Reorganizing original media mid-edit... is there a way?

Report · Aug 10, 2018

Hi all. I inherited a feature documentary project in Premiere that is in an advanced stage in terms of the edit. Unfortunately, the previous editor did a terrible job of organizing the media files, which are just a huge mess over multiple hard drives. I was also given a new hard drive with a lot of footage on it, some of which has already been imported into the project and some of which has not. Because the media came from different sources, the naming is all over the place, and a lot of the files have duplicate names (e.g. 00001.MTS). What really needs to be done before I tackle the edit is to organize the footage by date and subject. Because of the duplicate file names, what I would like to do is rename each media file with its date and time before sorting everything into folders by subject.

However, I don't just want to do this in the bins in Premiere, because it won't move the actual files on the drive, and ultimately (for archival purposes) I do need to have the files correctly organized. I know that it's a major no-no to move around or rename media files once they've already been imported, and that if I were to do so, relinking could become nightmarish or plain impossible.

So what are my options here? Is there a plug-in that allows me to manipulate the names/locations of the original files via Premiere? (I'm thinking along the lines of what I do with Lightroom Classic CC—moving a photo to a different folder, for example, actually moves the file in the finder.) Or is there a third-party app that could help somehow?

A crazy idea: what if I were to make aliases for each media file, leave them where they are, and then move/rename the original files as needed? It would be a laborious workaround, for sure...

Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Report · Aug 10, 2018

Oh, you have my utmost sympathy.

But my first thought is doing any messing with where files are is so gonna screw up the project file, cache/cache database files, everything. I'm not sure there is a 'clean' way forward with that project.

SAFEHARBOR11 ... Kevin-Monahan ... Stefan Gruenwedel ... someone, this poor editor needs help!

Neil

Report · Aug 10, 2018

Thanks for your sympathy, Neil. It really makes me feel better to know that you feel my pain! And thanks for the callouts to gurus. Hopefully someone will be able to help me.

Report · Aug 10, 2018

In a hurry, I've occasionally started a project and it grew quickly past what I'd expected ... then got interrupted as it was put on a back-burner and called to do other things for a while.

Then ... the old project does need to get finished, I've got time, so I go back and open it ... ... Oh. My. Freaking.

ARRRGGGHHHHH!

It's a bloody mess. And three months later, I haven't a clue even where to start in.

A couple times I've just used looking through the sequences as a hint and started a whole new project, this time ... organized.

Why I do this to myself, I don't know. I have a whale of a time arguing with myself over it.

And my projects aren't as big as this would be!

Neil

Report · Aug 22, 2018

Sorry for that....

In my opinion the big danger comes from duplicate filenames (e.g. 00001.MTS).

So what I would do is proceed step by step following a FOLDER logic, not filename.

For example if you want to organise in temporal logic, i would create a january folder, then depending of how deep you want to go and above all how your project is structured at the moment, I would create as many "week_X" and/or "Day_X" subfolders as needed, but with an adequate and meaningfull naming so that you get a minimum of organisation.

Then I'd copy all the files from the actual folder you want to reorganise (MTS ?) and paste it into the new subfolder with the right name.

Then I'd rename the old folder (to something like MTS_OLD) just to break the link to premiere.

Then I'd relink inside premiere to the new sub-folder.

So no changes are made to the original files, It's only the path that points to an organised folder structure.

Well... that's just an idea, but it really depends on the level of "messyness" you are in...

Hope this helps !

Report · Aug 22, 2018

OK, so, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying to only organize files into subfolders, so that when I need to relink I can easily find them? This sounds like it would work, but it would restrict me to essentially leaving all files inside of the folders where they are now. But since everything is such a mess, this would only improve things just slightly. I'd still have files that belong together spread among several folders.

Or maybe I didn't understand you? In any case, thanks for the ideas!

Report · Aug 22, 2018

Here's what I would do.

First, forget renaming files. That's a sure path to frustration.

Next, organize your bins by date, camera and card, not by subject. (That's what keywords are for.)

Once the bin organization is done, you can start duplicating that same structure on the hard drive, one "card" at a time so that it's easy to know which files need to be relinked after the move.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

hmmm. that's an interesting question. I'll start by saying what happens with me, and you take it to your level.

First of all, all my stuff I shoot for editing is put on a raid internal drive thing ( mirrored), from external SSD stuff (from camera etc.)

The SSD that records my camera stuff is 1 TB or something, and so I use other SSD stuff to xfer that if I have to clear the camera SSD to make more room to keep shooting.

