How To Organise My Video Clips, Audio, SFX Etc After Project Has Been Made

[Jason327523480lib]

Hi everyone. So I'm pretty new to Premiere Pro and just learnt this trick (that I wish I knew before, sounds obvious in hindsight) about keeping my files (video clips, audio, sound effects etc) organised in separate, labelled/named folders for ease of access and making it less confusing to find things. As I said, 100% obvious in hindsight lol 😅

The thing is, it's speaking about organising them before even making your projects. I'll obviously use this for any future projects, but I've already made a few projects a while ago that I'm still continuing and, like a lemon, just dropped the files into the PC's Videos, Music and Pictures folders respectively (really unorganised). I want to organise everything into their own folders now, having individual folders for my projects and folders within those for the video clips, audio files, SFX etc I use in the projects. For example, I can create a folder called "Everything Wrong With CinemaSins: Beauty & The Beast" (my project name) and have folders called "Video Clips", "Audio", "Sound Effects" etc inside it. And have Premiere Pro realise where each of the files are in their respective folders. Can anyone help me out with doing that? It'd be much easier to keep them in folders like that either on the PC itself, an external drive or both (having the other be an unused and updated backup incase anything goes wrong).

Also second question (kinda related), if multiple projects share the same video, audio file etc, can I just copy and paste it so I have the same file in 2 different folders, or do I have to make a "shared folder" for them to go in?

Thanks in advance for your help 😊

[Kevin-Monahan]

HI @Jason327523480lib,

Thanks for the question. I think you might be asking for a feature that does not exist in Premiere Pro. It sounds like you are wanting what's available in Watchtower, a third party extension. Check it out here: https://knightsoftheeditingtable.com/watchtower. Let me know if the info helps.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Jason327523480lib]

Hi Kevin, sorry for not replying earlier. I just had an idea. Would it work if I simply make the new organised folders, move the media (clips/audio) into their proper folders and use locate to direct Premiere Pro to them?

If I can, that does still leave the question of Premiere can recognise if I copy and paste videos/audio used in multiple projects in multiple different folders, or if I need to make a dedicated shared folder for them.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @Jason327523480lib,

Thanks for the info. Are you saying that if you re-imported the same clips, however, newly organized, would they link up with existing sequences? If that is the question, you can, but you'd need to relink them using the "Link Media" dialog box after making the clips "offline" using the "Make Offline" dialog box.

When faced with handling a large project filled with reusable elements and such, I create something called a "Production." It is basically a bunch of project files that are grouped together. I have one project with all my SFX, like a giant folder or bin. I have another project with all my reused source clips in it. I have another one with just sequences there. I can keep reusable sequences there, like intros, title sequences, and credit rolls. I can also use it for current sequences. I have another project where I place backup sequences, or ones where I am experimenting. These are all organized under one roof called a Production.

Nothing except Watchtower can keep the folders on your hard drive update/or sync up in your project(s), you have to do it all manually, making it a bit difficult to manage, however, up to now, it's a necessary step for those of us engaged in ongoing or serial editing of a series, YouTube channel, social media property, etc.

I hope I understood your problem well enough, I am just a bit unsure if I helped you or not. Definitely look into Watchtower and using Productions and I think you will discover a killer workflow. Let us know if we can help you devise something that would work best for you.

Thanks,
Kevin