Home Video Intake Process

This is the process I go through when I pull home videos off of phones or cameras to add to my collection. Following this process helps me ensure I keep everything organized and backed up. Plus, with a consistent organization, I can easily find things later.

My home video intake process is very similar to my photo intake process and usually takes place at the same time because the devices with home videos usually also photos.

Video Organization

I organize my home videos in folders by year and name them by date/time with a small description. For example, you might see a layout like this in my home videos folder:

videos/
    2012/
    2013/
    2014/
    2015/
        20150103_132230 Crazy Cat.mp4
        20150112_165211 Phoenix Dancing.mp4

Intake Process

1. Download the videos from the device onto my computer desktop.

2. Rename the files to a format like YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.mp4 (e.g., 21050611_113812.mp4) based on the original date/time the video was taken. I’ll also add a small description to the name like 20150103_132230 Crazy Cat.mp4.

3. Put all the videos into the folder of the year in which they were taken.