The tedious nature of editing

It doesn’t matter if you are on an Avid, a Final Cut Pro system, Adobe Premiere or some other flavor of edit software, the most important thing that you need to know is organization. When I tell most people about my organization schemes for editing I usually watch as their eyes glaze over and they go into some sort of “new editor” trance.  I realize that most of this stuff is boring and tedious but here’s the deal . . . most of the time editing is boring and tedious.  If you want an exciting, action-packed ride you might be looking in the wrong place.  Many of my days are spent in the edit suit doing things like digitizing, rendering and backing up projects.  Sound like fun?  Well, if you like to stare at the screen and watch this

while drinking coffee, then I have a career for you!  For the rest of us, you just have to deal with the boring stuff to get to the really fun and creative side of editing.  If you’re an editor at heart, you will soon know after your first job.

Where to begin

I am planning on creating basic job start articles for all of the major NLE systems in due time.  For now, you need to understand the importance of getting organized, and this works across all platforms.  As an editor you will be working with many different types of media.  This includes video files, music tracks, voice-over audio files, sound effect files, graphic elements, still photos, website stills,  print materials that have been scanned – just about anything that a client feels is important to their project.  Where does all of this stuff go and how do you keep track of it all?  Well, if you’re on an Avid system, the Avid does a pretty good job of managing all of that stuff when you import it into the project.  Avid creates a database internally that you (generally) never touch.  Unfortunately, if you need to make a change to a file that is now part of Avid’s internal database . . . you can’t.  You must make changes to the original file(s) then re-import.  Final Cut Pro works differently.  You can import media from anywhere on your system or network.  FCP points to these files and uses them from their original location.  This is great too . . . until you move or delete one of those files.  Then it’s gone from your project forever.  The good side is that when you change the original file it is changed inside your FCP project as well.  So as you can see there are good points and bad points to both systems.  So what is the best way to keep all of this stuff organized without relying on the software?  Let me show you.

Three steps to getting organized with your project

Now is a good time to get in the habit of defining your projects.  Thus begins the tedious part of editing.  I follow these three steps to begin any editing project.  It doesn’t matter if I’m on an Avid or Final Cut, I follow these same three steps.

1. Give each project a specific name and/or number. I use the date and project name.  Let’s say I was doing a project for a fictitious coffee company called HOT Coffee (not very original) and the project was for an image campaign called “Simply the best.”  Using today’s date I would create a project with the number 091030 and a short name for the title HOTCoffee-Simply giving me 091030 HOTCoffee-Simply.  This is my new project name.  Some companies use specific numbers for the title but I like to use the date.  It’s easy for me to remember.
2. Create a project folder on a local drive. On my computer, I have a raid array that houses all of my video and media.  On that array I have a folder called “Client Projects.”  This is where I put the folder with the name from above.  Inside that folder I have a series of internal folders that correspond to all of the media elements.  See below.
3. Create a spreadsheet that contains this information. If you work with other editors or plan on having other people help you with your projects, create a spreadsheet or use an online service like Google Docs to create and share one.  Highlight information that will be useful to other editors:  Name of project, name of client, specific project name/number (from above), Director, producer, editor, location for graphics, location of backup files, tape locations, etc.  This will be helpful if you share projects and it will be helpful when you backup the project.  If you ever need to return to it, you will have all of the information that you need to find tapes or locate the backup folder on one of your hard drives.

What goes into this new project folder?

The project folder that you created and named above contains all of your media files.  Create this folder at the start of your project and always put the media files in their corresponding folders from day 1! It’s tedious.  I understand.  However, if you start doing this early it will become a great habit.  Here is an example of what I use as organization within the project folder:

• Audio Music (all music files and layered music tracks)
• Audio SFX (Sound effect files)
• Audio VO (voice-over files)
• Audio Projects (Soundbooth, Protools or Soundtrack Pro files)
• Compressor files (Saved droplets or saved batch lists from compressor)
• DVD Projects (DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Encore, etc.)
• DVD Graphics (graphics that relate specifically to the DVD authoring project)
• DVD Mpeg files (Mpeg files)
• FCP Exports (Any exports from FCP – This is a good way to backup or submaster your work)
• FCP Project Backup files (Copy your project file with the date appended to the end – it gives you incremental backup for your project as you edit)
• Graphics – After Effects (After Effects files)
• Graphics – Photoshop (Photoshop files)
• Graphics – Live Type (Live Type files)
• Graphics – Motion (Motion files)
• Labels – DVD and Tape (Labels that are specific for the project)
• Notes
• Renders – After Effects (All renders from After Effects that are used in your project)
• Renders – Motion (All renders from Motion that are used in your project)
• Renders – Misc
• Scripts
• Uploads for web (Anything that was compressed and uploaded for client review)

These are just what I use on a regular basis so I created a generic project folder containing all of these files.  That way it’s an easy way to copy these folders into my newly created project folder.  If you’re working on an Avid simply tweak a few of the file names and you’re golden.  It will work with any system.  I got this idea from Thomas Tomchak over at SuiteTake.com and I credit him for this great idea!  Please visit his article for more information.

Once you have these created, adding files is easy.  Just make sure that you don’t get lazy.  If you follow this simple plan you will always know where all of your media exists.  It doesn’t matter if it’s today or tomorrow or two years from now, everything will be exactly where you put it.  Oh, and here’s the great part – when you backup your project you only have to worry about moving one folder.  It’s pure genius!