ReelWorkshop shows you a list of imported clips with thumbnails and quality scores, but thumbnails alone don't distinguish between three near-identical takes of the same shot, and quality scores don't tell you what a clip actually contains. A short naming pass before import solves both problems cheaply.
A naming convention that scales
You don't need anything elaborate. A pattern like number, subject, note works for almost any project: 01-kickflip-good, 02-kickflip-shaky, 03-landing-crowd-reaction. The number preserves rough chronological order, the subject tells you what's in frame, and the note flags anything you'll want to remember later, like a usable take versus a backup.
- Batch-rename by scene or subject first, using your operating system's rename tool or a free batch renamer.
- Add a short quality or status note only where it matters — you don't need to annotate every single file.
- Keep names short enough to read fully in a cramped file list or thumbnail caption.
- Avoid special characters that can cause issues in file systems or import tools: stick to letters, numbers and hyphens.
What naming does and doesn't fix
A good name tells you what a clip is before you open it, which speeds up the first-pass selection stage considerably. It does not replace watching the footage — a clip named good-take can still turn out to be unusable on closer look, and ReelWorkshop's automatic quality score is a separate, unrelated signal based on the footage itself, not your filename.
| Naming choice | Effect on later stages |
|---|---|
| Numbered by rough order | Import list roughly matches shoot order, easier to scan |
| Subject or scene in the name | Faster to spot what you need during selection |
| Take number for repeats | Easier to compare and discard duplicates you weren't sure about |
| No renaming at all | You're reading timestamps and thumbnails to figure out every clip |
Renaming after import doesn't change anything ReelWorkshop uses internally, and it's slower to do one clip at a time inside a project than in a batch on the desktop. Do it before you import.
When to skip this stage
For a project with five or six clips, this stage is overkill — you can keep track of that many in your head. It starts paying off somewhere around 15-20 clips, and it becomes close to mandatory once you're approaching the 100-clip project cap with footage from more than one shoot.
Mistakes to avoid
- Spending so long naming that you never get to the actual edit — this is a five-minute pass, not an archival project.
- Using names so similar they're indistinguishable in a scrolled list, like clip1 through clip40.
- Renaming after you've already started arranging, which forces you to re-learn which clip is which mid-edit.