Meet the two greatest unsung heroes of a production: file structure & shot list.
Not that anyone is dying to know how I organized my files for this project - but because I am a nerd who is passionate about streamlining your workflow, I am going to share. Welcome to my show and tell of my file structure:
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/66466fe6-2e46-4e70-9dbc-155b36990f2a/be2eb36a-bbd7-4c22-b17e-d7d85c02caa4_rw_1200.jpg?h=838c7f51af73806aedafada9b79b4494)
Basically, I split my folders based on the scenes. In every "SC#" folder:
_TESTS:
All my tests - this is where I put all my test shots for the scene.
_TESTS:
All my tests - this is where I put all my test shots for the scene.
AE:
Every scene had an AfterEffects file where I worked on all the shots in the scene. This kept the AfterEffects files relatively light.
Every scene had an AfterEffects file where I worked on all the shots in the scene. This kept the AfterEffects files relatively light.
BG:
All my final backgrounds
All my final backgrounds
HARMONY:
Because I knew I might have to outsource cleanups for my character animation, I made a different ToonBoom file for each shot. All the shots are in this folder.
Because I knew I might have to outsource cleanups for my character animation, I made a different ToonBoom file for each shot. All the shots are in this folder.
RENDER:
This is where I kept all my character animations, C4D renders, and any other background elements that are ready to be composited into the final version
This is where I kept all my character animations, C4D renders, and any other background elements that are ready to be composited into the final version
YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE.
Well, if you've read this far, hopefully you're as nerdy as me about developing an efficient workflow. I made a shot list using the boards from the animatic to refer to the shots and numbering them in order.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/66466fe6-2e46-4e70-9dbc-155b36990f2a/e07c28d4-cbf8-4dcd-85fb-893796b8c16e_rw_1920.jpg?h=ab7514b80454cfcd4c8bf99af6e0e352)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/66466fe6-2e46-4e70-9dbc-155b36990f2a/1aafdddd-4390-4e27-b732-a4da8b4836c5_rw_1920.jpg?h=280ab0e913cd86728b16abc5e55cd3ac)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/66466fe6-2e46-4e70-9dbc-155b36990f2a/5f0f275a-b9b4-46ca-966f-2c052db9868a_rw_1920.jpg?h=af808b764f66f9821e358fe1452aed35)
This exercise was highly beneficial in articulating each and every single element that needs to be animated frame-by-frame, which made me palpably feel the volume of work I needed to do. While I didn't really end up using this to update my progress (except for the cleanup stage), this was my go-to to remind myself which shots I still needed to get done, and also simply to check which shot is what.
Once the track had been thus outlined, it was time to sprint!!