A more in depth look at Resolve - Setting up a Project.

For the next few weeks, I'll be explaining a more in depth look at Resolve since my last overview missed out a lot of details. So, let's begin with the media page.

I can not stress how important organisation is to a video editor. Before you even open up your software of choice, you should have a clear, well organised and fool proof file structure. You should be able to locate any file or folder for any part of your project, especially if your working for a client and within a group.

Every project is different, so your workflow and file structure will need to adapt to it. Despite this, I use a file structure that can be used for most projects, big or small.

First I create the project folder, named after the title of the project itself where everything will be stored.

Within this I have everything organised into folders labelled:

>Rushes

>Audio

>Graphics

>Export

Within the Rushes folder I then have all of my raw video footage. Depending on the size of the project, I may have the footage further organised either by date recorded or organised into scenes according to the script. For example:

>20221005

>20221006

etc.

Or:

>Scene001

>Scene002

etc.

Within the Audio folder, I create subfolders for:

>SFX

>Mic

>Music

The SFX folder will store all of the sound effects for the project. Depending on how many are used, I may organise them further by scene or category if I use a lot of them.

The Mic folder will contain any and all audio captured by external mics on set. These have to be synced with the correct video takes before you start editing, something that might already have been done by a Data Wrangler on set. If not, then you can listen to the scenes/ takes called by the Second Assistant Camera on the slate/ clapper board. From this, I would strongly recommend renaming the audio files and/or the video so that they match. So to make things easier, within the Mic folder, create subfolders for either scene number or date, to match your file system for the Rushes folder.

The Music folder is self explanatory, any music you use for the project can be stored here. Depending on your project, you could label your tracks depending on genre, theme, tempo, etc. It may help when selecting tracks for the right part of your project.

The Graphics folder contains two subfolders:

>Animated Graphics

>Stills

The Animated Graphics folder will contain any effect that needed to be rendered out then added back in to the main time line. Just like the SFX subfolder, there could be a lot of effects needed so it may be suitable to create multiple subfolders based on scene number.

The Still subfolder contains all of the picture files that may be used in the project. Depending on the amount used, it could be separated further into:

>Titles

>Photos

>Graphics

>Misc.

Finally, the Export folder. This is where I export the cuts of my project to. Within this folder, I use subfolders:

>Effects

>Cuts

In the Effects folder, I will export any rendered effects to, labelling them appropriately. But most of the videos will be exported to the Cuts folder. If working for a client who wishes to see what progress you are making, you may need to export a lot of different cuts. If this is the case, I would consider have subfolders labelled by date, or Cut number.

When I have finished a full draft of a project, I will label it Cut001, the next time I get notes on it and make revisions, I will then call it Cut002, etc.

So the folder structure will look like this:

>Cut001

>Cut002

etc.

Or

>20221005

>20221006

etc.

The final Folder structure should look something like this:

>Rushes

>Scene001

>Scene002

>Audio

>SFX

>Mic

>Music

>Graphics

>Animated Graphics

>Stills

>Titles

>Photos

>Graphics

>Misc

>Export

>Effects

>Cuts

>Cut001

>Cut002

And that should be it for File Structures. Of course, your project might have different requirements, but I hope this blog helps you start to experiment with different file structures and understand the importance of organisation.

Next week I will begin to explain the Media page of Resolve in more detail.