Creating a streamlined and repetitive approach to arranging your wedding video files is key to enhancing your wedding post production. Organised file structure and a consistent process reduces the likelihood of errors, speeds up the process, and allows you to troubleshoot equipment issues.
Folder Structure
We recommend a folder structure which is based upon the devices and cards you use on the day. This way, its easy to identify any problems should the issue arise. For example, the folder structure may look like:
Bridgett and Ben – 1 December 2019
- CM1
- Card 1
- Card 4
- CM2
- Card 2
- Card 5
- CM3
- Card 3
- Card 6
- Tascam Audio Recorder
- H4N Audio Recorder
- Drone
CM represents the name of the camera. In the example above, each camera was loaded with a formatted card at the start of the day. Each camera utilised two cards throughout the day.
We recommend placing a physical label on each camera, and each card. This allows you to manage your assets, and identify issues when they may occur.
If you have a second shooter assisting you at the wedding and they are using their own camera and cards, you may like to create a different folder for only their cameras and cards.
Improving your file naming structure
We also highly encourage inserting a prefix into the file name of each individual camera you have. This allows you to identify which camera a particular video file came from, and completely avoids the issue of the same file name within the same wedding project.
For example, if you’re shooting with three of the same model cameras, they will often assign file numbers sequentially from 0001 to 9999. The potential problem with this method becomes when two different cameras are creating the exact same file name at the same wedding event. In post-production, this can cause issues with relinking files.
When sending files away for outsourcing, the location of the file will change between computers. As a result, video editing softwares will ask when opening the file at the new location, for the user to re-link the media in the project, with the original media on the computer. Software makes this relatively easy, as often pointing to a single file, allows it to use deductive reasoning to establish the location of the others.
However, be aware that if you have the exact same file name for two different video clips within the project, the editing software is often not smart enough to understand which is correct. The software does not look at the file size, or date and time created. It’s simply looking for the file name. All of a sudden, there’s a big issue with relinking files.
The best method for avoiding this is to set the file naming structure different on each camera. Most cameras allow you to do this through the menu options. For example, the Panasonic GH5 allows you to set three digits. You could customise this to “CM1” on your first Camera, through to “CM3” on your third camera, meaning all video files created across the three cameras will never be able to have duplicate names.
Assets unique to the project
Do you have other assets that are unique to a particular project? For example, these may include:
- Music specifically for that project
- Titles you’ve made that you don’t want Nobacklog to make
- Additional video content the couple wants to use within the film
- Stock footage that wasn’t captured on the day, but is required for the project
Include all relevant project assets with the delivery to Nobacklog. However, assets that are not unique to an individual project, such as your music and effects catalogue, should be provided within your Profile on Dashboard.
Do you have questions about providing your files to Nobacklog? We look forward to hearing from you.
