Logging photo and video files isn’t very fun, but it sure is helpful down the road! In years past, I didn’t have a good file naming workflow so I skipped this important step altogether. Inevitably, my laziness always came back to bite me in the butt. The problem in leaving files unnamed has to do with memory. Memory is short and fleeting. While it’s not hard to remember what’s what directly after a video shoot, revisiting the same work files a week, a month, or a year later is another story. When the brain gives out, locating specific clips in a sea of unlabeled footage is a nightmare! It’s also extremely time consuming.

By contrast, working with neatly cataloged archives is quick and easy. When file names depict exactly what each video contains, locating specific files requires minimal effort. All you have to do to find a certain clip is scroll through your folders in list view, read the file names, and locate the desired content. Easy peasy! No stress, no anxiety. Best of all, even if ten years elapse after a video shoot, the files you named at the time of the shoot should give you the ability to find exactly what you’re looking for.

For this reason, and many others, I now force myself to log my footage as soon as possible post video shoot. While my recollection is fresh, I sit down with a cup of my favorite tea (Evening in Missoula from the Montana Tea and Spice Company) and meticulously rename all my files to accurately describe what they are. Time and again, I’ve found that this relatively small sacrifice leads to massive returns for future Sergei. Thus, this practice is quickly becoming ritual.

I want to help you manage your video files better too. That’s why I recently made a new video, about my video file management workflow. Watch the video below and implement my process. I encourage you to use my method as a guide rather than gospel. Apply the parts that make sense and modify the rest to fit your needs.

Good luck!