Send footage like you want it back tomorrow.

Four hundred gigabytes of unnamed clips from three cameras is not a brief. It is a scavenger hunt, and the clock is running while we play it.

A 24 hour turnaround is a promise about editing time. Every hour spent working out which clip is which comes out of that time. Most of it takes ten minutes on the day you shoot, and it is the cheapest way to make a fast edit faster.

00:19

One folder, five bins

Put everything for one video in one folder. Not a folder per camera, and not a folder per day that also holds last month’s shoot. One video, one folder, one link.

Inside it, make five folders and number them:

• 01 A roll. The main takes: the talking, the thing the video is built on.
• 02 B-roll. Everything you cut away to, screen recordings included.
• 03 Audio and music. Voice notes, separate mic files, any track you want in it.
• 04 Brand kit. Logos, fonts, colours, the lower third you always use.
• 05 References. Videos you like the feel of, with a line on what you like.

The numbers are there so the order never depends on the alphabet. Most editors keep a project in bins like these, so your folders can become the project’s bins more or less as they arrive.

00:57

Name files so they sort

A camera name like IMG_4471 tells us the order the camera saved things in. That is all it tells us. A name that sorts puts the useful part first, and keeps its parts in the same order every time.

We use date, then what it is, then the take: 2026-09-12_intro_t1.mov. A date written year first sorts correctly as plain text. The middle word says what is in the clip. The take number stops two versions of the same thing from fighting over one name.

• Year first, in four digits, then month and day in two digits each: 09, not 9.
• Underscores between the parts. No spaces, no brackets, no copy numbers.
• Lower case, so a capital letter never changes the order.
• Never call anything final. The name final is a wish, not a version.

You do not have to rename every clip. Rename the ones that matter: the takes you like, the voice notes, the logo.

Live demo·shoot_0912

Sort the bin

This is how a shoot usually arrives. Sort it into five numbered bins and watch every name turn into one that sorts. A screen reader hears the list before and after.

Project: shoot_0912

5 bins, 8 files

NameType

• 01 A roll , 2 files

  • 2026-09-12_intro_t1.mov, was IMG_4471.MOV , Video

  • 2026-09-12_intro_t2.mov, was IMG_4472.MOV , Video

• 02 B-roll , 3 files

  • 2026-09-12_product_t1.mp4, was final.mp4 , Video

  • 2026-09-12_product_t2.mp4, was final_final.mp4 , Video

  • 2026-09-12_screen_t1.mov, was Screen Recording 2026-09-12.mov , Video

• 03 Audio and music , 1 file

  • 2026-09-12_voiceover_t3.m4a, was voice note 3.m4a , Audio

• 04 Brand kit , 1 file

  • brand_logo_primary.png, was logo (1).png , Still

• 05 References , 1 file

  • ref_pace_and_feel.mp4, was reference maybe.mp4 , Video

Naming convention

Date, then what it is, then the take: 2026-09-12_intro_t1.mov 2026-09-12date_introwhat_t1take.mov 

• Loose files0
• Bins in use5 of 5
• Names that sort8 of 8

Sorted. Every file is in a numbered bin, with a name that sorts.

01:44

Send originals

Send the files the camera made, not the copies an app made for sharing. Chat apps and some share sheets compress video to save space, and a compressed clip cannot be uncompressed later. What looks fine on a phone falls apart the moment it is reframed, zoomed or colour corrected.

• From a phone: copy the original files over a cable or to a drive, not through a chat.
• From a camera: copy the whole card folder, not just the clips you picked.
• Screen recordings: the full length file, even if we only need a minute of it.

If you are not sure whether a file is an original, send it anyway. A large file costs a slower upload. A small one can cost the shot.

02:17

Upload fully before you share

The most common delay has nothing to do with editing. A link arrives, we open it, and half the clips are still uploading, or a file will not play because it never finished.

Wait until the upload says it is complete. Then open the link yourself, in a private window, the way we will see it, and check three things:

1. Every file is there, in its numbered folder.
2. A video plays all the way through.
3. The link does not ask for a sign in you forgot to share.

Then leave the files where they are until the video is delivered. Moving or renaming things mid edit breaks the links inside the project, and the editor gets a screen that says media offline, the two most expensive words in video.

02:52

Write the brief in five lines

A brief does not need to be long. It needs to answer five questions, one line each:

1. What is the video for, and where will it be posted?
2. Who is it for?
3. What is the one thing they should remember?
4. How long should it be, and when do you need it?
5. What should it feel like? Point at a file in 05 References.

Five lines is enough for a first cut that is close. Anything we need beyond that, we ask once, at the start, rather than guessing and fixing it in a revision. You can write them straight into our brief form.

03:20

Mark your favourite moments

You were there for the shoot. You know which take made the room laugh and which answer has to be in the video. We do not, yet, and nobody knows the good take better than the person who was there.

Nobody knows the good take better than the person who was there.

The simplest way to tell us is a short list: the file name, the time in the clip, and a few words. 2026-09-12_intro_t2.mov at 01:14, the line about the setting. If you would rather talk, a voice note walking through your favourites works too, as long as it names the files.

03:48

What happens next

Once the folder is in and the brief is written, the clock starts:

1. Day 0: the brief and the footage arrive. We check the link, the files and the five lines, and ask anything missing in one message.
2. Day 1 or 2: the first cut. Short form usually comes back within 24 hours, long form within 48.
3. Two rounds of revisions, about 12 hours a round. Send notes with timecodes, the same way you marked your favourites.
4. Same day: when you sign off, the final files are delivered that day, with the project files.

That is the whole process. The only part you control is the first ten minutes, and it is the part that decides how much of the rest is spent on your video.