Construction Time Lapse File Naming Convention for Clean Handover
Adopt sortable fields, keep originals immutable, and hand over a working sequence plus a manifest that lists gaps. A construction time-lapse file naming convention is a filing decision. It is not a reason to overwrite camera files or to put people’s names in a filename that will be emailed around a project.
Thousands of progress stills fall apart at handover when one editor sorts by name, another by modified date, and the client receives a zip called final-final-v3. The convention below separates capture identity from delivery identity so both can stay true.
Which fields belong in a construction time-lapse filename
Use only fields that a stranger on the project could interpret without opening the file. A practical set is:
- project or plot code that already exists in the contract documents;
- viewpoint code, such as ELEV-NORTH, not “camera by the gate”;
- capture date as year-month-day;
- a zero-padded sequence number for that viewpoint;
- a role flag for working copies only, such as SRC, WRK, or PUB.
Join them with hyphens, not spaces. Avoid characters that break command-line tools. Do not put client surnames, worker names, or private addresses in the name. Do not put marketing language such as “4K-final-best”.
Keep the original camera basename in a manifest column, not in the public delivery name, if the camera string is long or contains spaces. The delivery name should be boring. Boring names sort. Clever names collide.
Time of day is optional. Include it when more than one still is captured per day and the sequence number is not enough. Use a 24-hour HHMMSS field if you include it, and say in the manifest whether that time is the camera clock or the site diary.
How do I keep filenames sorting in capture order
Fixed-width, zero-padded numbers and year-month-day dates are what make a listing match the programme. 2026-03-02 sorts before 2026-11-02. seq-0009 sorts before seq-0010. seq-9 does not.
This is not only a human convenience. Sequence tools that read numbered stills expect a consistent index pattern. The FFmpeg documentation for image sequences describes patterns such as img-%03d.bmp matching img-001.bmp, img-002.bmp, and so on. If your delivery set is meant to be concatenated into a film, the sequence field must be consecutive in the working folder, even if the calendar skipped a week. Calendar gaps belong in the manifest. They should not appear as a missing integer unless you have decided, in writing, that the film should stall on a held frame.
Do not rely on file modified dates. Copying to a new disk rewrites them. Do not rely on “sort by date taken” unless every machine in the chain can read that metadata. A name that already contains the date and the sequence will survive a mail system that strips metadata.
One viewpoint, one number line. If a second camera covers a second elevation, give it a different viewpoint code and its own sequence. Mixing two views in one number line is how north and west façades shuffle in the client’s player.
Should original files be renamed
No. Keep originals immutable. Copy first. Rename only the working copy, or do not rename files at all: keep camera names in 01-originals and apply delivery names only in 03-delivery through a copy step that the manifest can reverse.
Overwriting a camera file to please an encoder is a one-way edit. Cards get reused. Laptops get stolen. The immutable originals are the recovery path. If a tool demands a numbered pattern, generate that pattern in a working folder. Leave the card dump untouched.
If someone already renamed originals before you arrived, stop and snapshot what you have. Record that the chain of custody is broken. Do not rename again in the hope of reconstructing the camera’s own scheme.
How should missing or replacement frames be recorded
Gaps are normal. Hidden gaps are not. Record them in the manifest, not with a cryptic filename.
Use a row, not a magic file, for a missing day: date, viewpoint, reason, such as “no capture – shutdown” or “card failed – no recovery”. If you insert a replacement still, give it a new sequence number in the working set and mark the row as replacement, with the source (“site manager still”, “previous day’s hold frame”) and the authorisation. Do not silently duplicate a frame to keep an encoder happy unless the manifest says that the film holds on that frame.
If a still is withdrawn for privacy, do not leave a hole that another machine fills with an unrelated file of the same number. Retire the number in the manifest, shift only the working sequence if the film must stay consecutive, and keep the withdrawn file out of the delivery zip. Write that the delivery sequence and the original capture numbers now differ, and by which mapping.
Replacements should never reuse a filename that once meant a different photograph. People cache files. A reused name is a quiet substitution.
What should be included in the client handover
Hand over a package that can be audited without you on the call:
- the delivery sequence, named with the convention, in one folder per viewpoint;
- a manifest as a simple table: delivery name, original name if different, capture date, sequence, notes;
- a gap list, even if it is short;
- the draft or finished film if one exists, with the frame rate written in the filename;
- a short read-me that states the viewpoint, the purpose, the date range, and who to ask about privacy or missing days;
- nothing that needs a personal login to open.
Do not hand over the only originals. Do not hand over a nest of folders called old, old2, and use-this-one. Do not include stills that show neighbouring interiors if the purpose was the building plot. Naming will not fix a view that should not have been delivered.
If the client only wants a film, still include the manifest. Films get recompressed. The stills and the list are what let someone rebuild the job later.
When is a simple folder structure no longer enough
A simple dated folder is enough for a handful of stills on a short job with one camera and one editor. It is no longer enough when any of these appear:
- more than one viewpoint or more than one capture device;
- more than one person naming files;
- a need to encode an image sequence, which wants consecutive padded numbers;
- privacy redactions or replacements;
- handover to a client, an archive, or a later dispute about what was seen in week 18;
- file counts in the hundreds or thousands, where memory cannot replace a list.
At that point the convention and the manifest are the job, not extra paperwork. Without them, every new contributor invents a scheme, and none of the schemes sort.
Completed template
Project HX-204, viewpoint ELEV-NORTH, working copy only. Originals remain in 01-originals with camera names unchanged.
Delivery still: HX204-ELEV-NORTH-2026-03-18-0042-PUB.jpg
Manifest row:
| delivery_name | original_name | capture_date | seq | role | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HX204-ELEV-NORTH-2026-03-18-0042-PUB.jpg | DSC_1187.JPG | 2026-03-18 | 0042 | PUB | ok |
| (none) | (none) | 2026-03-19 | — | GAP | no capture – high wind, site closed |
| HX204-ELEV-NORTH-2026-03-20-0043-PUB.jpg | DSC_1190.JPG | 2026-03-20 | 0043 | PUB | ok; sequence continues after gap |
| HX204-ELEV-NORTH-2026-03-21-0044-WRK.jpg | DSC_1191.JPG | 2026-03-21 | 0044 | WRK | replacement still authorised by site manager; original card corrupt |
Read-me line: “ELEV-NORTH stills for plot HX-204, 18 to 21 March 2026. 19 March is a logged gap, not a missing integer in the delivery sequence. Originals are not in this zip.”
That template is complete enough to copy. Change the codes to the ones your contract already uses. Do not add a person’s name to make it “clearer”.
Who this article is not for
This article is not for teams that need a records-management standard, a particular DAM product, or permission to overwrite camera cards. It is not a privacy policy. It is not written for putting personal names, payroll numbers, or home addresses in filenames. It is not an encoding tutorial beyond the need for padded sequence numbers.
Stop conditions
Stop if the only path forward is to rename or overwrite originals. Stop if a gap would be hidden by a duplicated still with no manifest row. Stop if filenames would include personal names or unnecessary personal data. Stop if two viewpoints would share one sequence line. Stop if handover would be a zip of competing “final” folders with no list. Fix the structure before the file count grows again.
If a dedicated camera is still on the shopping list
If the naming and manifest rules are agreed and the project still needs a dedicated progress camera rather than a mixed phone dump, you can review the construction time-lapse camera product page. Confirm the live listing for the variant you would actually use. This convention does not depend on, and does not certify, any product file format.