Unfortunately I haven't got the brains or time to deal with the stupid menu system of camera SSD so that filenames are all consistent with date and time and scenes being shot ( I use slates to do that ) so when I take out the SSD from camera, stuff it onto computer or other SSD thing, it automatically starts from naming new files shot as " stupid filename, 0001 "

They are all the same, each time I empty the ssd and put back in camera. Starting with "stupid filename, 001"

If I put that stuff into the same folder of computer it wants to overwrite the other ones. In a fast down and dirty world I might just make another folder and put the stuff in ( with same filenames) but eventually that gets messed up in editor cause I have no clue which filename relates to what day I shot, etc. unless I scrub through it, and it becomes a mess. Especially once I cut out the slate, sync sound, and move along with edit. So I can rename stuff in editor but it still resolves back to original filenames on HDD or SSD and it gets complicated.

Typically, this is the first thing a post house does when getting stuff from scripted shows, etc. Someone ( a nice young person learning the business) names the files. This way others up the ladder can find what they want fast to edit fast.

There was a free program called "renamer" which I got and it solved my problems using a home editing thing. I'm not a pro editor.

But I could put stuff from the camera ( or other ) SSD into a folder of it's own (temporary due to similar filenames I don't take chances), and then I use renamer to change ALL the filenames in one fast batch process that takes about 2 seconds. I personally only use the "append" function and put the date and something in 'front of ' the filename so I know what it is (simple description).

E.G. " mts 0001 "becomes, "8-22-sc51-72-81part mts 0001"

I still use renamer but it's a few years ago I got it so I have no clue if it's still free and easy to use, etc. I'll put link in when done.

The point is that once you organize the stuff and put it where you want ( folders, drives, etc. ) everything has some descriptor that makes it more or less easy to figure out what the source stuff is about. I use old version of CS6, and don't know nothin about new miracle versions that actually change filenames on source as well as timeline, etc. I prefer simple stuff in batch process, and using slates and script as the basis.

You can use the renamer thing on the external stuff you have as well as internal drives, but I wouldn't mess with that ...you must have some ID on the external stuff that describes what it is, so I would just leave it at that and put stuff into internal drive(s) and do your organizing there. That way you can always send the original stuff back the same way you got it.

It's a little tricky figuring out how to use renamer cause it's based on ascii code legal filename stuff and for me, and idiot, the simplest thing is to append and leave the rest alone.

https://www.den4b.com/news/2416/renamer-6-9

Report · Aug 22, 2018

putting the description junk on left side of filename ( append in front) has added advantage, when in project panel, you can see that without having to drag panel wider etc.. is faster.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

PS

once you organize with new names you'll obviously have to start over with edit, if in mid project, cause relinking won't help you.

sorry, but that's life.

At least you'll have learned something maybe. ???

Report · Aug 22, 2018

I feel like an old fashioned housewife telling her husband ( who for once went food shopping and put stuff into the kitchen cabinets) why it's important to keep things 'organized'.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

OK for the renaming advice, but how in heck would I figure out how to relink all of the files afterward? The main objective is to be able to continue working with the edit, but to have the source files reorganized. I'm actually less concerned with renaming the individual files as I am about being able to group files into folders by date or subject.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

Hmmmm, this is an interesting strategy. But I have no way to figure out which card or camera any given clip is from. I can only find the date it was made. Could this still work?

AAAARGGH... if only Premiere could relink clips based on length/date rather than file name or path!

Report · Aug 22, 2018

I have no way to figure out which card or camera any given clip is from.

If you right click on a clip, you're given the option to locate it on the hard drive. Assuming the original editor wasn't a total numnuts and did properly copy the full media card in every case, and left it's contents alone, you can "move" all the clips belonging to a specific card into the same bin. Figure out some way to name the "cards" bins that makes sense for the project.

And that's the key. You need to get all clips from the same card into the same bin, and nothing else in that bin. Only then can you start to organize on the hard drive.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

Just a thought: if I were to duplicate all of the source files on another drive and reorganize everything (but keeping file names), then tried importing the reorganized files into Premiere, would it detect that the files already exist in the project and give me the option to update the links to the new imports?

Report · Aug 22, 2018

would it detect that the files already exist in the project and give me the option to update the links to the new imports?

No, they would come in as new clips.

Report · Aug 22, 2018

Hi again,

really it all depends on how messy the project has been built.

would you by any chance be able to send some screencap of the project bin, the timeline, the OS folder structure, and the project manager window ?

Just to get an idea of how bad it is ?

Report · Aug 22, 2018

I won't be back in the edit room until next week, so I will do this then Thanks!