How to Organise Your Files and Never Lose a Shot
How to Organise Your Files and Never Lose a Shot
Start every file and folder name with the date in year-month-day form, so your computer sorts your work chronologically by itself. Give each project one folder containing its raw footage, edit, exports, and sources — rather than files split up by type. And the system that survives is the one you can follow while exhausted after a long shoot day, not the one that looks best on paper.
Why organisation usually fails
Not because people don't know how to organise, but because they design a system for a comfortable day and then have to apply it on a tiring one.
The only test of any system: could you follow it after eight hours of filming when you want to sleep?
If it requires thinking every time, it will collapse within a month.
Rule one: date first
Start every name with year-month-day:
2026-08-19-friday-market
2026-08-24-ahmed-interview
Why that order specifically? Because computers sort text alphabetically, and this format makes alphabetical order identical to chronological order automatically.
And always use two digits: 08 rather than 8, or month 10 will sort before month 9.
Rule two: one folder per project
The common mistake: a folder for video, a folder for audio, a folder for project files — so one video's material ends up spread across four places.
The right way is everything for one video in one place:
2026-08-19-friday-market/
01-raw/
02-audio/
03-sources/
04-edit/
05-exports/
Numbering the subfolders keeps them in workflow order rather than alphabetical order.
The benefit shows up a year later: when you want to archive, move, or delete a project, you handle one folder rather than searching four places.
Rule three: cull on shoot day, not after
The most valuable twenty minutes in the whole process are the ones you spend on the evening of the shoot:
- Copy the card into the project folder
- Delete the obvious failures — shaky files and ones that started by mistake
- Rename the important shots with names that describe them
Why today rather than tomorrow? Because today you remember that file 0847 is the take that worked on the third attempt. A week later you'll remember nothing and will have to watch everything again.
Naming shots
Don't name every file. Name only what you'll use, and leave the rest with their original names.
A simple format is enough:
interview-q03-good
wide-market-morning
broll-vendor-hands
Use one word for quality — "good" or "selected" — because that's what you'll search for when editing.
Overlooked things that cost a lot
A sources folder. Every image, track, or licensed clip, with a text file logging where each came from. So when you're asked a year later, the answer exists.
A notes file. One text file at the project root: what shots are missing, what needs reshooting, and edit decisions. Ten lines saves hours.
The final export name. Include the date and version: 2026-08-19-friday-market-final-v2. And don't name anything "final-final".
When to clean up
A month after publishing, review the project:
- Delete temporary edit files and preview caches
- Keep the footage you used and delete the obvious failures
- Move the whole folder to your archive
Don't delete raw footage right after publishing. Plenty of people need to go back to it for a short clip or a correction within weeks.
The short version
Date first, one folder per project, and cull on shoot day.
Three rules you can follow while tired. A system that doesn't survive a bad day isn't a system.