Premiere changes the clip name upon import

[rachelcenter]

I have footage that wasnt shot on a camera per se. It's footage from a major tv network that is being sent to me from an archive where they store clips. Clips that were once filmed on broadcast sideline cameras during a game many many years. They are MXF files. they have one name on the finder level and then you drag them into premiere without using media browser and the name changes dramatically upon import. I don't want to copy and paste the file names here to show you the difference because it contains peoples names and other information that I'd like to keep generic. I googled this issue and have not found many people talking about it. (i found 1 post on adobe forums that talked about canon cameras and changing the name of a file from 01 to 02 but that isnt a solution). Anyone know if this has to do with some kind of premiere preferences that I can turn off to stop it from renaming clips? I have a feeling this has to do with metadata.

Premiere: Version 22.6.2 (build 2) aka Premiere Pro 2022

Computer: MacOS Monterey Version 12.6

[Michael Grenadier]

probably not.  but maybe you know someone with a mac that can test...  

[Warren Heaton]

@rachelcenter 

It sounds like you've found an okay solution with enabling "Media File Name", but I'm sure you've noticed that the clip name alias (what shows up in the Name column) is what also displays in the Sequence and Effect Controls.

In case you haven't already used this, we can quickly rename clips - List View may work best for your situtation - by starting with the topmost clip and then pressing Return.  Each time we press Return (the inner Return key if using Windows), Premiere Pro advances to the following Name field.  So, type then press return, type then press return, type then press return.  Once all the clips have been named, press Enter (fn + Return on a MacBook or the extended Return key on a Windows keyboard) to accept the last name change without advancing to the following field.

Did you mention a 17-hour workday?  This is local 700 work for broadcast, right?  That might be a call to IATSE Safety at Work Hotline at 844 IA AWARE (844-422-9273) for sure.

[rachelcenter]

please dont take this as rude but the whole first paragraph was gibberish. i dont follow. not a good use of my time to be renaming clips in premiere manually. no this isnt local broadcast. can you delete that part of your comment please about a safety hotline?

[rachelcenter]

i dont want to have to go in and edit the meta data of 50 files. theres literally no time for that in these quick-turnaround edit sessions. i want premiere to recognize the file name that i see on the finder level

[Michael Grenadier]

Why do you need to have the clip names match the file names?  Just trying to understand what the problem is...  You can easily search for the file name in the bin if you need to identify a file from the clip...    I understand your frustration, just not sure you're going to be able to solve your issue...  You can file a feature request or bug report (but not sure it's a bug).  I think there may already be a feature request...  a few years ago, there was a discussion here about how fcp7 had a great feature to be able to change the clip name to match the file name or vice versa...  See if you can find it an upvote it..

https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

You've caught the eye of a few of the heavy hitters here and would guess if anybody knows the answer, they'd pipe up.  You might do some googling for windows video metadata editor...  Might find something...  You might also reach out to whoever supplied the clips to you and see if they have an answer...    but I'm afraid I can't help any more than I already have.  good luck

[rachelcenter]

"Why do you need to have the clip names match the file names? " <- because producers will send me a handful of clips with different names and then when i drag them into premiere, i have a handful of files all with the same name.

"You can file a feature request or bug report" i think its hilarious if i have to tell premiere please dont rename my clips when your program shouldnt be doing that to begin with. i'm aware of the website youre referring to. its kind of a crap shoot because if no one else is working for this company that i am, i doubt they're experiencing this issue so they wont vote on this issue to get fixed.

"You might do some googling for windows video metadata editor..." i'm on a mac, as stated in the original post.

" You might also reach out to whoever supplied the clips to you and see if they have an answer... " this was already answered today. this is a deadend.

[Michael Grenadier]

I told you about digital rebellion's suite of apps.  I didn't realize it was someone else who asked if it was available for win...  Did you check out digital rebellion?   

I do a pretty thorough job of monitoring this forum and have never seen this complained about before...    It's possible I missed it cause I've never seen this behavior...  More than likely there's a solution out there but you're going to need to do some digging or live with it the way ti is...  

[rachelcenter]

the software that this big company is using to archive their footage is pretty proprietary to my understanding, so it wouldn't be a common issue that you'd see on this forum. i've done some googling earlier today before i hit the forums and did not find an answer. even bruce confirmed the issue is with premiere. doesnt sound like theres a solution within premiere.  i'm not ruling out digital rebellion but i'm also not looking to add one extra step of things to do during these crazy 1-day or 2-day turn arounds. When you have 1-day edit sessions that are 17 hours long and you're looking for ways to streamline the process and make things quicker/easier/more efficient, the digital rebellion sounds like an added task. looks like i need to petition adobe to add a feature that it currently doesnt have (because bruce with adobe is telling me the issue with premiere reading the package name and not the file name)

[Michael Grenadier]

worth a few minutes to see if digital rebellion has a fix and if it does, it may be able to batch process the files...

I've been doing this for a very long time and back in the day we had a solution.  It was called "an assistant."   Unfortunately those days seem to be gone forever.  If you find a solution, please post back in case someone else has the same problem...

[rachelcenter]

yep, definitely dont have an assistant.

[Bruce Bullis]

Based on the second test file you sent (thanks!), PPro is using the contents of the MXF's Package Name as the name of its representative project item. I don't know of a way to keep it from doing so. 

[rachelcenter]

oh no! theres no preferences at all to fix that?

[rachelcenter · Accepted solution]

the only work around i've discovered is right click on "frame rate" column to bring up "metadata displays", and then checkmark "media file name". and that displays it correctly (as opposed to the "name" column that displays it as something entirely different then what its called on the finder level)
March 2023 Bruce Bullis said its unlikely Premiere will fix this in the future. "PPro will continue to use the Package Name as the project item Name."

[Michael Grenadier]

reviewing the Premiere Best Practices Guide

https://helpx.adobe.com/content/dam/help/en/premiere-pro/using/long-form-episodic-best-practices/jcr...

and on page 130, there's some details on the capabilities of extensions, panels, etc and it says

The user interface of your panel can be as simple as a button to do the one task you need, or as complex as a full web-based UI, complete with configurable options and communicating with a web service. Examples of potential uses for a custom panel include: ◆ Combining common actions into one step ◆ Importing media, XML, and existing projects ◆ Modifying clip metadata including file paths ◆ Using scripting commands to build bespoke, new

Might be worth investigating whether there's a pre existing extension, or if it's a simple process to set up an automation...  

[Bruce Bullis]

It's definitely possible to change the name of projectItems via PPro scripting, but I think the workaround Rachel's already discovered (show the metadata column containing the file name) is probably sufficiently useful, to make panel development unnecessary. 

[Always happy to help anyone with PPro integration, but this seems like it might be a "using a bandsaw to slice bread" situation. :)]

[Michael Grenadier]

figured it might be worth checking if there's already an extension that can do this.    

[maureenmleem]

I tried this and it didn't work. The column is there with nothing in it.

Why the eff would Premiere change a file name? I'm working on a show with 6 different cameras, and for some reason Premiere keeps changing the file names from 1 of the cameras. Absolutely unacceptable.

[Warren Heaton]

Did one of the camera operators set a name in the metadata?