Keeping my assets organized during an edit is a very important part of my process. I keep the same form of organization for every project, whether it be a 15 second commercial or a full length documentary. Nothing changes, and it's important to keep everything consistent.
Projects can get messy very quickly if you’re not careful. Last year, a company I worked paid for our team to attend a workshop on video editing called; ‘The Cutting Edge Post-Production Tour’ with Adam Epstein. Adam is the head video editor for Saturday Night Live. If you watch the show you have probably seen a lot of his work.
I learned a lot of great tips and tricks at this workshop, but the way Adam stayed organized was by far the most valuable lesson for me. I’ve
The first thing I do on every project is import a series of folders. Each folder is numbered and labeled.

01_CUTS
This folder is for all your Rough and Final Sequences. Keep all of your Rough Cuts so you can go back if the client liked what you did on a previous cut.
02_SETUPS
I don’t use this folder on every project, but when I have
03_SOURCE
This might be the most important folder. ALL of your footage will be placed here, So always make sub folders
04_GFX
All of your logos, titles and textures will be placed in this folder.
05_VFX
I have a large collection of film burns, light leaks and other visual "eye candy" that I’ve accumulated over the years. In almost every project, I’ll import most of those effects so I have easy access to them.
06_SFX
Again, over the years I’ve collected a large catalog of sound FX. I’ll import all of these if I need them. I’ll also put any sound design in this folder.
07_AE
Every time I send something to After Effects it creates a new asset. I will place all of those in this folder
08_AUDIO
All music and voice overs will be placed in this folder
09_JUNK
Sometimes you just have some "junk" come into the project. I place all of that in this folder. I don’t delete any of it, because you never know if you might need it again.
With these nine folders you should have a place for everything! It is such a good feeling to open up a very large project and know where everything is. I hope these quick tips help you in future projects. I know
Below I have attached the nine folders so you can use these tips in your next project!