Principles of Naming Conventions for Post Production Workflows – Part 3

The Standards

These are some of the standards I’ve implemented in my own naming conventions; many of which apply two or more of the principles I’ve written about. These are the type of recommended rules you’re likely to find in other literature, and each should be considered through the lens of the principles as relevant to your workflows. While I highly advocate for some of them as essential, they’re only meant to illustrate ideas that could be applicable to your workflow, as every team is sure to come up with novel ideas that best suit their projects.

ISO 8601 Iteration

The ISO 8601 standard defines a date format displayed in YYMMDD order (or YYYYMMDD in some cases). This format is commonly adopted in naming conventions when used for defining iterations as appended to the end of filenames. It provides an easy way to assess the latest version of a file and leads to less confusion than using standards like “FinalFinal” or “V1,” “V2,” etc. The ISO 8601 standard is scalable, and if you were to view all your iterations in one folder, you can quickly spot the latest version when sorting by name in your file browser. ISO standards are a great source for well-documented practices.

Example:

Video1-19990504.mov Video1-19990506.mov

Symbols/Special Characters

It is advisable to avoid using most special characters in filenames as they are often incompatible with various platforms, and they could cause trouble in the alignment of your team. However, the dash and the underscore are the most commonly compatible special characters and can be used prescriptively to enhance readability and organization. Consider how you use these in your workflow, how your programs parse them, and what specific meanings you assign to them.

Example of what should be avoided:

Video 2 #Cool!.mov Video 3 This/That? .mov

Example of what to use:

Video_2-Cool.mov Video_3-This_That.mov

CamelCase/Capitalizations

The choice of case in file names has been a topic of debate, but in my experience, CamelCase works best in most cases. CamelCase replaces the need for spaces in filenames without resorting to underscores or dashes (which leaves them open to be used in other methods). It involves capitalizing the first letter of each word within the filename, which improves readability and ensures consistency.

Example:

Video4-AwesomeCampaignAd.mp4 Video5-HowILearnedToStopWorryingAndLoveNamingConventions.mp4

Breadcrumbing

Breadcrumbing is the practice of adding relevant information to your filename in a hierarchical order. For example, you can add the client name, the project name, and the deliverable/asset name. Each piece of information provides clues as to what other assets are related to your file and where to find a project’s information in a CRM or project management platform. Additionally, breadcrumbing helps guide orphaned files (files that were removed from their original location) back to the folder where they belong.

Example:

ClientABC-SquareLogo.png ClientABC-CampaignD-Animation1.mp4 ClientXYZ-Project5-Video8_OrgChartImage.jpeg

Indexes

Indexes are immensely helpful in keeping files and folders in a chronological or sequential order. An index is typically represented by a number at the beginning of a filename, allowing for easy sorting and identification of files and folders based on their order of creation or relevance.

Example:

1-Footage 2-Assets 3-ProjectFiles 4-Output

Leading Zeroes

When consistently using numbers in filename conventions, it is recommended to add leading zeroes. By padding numbers with leading zeroes, you can  maintain consistent formatting and prevent sorting issues, regardless of the platform or file browser used.

Example:

MovieClip-0001.mov MovieClip-0002.mov MovieClip-0003.mov

Character Restrictions

Certain platforms, such as file browsers or project management platforms, may truncate filenames that exceed a specific number of characters. To avoid potential issues, consider limiting the number of characters allowed in your filenames. By keeping file names concise, you ensure that their full names remain visible and easily readable within various software environments.

Example:

From

PlanetEarthClient-AdCampaignNumberOne-VideoEdit02-190203.mov

To

Earth-Camp01-Vid02-190203.mov

Letter Code Abbreviations

For repetitive information or variables across your filenames, you can codify or abbreviate it into recognizable letter codes, rather than spell it out every time it is used. Letter codes can describe from the very simple, like 2-letter country codes (e.g US for United States, GB for Great Britain, JP for Japan, etc), to the more complex like different technical specs. When used on this type of easily understandable information, this standard can save time when typing it out or sorting through files.

Example:

From

TornadoClient-AdVideo01.mov

To

TND-AdVideo01.mov

Highlight Fields

You can experiment with highlight fields by following these steps.

Double click on this Word.

Now-double-click-on-this-Word.

And_now_on_this_Word.

AndLastOnThisWord.

Do you see how each word or group is highlighted?

These are called highlight fields, and the way you separate words within a filename can affect how these fields are merged or split.

You can also navigate through a highlight field with your keyboard’s directional arrows and a modifier key (Command, Control, Option, etc).

Properly separating or joining words into highlight fields with spaces, dashes, underscores and CamelCase can enhance readability and help your workflows, even with complex naming structures.

Information Prefixes and Location Consistency

Another way to codify information in your file names is by using highlight fields, character order, or character prefixes to define where a key part of that info will be found. You can create a naming convention where, for example, the first 3 letters of your file name are the client code, which is then followed by an underscore and 4 digits that describe the project number. Or you could prefix the key terms with an underscore and a lowercase letter that together describe the category of the words that follow them–such as _c for client, _p for project, etc.

This type of standard is especially helpful when your file workflows include handling by automated systems. The one risk is that, without consistency in this standard, it can easily break those systems.

Example:

ClientABC-AdCampaignProject9851-DeliverableVideo01-60SecondVersion.mov ABC_9851-Vid01-60s.mov cABC_p9851_dVid01_t60s.mov

---

By implementing these and other standards in your naming conventions, you can enhance file organization, improve searchability, and minimize confusion within your team’s workflow. Remember to adapt these standards to suit your specific project requirements and collaborate with your team to develop naming conventions that work best for everyone involved.