How To Use Adobe Premiere

If you’re looking to create professional-looking videos, Adobe Premiere is the program for you.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to get started with Premiere and walk you through some of its most powerful features.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user, we have something for everyone.

So let’s get started!

Tips On How To Use Adobe Premier

Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019 Premiere Pro is a popular video editing software by Adobe that is compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. It is similar to Apple’s Final Cut Pro video editing program, but it has become the preferred program for many video producers.

A new window will emerge when you launch Adobe Premiere Pro. On the left side of the window, click the New Project button.

This will open a new window where you may establish your project’s basic options, such as the filename and location where the project file will be saved.

Name is what you’ll title the project file in the New Project dialog box, and Location is where the project will be generated.

It’s best to keep your footage and project file on an external hard drive when working in Premiere. Create a new folder for your project on your external hard drive, and then use Browse to save your project file in that new location.

You shouldn’t need to modify any of the other options on this page, but check the Scratch Disk settings before clicking OK.

Premiere Pro is a non-destructive editing product, which means that nothing you do in it will affect or overwrite your media files. Having said that, it is always a good idea to retain a backup of your project and media assets. Three of our workshops cover Premier Pro. Join Premiere Pro for Intermediate Video Editors or Advanced Video Editing for hands-on video editing experience.

Developing a New Project

Each video you make in Premiere should begin with a new project.

All of your adjustments and changes will be saved in the project file. It’s saved as a separate.prproj file that only Premiere Pro can open.

The project file will include references to the various media assets you’ll be using to create your movie, as well as the sequences in which you’ll arrange your video clips, add audio tracks, transitions, titles, and so on.

Organizing the Scratch Disks

At the top of the New Project dialog box, select the Scratch Disks tab.

The scratch disk is the spot on your computer where Premiere Pro CC 2019 will save media and other project data.

The Scratch Disk will be placed to the same folder as the destination for your new project by default. Unless you have numerous hard drives, we recommend setting it to the same location.

IF YOU ARE USING A COMPUTER WITH THREE OR MORE HARD DRIVES, you can increase performance by assigning “video previews” and “audio previews” to the third disk. If you only have one or two disks (your computer and an external hard drive), you can ignore this, but for the inquisitive, Adobe’s recommended disk setup is as follows.

After you’ve scratched the disks, you can look at the Ingest Settings. We’re not going to change any of these settings right now, but we’ll return to them later when we start importing our media files. If necessary, you can adjust any of these options once you’ve begun your project.

After you’ve double-checked the ingest settings, click OK.

Workspace Editing

After you start a new project or reopen an existing one, Adobe Premiere’s primary workspace will appear on your screen. It is divided into four panes or sections:

Workspaces — The top bar displays the many workspaces accessible in Premiere. A workspace is simply a setting for how the various windows are arranged. Premiere should open in the Editing workspace by default. This is the workplace on which we will concentrate our efforts. If you ever close or can’t find a window, right-click the three horizontal lines next to Editing in the top bar and select Reset to Saved Layout.

Project — This displays the media files and sequences that you have imported into your project. There are also a variety of tabs within this window that you may use to easily access your media. Media Browser and Effects are two of the key tabs we’ll be using. The Media Browser displays files on your PC or external hard drive that can be imported into Premiere. Effects provides a variety of filters and transitions that you can apply to your movie while editing it.

The Source pane is used to preview video clips that have been selected from the project window. To view a video file in the Source pane, double-click it in the Project pane. To begin editing, drag & drop video files from the Source or Project panes into the Timeline. Effect Controls is one of the key tabs in the Source pane, where you can alter the effects you’ve added to your source video.

Timeline — This is where you arrange your clips in a sequence, as well as transitions, text boxes, audio tracks, and so on. This section will be empty until you create a series.

The bottom right corner of the screen is the default position.

Program — In this window, you may see a preview of the sequence that is currently open in the Timeline. This is a preview of your current edit.

Click the Window button in the vertical bar at the top of the screen to change the layout of your workspace panes. The first option in the menu should be ‘Workspaces.’ Hover over it to see the possible pre-selected workspace panes, and then select the one you want. We recommend that you use the Editing layout.

