Video Editing: How to Organize Your Footage

Have you ever sat down to edit a video for your YouTube channel, but just ended up with a mess, because you weren’t able to locate the footage you needed? Well, not to worry, let’s get organized!

Everyone’s process is a little bit different, but hearing how other people work has helped me tremendously in my video editing journey. Today, I am going to share with you the method I use to keep my clips organized, and easily accessible when I am working on a project.

Folders

Before you even start filming, you should set up a system on your computer! This is especially important if you are working on multiple projects at once, or if you have a long term project, that you might take breaks during. An example of this could be a “Week in my Life” video, or even a short film.

I create a folder for each project I work on, and inside that folder, I create additional folders for each type of footage I will be uploading.

These sub-folders could be different for different types of projects. For example, if you were making a “Week in my Life” video, you could create a folder for each day of the week.

(Left) Folder for project, (Right) Subfolders for different parts of the project

You should also create a folder for finished projects, or videos that are “ready to upload”