How to organize captured footage for documentaries before sending to editor?

Question

I have captured 20TB of footage. It's currently organized as follows:

• a separate folder for each day filmed, (example: 11/1/16) inside that:
• separate folders for each camera (2-4 cameras used)
• separate folder for audio tracks

The film will be edited on Premiere. I don't have an editor yet, but I need to get started on sorting and tagging the footage.

What is the most recommended way of structuring the files (folders & naming) so that the tagging done is not wasted when an editor gets the footage to start cutting?

Answer 1

If I was going to send this to an editor Or If I was going to be sent this I would like the following structure (this is all dependent on how they work but it helps)

 - Project name
   - Raw Video Files
     - Day 1
      - Cam A
      - Cam B
      - ...
     - Day 2
      - Cam A
      - Cam B
      - ...
   - Audio Files
     - Dialogue
      - "Audio recorder"
       - Day 1
        - Audio File 1
        - Audio File 2
        - ...
       - Day 2
        - Audio File 1
        - Audio File 2
        - ...

Im sure you can gather where im going with this, simple folder structure can make a whole difference to how easy and quick it can be to edit this my files at the top level look like

Project Name
 > Raw files
 > Audio files
 > project files
 > Exports
 > XML
 > DVD
 > ...

Hope this helps, there are many ways to organize this and many blogs, sites advising which is the best way but it comes down to how you want to work and what works for your filming and editing process within your company

Answer 2

IMO the next most valuable things, after the footage itself, are camera reports and script notes. With good notes you can tag and bin by scene/take, and flag which takes are 'printed' (in film terms) and which are bad or incomplete. Further flagging 'best overall' or 'starred' takes can make it much easier for the editor to focus on the good stuff more quickly.

When I've edited larger productions I'd spend the early days just reviewing the material in script order -- often a rough stringout of starred takes can give you a feeling of what your task will be like and where there may be holes in coverage.