danica Kleinknecht · Photographed by Mitchell Overton
What this is
For the frame you can describe but not name. Search by the mood, the light, the lens or the time of day, read how each one was shot, and take a clean copy for the deck.
The library takes stills from feature films, short films, TV series, commercials and music videos.
Community-run: members upload frames, review other members’ work blind, and that sweat is what pays for searches and clean downloads.
- Review
- Blind panel of working members
- Corrections
- Anyone can suggest an edit
- History
- Public on every frame
- Access
- Sweat equity, no subscription
Two ways to find the frame
Mood for feel, Lexical for facts.
Describe the mood
Mood search takes a description — the time of night, what the room is like, how it feels — and pulls the frames that look like it, closest first. No tags to know, no title to remember.
- Try “moody neon street at night”
- Try “tense conversation in a diner booth”
- Try “golden hour through dusty windows”
- Try “two silhouettes on an empty rooftop”
- Try “claustrophobic corridor, hard light”
- Try “rain on a cool blue window”
- Try “brutalist concrete at dusk”
- Try “silhouette against a burning sky”
- Try “cold fluorescent office at midnight”
- Try “warm candlelit interior, soft shadows”
Say it like on set
Lexical search takes the words a crew uses and matches them against the record on every frame: the tags, the credits, the camera and the stock. Then narrow with the filters.
- Try “anamorphic”
- Try “Kodak Vision3 500T”
- Try “handheld”
- Try “dutch angle”
- Try “ARRI Alexa”
- Try “35mm film”
- Try “lens flare”
- Try “golden hour”
- Try “50mm”
- Try “brutalist”
Filter by
- Frame Size
- Lens Size Category
- Capture Format
- Lighting Quality
- Time of Day
Two more ways in: upload a still you already have and search returns the frames closest to it, and every frame page shows more like it.
The sheet on every frame
Frame size, lens, capture format, light, time of day, the credits by role, and the timecode where it’s known — the full record on every frame.
Contributed frames are checked blind by working members — no names, no running tally.
Spot something wrong? Suggest an edit; an approved correction counts as contribution.
Built by the people who use it
Upload frames, fix details, review other members’ work. Approved contributions earn the credits that pay for searches and clean HD (1080p) or 4K Master downloads — no subscription, and what you’ve earned never expires.
The library is built, checked and corrected by its members, and that work is what pays for searches and downloads.
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Upload new frames
Stills from titles that are not in the library yet, tagged with what they show.
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Update existing frames
Fill in a missing detail, fix a wrong one, or propose a better master.
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Review new frames
Approve or reject what other members just submitted.
The API
In build
The library, over REST, for your tools: search it, read a title’s sheet, fetch a single frame. Keys spend their owner’s own credits at web rates.
The standards
- No generated or synthetic imagery.
- Real frames from verifiable professional work — nothing else gets in.
- Every frame’s history is public.
Questions about /refs
What is /refs?
/refs is a peer-reviewed cinematic reference library: real frames from verifiable professional work, tagged down to the lens and searchable by mood, frame size, lighting and format.
Who is it for?
Cinematographers, directors, production designers, editors and agency creatives pulling references for a pitch deck, a treatment, a lookbook or a shot list.
What kinds of titles does the library take?
Feature films, short films, TV series, commercials and music videos; documentaries count as films. The library takes stills, not clips.
Can I search with a picture?
Yes. Upload a still and search returns the frames closest to it. Every frame page also shows more like it.
Can I fix a wrong tag?
Yes. Suggest an edit on the frame, other members review it, and an approved correction counts as contribution.
What does it cost?
Contributing pays for it — uploading frames, fixing details and reviewing other members’ work earn the credits that pay for searches and clean HD (1080p) or 4K Master downloads. There is no subscription, and what you’ve earned never expires.
How is /refs different from ShotDeck or Frame Set?
Members put frames in, and a contributed frame publishes only once a blind panel of working members agrees. Anyone can correct a record, and it counts as contribution; every frame’s history is public. ShotDeck’s team adds the images itself, and Frame Set’s team works from links members submit; both sell access by subscription, and /refs does not.
Is there an API?
Yes — the library over REST, for pre-production tools: search it, read a title’s sheet, fetch a single frame. In build for the opening.
When does it open?
The library opens in October 2026.
For cinematographers, directors, production designers, editors and agency creatives.
Pulling references for a pitch deck, a treatment, a lookbook or a shot list.
Build the reference you wish existed.
Upload a frame, review five, correct a wrong tag. The library gets better, and you’ve paid your way in.
Opening October 2026.