#437 – Be conventional.
What's in a name(ing convention)?
The power to give and take away (media management) life, that's what!
A little melodramatic, perhaps, but the names you bestow upon your files really are foundational to everything that follows.
In this Issue of Cut/daily I share some common file naming conventions and a couple of media management tips around file names that might come in handy.
Simple but useful stuff.
Why this matters: Having two files named the same (e.g. 0001.mxf) could lead to catastrophic re-linking problems.
But more than that, useless file names don't help you find anything, which:
- Wastes time and slows you down
- Doesn't keep a team aligned
- Makes file name-based search impossible
There is a better way.
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*We all know smoking is a terrible idea.
File Naming Principles
Caveat: There really isn't a ‘right’ way to name a file. You can't do whatever you want, but, as with so many things in life, there's wisdom in following tried and tested conventions.
The Goal: Find without looking (inside)
If you can search your files and find the one you want based on the name alone, you're winning.
File Naming Principles
- Consistent – Key to your naming convention serving you when you need it.
- Coherent – Human-readable. While project code numbers and abbreviations can shorten a name you don't want to keep cross-referencing a database.
- Easy to use – A logical structure will help you stick to it, that or a preset.
- Adopted – If you're working in a team, everyone has to use the same convention.
- Traceable – Include original clip names in case you need to retrace your steps.
Things to avoid
- Special characters such as : ; / \ , . { } [ ] ( ) * ? < > |! $
- Don't make file names way too long.
- Using the word “Final”.
Things to adhere to
- Use underscores (_) or dashes (-) rather than spaces.
- Dates/times are largest to smallest: Year/Month/Day/Hour/Minute/Second.
- Keep correct sort order by including leading zeros in clip numbers, e.g. 007.
- Maintain sync between version numbers on timelines and exports.