Any panel can be resized by clicking and dragging at the pane edges, or moved about the screen by clicking and dragging on the pane’s name.

Preferences

In Premiere, you may adjust a variety of settings preferences, such as doing more frequent automatic saves of your project or changing the default settings for how audio from your camera is turned into other types of audio files.

To alter the settings on a Mac, go to the top horizontal menu and pick Premiere Pro > Preferences, then choose the setting you wish to change.

On a PC, go to Edit > Preferences to access the same menu.

Save Automatically

We recommend that you change your Auto Save settings to Automatically Save Every 5 Minutes.

To do so, go to the top of the screen and select Premiere Pro from the horizontal menu. Hover your mouse over Preferences and select Auto Save from the drop-down box.

Check that the checkbox next to Automatically save projects is selected.

Enter 5 minutes in the text field next to Automatically Save Every:

Enter 100 in the text field next to Maximum Project Versions.

This will save your project more frequently and maintain a longer history of previous versions of your project.

By configuring your Scratch Disks, you can specify where Premiere Pro CC 2019 will save your auto-saved files. Hover over File in the top-right horizontal menu, then Project Settings, and Scratch Disks. A new window titled Project Settings will be displayed. You can specify where the auto-saved files should be saved under Project Auto Save.

Copies of Video Camera Files

We need to copy the footage from your camera’s memory card to the computer or external hard disk before we can edit it.

The simplest way to do this is to use a card reader to attach your memory card to your computer, and then drag and drop the contents into a folder that contains both your project file and video files onto the computer or external hard drive.

Important: It is preferable to drag the whole contents of the card onto your computer. DSLR cameras, such as Canon and Nikon, may have individual.mp4 files that you may copy one at a time, but with many cameras, particularly Panasonic and Sony, you must drag the entire folder onto the card. This folder is most likely labeled “Private,” and it will contain another folder called AVCHD or XAVC that contains the video files. It’s critical to keep these folders together because they contain related items like metadata files that Premiere will require to open the films. You should not modify the AVCHD folder or any of the files included within it, or you risk ruining the video recording.

Copying your film to your computer or an external hard drive makes the video files available to Premiere for import via the Media Browser, and it also allows you to detach the memory card without disrupting Premiere’s connection to the video files.

Importing

To begin editing, you must first load your media into Premiere.

From the horizontal menu at the top of the screen, select File > Import. A Finder window will open, from which you can choose whether to import a folder or individual files.

To navigate your computer and select media to import, use the Media Browser pane on the lower left side of the editing workspace. The Media Browser is comparable to Finder or Explorer in functionality, except it is incorporated into Premiere. You can look at the files on your computer or external hard drive and import them into Premiere.

You may preview a clip to ensure it’s one you want to import by choosing it and scanning through it with the little scrubber bar.

To view this project window in fullscreen mode, use the tilde key ( ) on the keyboard while the Media Browser is selected. This, combined with zooming in on the thumbnail view, provides an easy way to sift through your videos and preview your clips.

Double-click a file to see a preview in the Source pane, which is directly above the Project pane. This does not import the file, but it does allow you to play the clip and navigate through it in a larger view.

Importing a file is as simple as right-clicking on it and selecting Import from the drop-down menu. The file will be imported by Premiere Pro CC 2019, and it will appear in the Project pane.

Ingesting

You may also use the Media Browser to copy files from a media card to your computer and import them into Premiere all at once. This will copy all of the material on your card to your computer and import it all at once. To import files in this manner, Adobe Media Encoder must be installed.

To begin, check the Ingest checkbox in the Media Browser’s top bar.

Then, next to the Ingest checkbox, click the wrench to confirm your selections. The Project Settings window will open to the Ingest Settings tab.

On the left, you’ll see the file directory for your hard disk. Navigate to the folder containing the file you wish to utilize in your video, and the file will be displayed on the right. Video files will be displayed as icons depicting the opening scene from the clip.

To display your video and photographs as icons, make sure you click the icon view button at the bottom of the Media Browser. You may also raise the size of the icons by using the slider at the bottom, and sort by name, filetype, and so on by clicking on the three horizontal lines.

