hrw media guide

Multimedia projects are named according to the method shown above. Projects are named by year, month that project begins, HRW division, country and subject information. Once you’ve created a project ID, please do not change it.

Please use the following standard set of abbreviations for HRW divisions:

By using HRW Project IDs, you ensure data will be easy to find in the future and can be used for video production or as legal evidence. The guidelines below provide information that will help Multimedia staff producing and archiving content to clean and preserve completed projects for long-term, read-only storage.

HRW often releases updates to past projects to highlight important progress in human rights issues we cover. In these cases, create a new project ID with today’s date and the same name as the previous project followed by the word “UPDATE”

When submitting files for updated projects to the archive, new files, such as final exports and Premiere project files are all that is needed.

For products that are released on a daily basis, please add the DAY to your project ID.

When naming folders, please only use underscores and alphanumeric characters. Do not use punctuation, spaces or “forbidden” characters, which can create errors in different computing systems. The full list of forbidden characters is below:

# % & [ ] { } \ / < > * ? $ ! ‘ “ : @

File Naming General Best Practices and Tips

1. Files that are created outside of HRW (camera native originals, licensed media, social media downloads, etc.) must retain original filenames and metadata to retain provenance and, in some cases, data integrity for use as potential legal evidence.

2. Files that are created by HRW staff (final master exports, distribution files, project files, etc.) must be named according to HRW Archives naming standards (ie: YYYYMMDIV_Country_Subject) as outlined in the HRW Naming Guide.

3. When exporting large sets of files, consider using the NameChanger application to correct mislabeled files, remove forbidden characters, and ensure all HRW-created files are named correctly.

audio – This folder contains source audio files, such as audio interviews or music from licensing agencies.

distribution – Please use the distribution folder to store all compressed exports that were distributed, published, or uploaded to HRW websites (such as media.hrw.org or hrw.org) or social media platforms. This folder should contain, for example, all compressed, final MP4 files, such as those ending in “…HI_RES_16x9_mp4.MP4”

documents – Document files include consent forms, transcripts, shot lists, translations, reports, and scripts, etc.

elements – Branding files that are used repeatedly in projects, such as end screens, audio tracks, graphics, and MOGRTs, are located in this folder.

exports – Please use our naming convention for exports. YYYYMMDIV_Country_Topic_FINAL_+ version

202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_FEATURE.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_FEATURE_LANGUAGE.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_CLIPREEL.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_CLIPREEL_NO_SUBS.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_WebEditors.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_CLEAN.mov
202208MENA_Syria_Landmines_FINAL_SOCIAL.mov

When final exports are complete, please store them in the finals folder. Please store rough exports in the working folder. Note that derivatives of these exports (such as .MP4 files created in Compress or MediaEncoder) will be stored in the distribution folder.

graphics – All graphics and titles will be stored in this folder, including animations, maps, and other graphics.

logs – This folders contains text logs for administrative transactions by our technical team.

originals – Original camera files and other source data (with the exception of third party media – see below), will be stored in this folder. This includes both still images and video, such as broll, interviews, and other source footage. HRW generally holds the rights to assets in this folder, but not always.

When moving files into this folder, please use the following folder naming standards with today’s date:

YYYY-MM-DD_Sender_Name
For example:
2022-05-10_Videographer_Name

NOTE: Please do not use the originals folder to retain render files, specifically Adobe CFA and PEK files.

projects – All project files, such as those associated with Adobe Premiere (especially “.pproj” project files,) are stored here. This folder also contains the HRW MM Premiere editing templates.

third-party-media – Third-party footage acquired through download from commercial websites, licensing agencies, or social media will be stored in this folder. This folder contains assets that HRW definitively does not have rights to reuse.

transcodes – All files that are transcoded from “original” camera files are stored here. Please name folders exactly as they are named in the “originals” or “third-party-media” directories. Render files and other temporary files that are derivatives of other files can be stored here. Because these files are derivatives and are only for temporary use during the production process, they may be deleted.