This Folder Structure Changed The Way I Edit Video.
I recently opened an old video editing project of mine and found myself absolutely disgusted with what I found. It’s crazy when you look back on old projects and wonder “how in the world did I function in this environment?” Like most unhealthy relationships, It’s hard to know it’s not healthy until you’ve stepped away from it. That’s my relationship with folder structures.
Several years ago, I was on a job in Ethiopia with a DP named Evan Oliver that really began to shape my thinking about the importance of organization in filmmaking. When we finished the day of shooting, I started to do my usual “ late night dump into a hard-drive while trying to not fall asleep routine”. Evan was kind enough to point out my glaring disorganized approach to handling footage and gave me some advice.
“Here’s the thing. Filmmaking is a team sport. It is the responsibility of every person on that team to do their job in a way that makes the person’s life next to them as easy as possible.”
This is why being organized is so important. It’s not right that my disorganization is causing grief in someone else's work. It’s not right that it’s causing grief in my work!
Once we got back to the states, Evan shared with me a basic folder structure that changed the way I look at media management. Although the structure has morphed quite a bit through the years, the idea has stayed the same. I want to share my current structure with you below.
Send me a note if this is helpful and/or if you have other folder structures that have worked for you. I’m always down for learning better ways of doing things.
Additional Tips:
Tip 1: Separate Raw Footage & Editing “Auxiliaries”
By separating the raw footage in a separate root folder from the rest of your editing assets. This allows you to easily update and work between multiple drives without having to transfer over terabytes of raw footage. This is extremely helpful when you are working back & forth with a secondary editor. If you both have the raw footage, you can just zip & send over 02 Post Production Folder.
Tip 2: Update your Editing Software With The Same Structure
This is just a way to keep things super organized & simple. As the project grows, I don’t always follow this rule to a tee. However, my project folders inside of premiere is automatically setup to keep me organized.
Tip 3: Stay Consistent
This is the hardest & most important tip of all. It’s hard to remember in the middle of a edit to make sure everything is where it should be. However, know that this is ultimately saving you time & is making future collaborators lives a little bit easier.