Copy : indicates that a copy of the files will be created.

Preset: MD5 verification is a fancy way of stating Premiere will double-check to ensure that everything copied correctly.

Primary Destination: Specifies where the files will be copied. The files will be placed in the same folder as your project file by default.

To save your settings, click OK.

Using the Media Browser tab, navigate to your card’s location. Local Drives should contain your media card. You can use the arrow to navigate to the card from which you wish to import files. Select Import from the menu options after right-clicking on the file or folder you want to import. The media files on the card will be copied to your project file and imported into your project.

Another tool, Adobe Media Encoder, will launch and display a progress bar as the files are copied, but you may ignore this and begin editing right away.

Reversing modifications

If you make a mistake when editing your video, you can go back to a previous version of your project by using Premiere’s Undo function.

The Undo function can be used in a variety of ways. Navigate to the top of the page’s horizontal menu bar, right-click Edit, and then select Undo from the menu.

Alternatively, if you’re using a Mac, you can use a keyboard shortcut by pressing Command + Z at the same time. If you’re on a computer, use CTRL + Z.

Examining Your Clips

To edit the film you imported, exit the Media Browser and go to the Project tab in the Project window.

Check that you are in the Project pane and not the Media Browser. Clips in either window can be previewed in similar ways (such as scrubbing through film), but only the Project pane displays the imported media that’s ready to edit.

By selecting one of two options in the bottom left of the Project pane, you can choose whether to see your footage as a list or as icons that you can scroll through. Clips can be viewed in the Source pane for a larger preview. To preview a clip, double-click it or click and drag it onto the source monitor.

Once a clip has been loaded in the Source pane, you can play or pause it by using the bottom buttons or the space bar on your keyboard. The blue pointer is known as the Playhead, and it indicates your position in the video. You can scrub forward or backward in the footage by dragging it left or right.

The keys J, K, and L can be used to control playback. J will rewind the clip, K will pause it, and L will play it forward. Multiple clicks on J or L will speed up or slow down playback forwards or backwards.

Making a Sequence

Before you begin editing, you must first build a sequence. A sequence is a collection of all of your edits. The Project pane organizes and accesses sequences, while the Timeline is where they are modified. It is entirely possible to have numerous sequences in a single project, or to do all of your editing within a single sequence, depending on how you operate.

Navigate to the horizontal menu at the top of the screen to start a new series. Navigate to File > New > Sequence. You can also use the shortcut Command + N on a Mac or CTRL + N on a PC.

After you’ve finished creating the sequence, a New Sequence window will appear. You can select options for your project’s sequence here, which will be applied to the video you’re making.

You can adjust the parameters here to match the video format used by the camera for this project. You may then store the modifications as a custom configuration to reuse later (this is useful if you use the same video camera frequently). The Sony X70, for example, is the primary video camera used at Berkeley AMI.

Navigate to the XDCAMHD 422 folder under Available Presets in the Sequence Presets tab. Open the 1080p folder within this folder and select XDCAM HD422 1080p24. This setting corresponds to the resolution and frame rate of the Sony x70 camera.

If you’re using a Nikon or Canon, you’ll want to select the Digital SLR mode.

Open the Settings tab, which is located to the right of the Sequence Presets tab, to establish custom settings. In the lower left corner of the window, click the Save Preset button. A new window will appear, allowing you to give your preset a name. Click OK after giving the preset a name. Your preset will be accessible via the Sequence Presets tab, in the Custom folder at the bottom of the list of Available Presets.

You can save your own preset for future projects in which you edit video from the same camera.

If you’re unsure about your camera’s video settings, Premiere can match the sequence settings for you. When you drag a video clip from the Project pane into the Timeline, Premiere Pro CC 2019 will accomplish this automatically.

If you drag and drop a clip into the Timeline later, a dialog box will popup asking if you want to Change sequence to match the clip’s parameters. Select Change sequence parameters to do so, and the settings will be adjusted to match those of your video clip.

NOTE: You may not receive this warning if you copy and paste a clip into the Timeline. It may only display after you drag a clip from the project window or source monitor into the Timeline.

