Editing Project Organization: 3 Reasons to NOT Skip This Step!

This quick editing tip will cover why it’s important to have good editing project organization. We’ll review three main reasons why you need to thoroughly organize your footage and what could happen if you don’t!

So, what happens if I don’t organize my footage?

Well for starters, you’d probably encounter a lot of frustration.

If we were to try to just start cutting together the footage into our scene right away, it’d be really frustrating trying to find the shots we need. We’d have to manually look through all of the footage each time we needed a specific scene or take. That gets old REALLY fast. Trust me, I’ve tried it before.

Second, you’d miss good shots and takes.

It’s really easy to scrub over footage quickly and not notice the really great delivery of a line or a well-executed punch or an emotionally powerful facial expression.

If you’re missing the opportunities to include these moments and shots because your footage isn’t organized, you’re not creating the best version of the scene from the material you have to work with. Then you end up with mediocre editing that doesn’t do any good for your film or for your reputation as an editor.

The third thing that will almost definitely happen if you don’t spend the time to properly organize your footage early on is that you’ll slow down the editing process…a lot.

Ultimately, the time you’ll lose having to look for shots and in a huge pile of disorganized footage will waste more time than you saved by not organizing everything in the first place. And on top of that, you’ll end up with a worse version of the final scene because you’ll be missing some of the good stuff in the process.

Alright, so hopefully I’ve convinced you how important this is. Trust me when I tell you, taking the time to organize your shots and prepare for editing it just as important as knowing how to actually cut together the footage.

Have you ever cut a corner or two when it came to organizing your footage under a tight deadline? Did it come back to bite you later? We’d love to hear your story so leave a comment below!