Inserting Clips into the Timeline

Drag a clip from the Source pane on the top left of the screen to the Timeline pane on the lower right to add it to a sequence in the Timeline. You may also drag and drop video clips from the Project window into the timeline.

If the clip you’re moving to the timeline has audio, it will be immediately inserted as one or two additional audio tracks on A1 and A2 underneath the video track.

You can drag only the audio component of a clip to the timeline if necessary. Drag the audio waveform-shaped symbol, which appears directly below the preview in the Source pane, to the audio tracks in the timeline.

You may also drag only the video segment to the timeline (without the audio). Drag the icons that look like a film strip just below the preview on the Source window to the timeline’s video track.

You may also highlight a piece of the video while previewing it in the Source pane to drag a selection into the timeline instead of a whole video clip.

Using the blue playhead, point to where you want to start the selection. Select the selection with the open bracket tool or by pressing I on your keyboard. Scrub forward to your desired endpoint in your video preview and click the closed bracket tool, or press O on your keyboard. The selected area will be highlighted in the Source pane. To edit, drag & drop the selection into the Timeline pane.

Utilizing the Timeline

The timeline is where you will modify and create your final video.

In the timeline, video clips display as horizontal bars. Those in the upper half (the lines labeled V1, V2, V3, and so on) are video content. Those in the lower half (A1, A2, A3, and so on) are audio files.

The playhead is the thin vertical blue line that indicates your position in the timeline. When you move the playhead over a video clip, it will appear in the program pane above. If you have multiple tracks or clips in the timeline, the playhead will scroll through them from top to bottom. One video track, for example, will cover another. Consider all of your tracks to be stacked and viewed from above by the playhead.

Zoom IN on the Timeline

In the Program pane, you can only see the top video clip.

You can move the playhead by dragging it right or left, or you can navigate by pressing the spacebar on your keyboard and using the keys J,K, and L. They play backwards, pause, and forward, in that order.

You can also zoom in and out of the timeline by using the + and – keys, or by clicking and dragging the circles on the horizontal bar beneath the timeline from left to right. Zooming in and out on the clip allows you to more closely examine the seconds or minutes and edit the film more precisely.

Zoomed In: This is the same clip as above, but we’re just seeing a few seconds of it below.

Using the Timeline to Edit Clips

Moving video clips in the timeline is as simple as clicking and dragging them up, down, left, or right.

You can cut clips by clicking on the clip’s edge and dragging it in. A red arrow will show when you hover your cursor over the clip. To shorten the clip to the desired length, click and drag inward.

You may also make a clip longer by clicking on the edge and dragging it to the right.

You can unlink video and audio tracks in a clip if you want to edit one without impacting the other (for example, deleting the audio track).

Click the Linked Selection button, which includes a picture of a mouse pointer across two bars, to separate audio from video. If the button is highlighted blue, your audio and video are linked within the clip; if it is highlighted white, the selection is unlinked. Alternatively, right-click on the clip and choose Unlink from the drop-down menu. You may now move the video and audio track clips separately.

You may also make any of your adjustments only target the clip you’re clicking on by holding Option or Alt. Holding Alt, for example, allows you to click and pick only one audio track from a linked pair.

The Timeline is configured by default such that adjacent clips “snap” to each other, making it simple to align them without having one clip accidently overlap the other or leaving empty space between clips.

If necessary, you can disable snapping by clicking on the Snap symbol, which is located in the top left corner of the Timeline, above the video track names. The Snap icon resembles a U-shaped magnet and should be highlighted blue when turned on and white when turned off. When you move your mouse over the icon, the word Snap will display. You can also toggle it on and off by pressing S on your keyboard.

To erase a clip from the Timeline, select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Razor Tool for Splitting or Removing a Section of a Clip

You can use the Razor tool to divide or slice out a portion of a video or audio clip if you want to split it in two or remove a segment in the midst of a clip (for example, to eliminate a sound gap in your audio).

The razor tools are excellent for editing lengthier sequences, such as interview portions. You can bring the entire clip into the timeline and cut it with the razor tool.

You may also drag only the video segment to the timeline (without the audio). Drag the icons that look like a film strip just below the preview on the Source window to the timeline’s video track.

You may also highlight a piece of the video while previewing it in the Source pane to drag a selection into the timeline instead of a whole video clip.

Using the blue playhead, point to where you want to start the selection. Select the selection with the open bracket tool or by pressing I on your keyboard. Scrub forward to your desired endpoint in your video preview and click the closed bracket tool, or press O on your keyboard. The selected area will be highlighted in the Source pane. To edit, drag & drop the selection into the Timeline pane.

Using the Timeline to Edit Clips

Moving video clips in the timeline is as simple as clicking and dragging them up, down, left, or right.

You can cut clips by clicking on the clip’s edge and dragging it in. A red arrow will show when you hover your cursor over the clip. To shorten the clip to the desired length, click and drag inward.

You may also make a clip longer by clicking on the edge and dragging it to the right.

You can unlink video and audio tracks in a clip if you want to edit one without impacting the other (for example, deleting the audio track).

Click the Linked Selection button, which includes a picture of a mouse pointer across two bars, to separate audio from video. If the button is highlighted blue, your audio and video are linked within the clip; if it is highlighted white, the selection is unlinked. Alternatively, right-click on the clip and choose Unlink from the drop-down menu. You may now move the video and audio track clips separately.

You may also make any of your adjustments only target the clip you’re clicking on by holding Option or Alt. Holding Alt, for example, allows you to click and pick only one audio track from a linked pair.

The Timeline is configured by default such that adjacent clips “snap” to each other, making it simple to align them without having one clip accidently overlap the other or leaving empty space between clips.

If necessary, you can disable snapping by clicking on the Snap symbol, which is located in the top left corner of the Timeline, above the video track names. The Snap icon resembles a U-shaped magnet and should be highlighted blue when turned on and white when turned off. When you move your mouse over the icon, the word Snap will display. You can also toggle it on and off by pressing S on your keyboard.

To erase a clip from the Timeline, select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Razor Tool for Splitting or Removing a Section of a Clip

You can use the Razor tool to divide or slice out a portion of a video or audio clip if you want to split it in two or remove a segment in the midst of a clip (for example, to eliminate a sound gap in your audio).

The razor tools are excellent for editing lengthier sequences, such as interview portions. You can bring the entire clip into the timeline and cut it with the razor tool.

Double-click on the clip you wish to modify in the Project window to bring it up in the Source pane.

Play the clip by using the spacebar on your keyboard or using the play controls at the bottom of the Source pane (press the spacebar once to play and then again to pause the clip).

OUR FINAL THOUGHTS

Adobe Premiere is a great program for video editing, but it can be a little daunting to learn at first. Hopefully, these tips will help you get started and make the most of this powerful software. Keep in mind that practice makes perfect, so don’t be discouraged if your first few edits aren’t up to par. The most important quality you should look for when hiring an employee is their willingness to learn and improve their skills. With the right tools and training, anyone can become a skilled video editor using Adobe Premiere. What are you waiting for? Start learning today!

FREQUENTLY ASK QUESTION

Is Adobe Premiere Pro appropriate for beginners?

Adobe Premiere Pro is an excellent editor for beginners due of its versatility. As the industry standard video editor, there are various tutorials available to assist novice users in understanding the software’s capabilities and features. Premiere Pro also teaches beginners how to edit the audio and images in a video.

What is the most effective technique to study Adobe Premiere Pro?

These websites cover anything from basic operation to expert editing skills.

1.Lynda.com is an instructional website that has been in operation since 1995.

2.Adobe Support.

3.Sharing of skills…

4.Pluralsight.

5.YouTube.

6.Video School on Vimeo.

How can I learn to edit videos?

Tutorials on Video Editing

Websites such as Video Copilot, Skillshare, and Red Giant Tutorials provide a wealth of highly specialised tutorials to assist you in improving your video content. When looking for lessons to attain specific looks and complete specific activities, keep the software version of the program in mind.

Originally posted on February 2, 2022 @ 9:46 pm