PremierePro 2020 | Introduction to professional editing

INTRO

Hi, this is Nico from Einstellungssache. In this video series I will show you all our learnings and tricks, that we have collected over the years in post-production, to help you create professional looking videos.

Regardless of whether you are looking for answers in a specific subject, you want to increase your efficiency, or you just started working on your very first project – this is the right place. I will provide you with explanations, exercises, tips and tricks and content for download. That’s how you will gain the most expertise in dealing with Premiere in a short amount of time.

In this course we will be discussing the fundamental settings and approaches for your first project.

This tutorial is for Windows and Mac. All shortcuts will be displayed for both operating systems.

PREPARATION

First of all I will create a new project folder on my desktop which will contain all of my media. In this folder I will create two subfolders named “Video” and “Audio”. All Files should be sorted in this structure to keep everything neatly organized.

After starting Premiere I can create a new project by clicking on “New Project”. The name should be the same as the project itself. By default the location is set to your last project. I will change that to my new folder.

TIPS AND TRICKS

It’s pretty useful to set up a folder structure once and copy paste that whenever you need to. The premiere homescreen shows the last-opened projects, if named correctly you can quickly navigate between different projects, without the need to goe through dozens of folders in the explorer. For the best performance the material should be on a different drive than system and program – on an SSD if possible.

IMPORT

Premiere is built up from different panels. Panels are windows for the different aspects of things you can do. The arrangement of these panels can be changed. There are 8 different templates for working spaces. For now, “Editing” is all I care about. To explain the different panels, I will firstly import my material into PremierePro. To do so, I double-click in the empty area in the project-panel, select the footage I want to import and confirm my selection by clicking “Open”. Alternatively I could import by dragging my media from the explorer in the project-panel. With the two symbols List-View and Icon-View I can toggle between a preview and list-view of all imported media. By hovering with the mouse over a video-thumbnail I can also scroll through the clip itself. That’s pretty handy to sort and organize the data. Speaking of which - it’s a good idea to use the same folder structure as the project folder to organize all files in Premiere.

EXCERCISE

-Import video and audio data

-Create a folder structure in Premiere

-Sort your media

„First of all I’m checking if I’m in the right workspace. After that I’m importing my data by double-clicking in an empty space in the project-panel, navigating to my project folder and selecting all the video files. And on the second run my audio files – which is only the music. To keep everything well organized, I will create two folders “video” and “audio”.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

By dragging the edges, the panels can be adjusted in size. They can also be closed or reopened at any time through the Windows Tab, in which I can also reset the whole working space to it’s original layout. To do so, got to window, working space and “reset to saved Layout”. On the other hand you can also save your custom layout as a new working space. For this navigate to window, working space “Save as new Workspace”. This new workspace will be in the top shelf next to the other ones.

If you are using a second monitor, you can also undock one or more panels and use them enlarged on your second screen.

If your data has already been sorted before editing, there’s an option to import a folder with all it’s subfolders and content.

SEQEUNCES

To start editing I have to create a sequence. A sequence determines the resolution and framerate of the final video. It does make sense to choose the same settings as your recorded material. To create a matching sequence, right click on your first clip and chose “new sequence from clip”.

The sequence that has been created is named after the clip. It’s best to rename it. In the right upper half there’s the viewport, that displays the sequence. In the lower right is the timeline. With spacebar I can start and pause the playback, by dragging the needle I can navigate to a specific timecode.

To insert more videos in the sequence simply drag and drop them from the project panel into the timeline. The timeline consists of a video area and an audio area. In each there can be as many tracks as needed. Video tracks laying on top of each other will cover the lower ones up. By clicking the eye or M symbol tracks can be muted.

If more than one video is selected in the project panel, the videos will be placed on the timeline in the same order as displayed.

When pasting a music-clip on to the timeline, pay attention to picking an empty audio track, as all audio-clips laying on the same track will be overwritten.

EXCERCISE

-Create a sequence

-Add video clips to your timeline

-Add music to your video

„To create a sequence, right click on the first clip and chose “new sequence from clip”. Rename and drag other videos in the timeline. To expand the timeline, drag the right edge of the bar right underneath the timeline.. Last but not least, import your music in an empty track.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

It is also possible to drag and drop footage from the explorer directly into the timeline. The only disadvantage – it is not sorted in any folders.

A timecode can also be entered by clicking onto it. It’s format is hours, minutes, seconds and frames.

To insert a clip between two already existing clips hold down ctrl, to copy a clip within the timeline hold alt and drag.

EDITING

There are different methods of cutting a video. One would be dragging the start or end of a clip with the mouse. Another one cut’s the clip in half. For this, select the razor tool ( with either the mouse or the shortcut “c”) and left click on the video you want to cut. To de-select the razor tool use the mouse or the shortcut “v”. To remove clips or parts from clips out of the timeline simply press “del”.

By douple clicking a video in the project panel, it opens up in the source panel directly above. In the source panel, the video can be scrolled through, and also “cut” by setting in and out point with the braces. When dragging the video in the timeline only the set timespan will be inserted.

When only wanting to import the video or audio track, douple click the file in the project panel and use the 2 symbols in the source panel to drag the media in the timeline. To select a single track in the timeline use the alt-key.

EXCERCISE

-Cut a clip:

By dragging start or end

With the razor tool

By setting in- and out-point

-Insert a video-only clip

„I’m importing my clip, expanding my panel to get a better look and shorten my clip by dragging the end towards the left side. The next video will be the one to cut. So, let’s select the razor tool, set a cut and change back with the shortcut “v” and last delete the unwanted part. Since I will be using in- and out-point I have to do that before importing the clip onto the timeline. Double click on the media, set the two points and drag and drop it. For the video only part I’m going through the same steps, except importing via the video-button.“

TIPPS UND TRICKS

To zoom in the timeline hold down alt while mousewheeling, to scroll through use the mousewheel only.

AUDIO

The volume of each clip can be adjusted in the effect controls. This tab is next to the sourcepanel and also divided into a video and an audio section. A clip must be selected to make changes.

To, for example, change the volume of the music, select the clip and lower the value “level” in the effects tab. This specific value can also be adjusted in the timeline itself. To do so, expand the audio-tracks and drag the level line.

In addition to the accustic playback of the audio, the volume can also be monitored over the audio meters. The scale is in dBFS, standing for Dezibel Full Scale, which means the max volume is 0db. If exceeded, the sound will clip, to avoid oversteering. In general, the volume must be lower that 0db at all times. The difference between off-text and music should be around 6 to 12 db. To fade in an audio layer over time you can use keyframes.

KEYFRAMES

Keyframes describe the alteration of a parameter over time, using a startpoint and an endpoint – the keyframes.

That means, if an object should be moved from left to right, a keyframe will be set containing the information “position left” and a second one will be set a few seconds later containing the information “position right”

Within the set time, the software computes all necessary in-between frames to display the motion. That’s called interpolation. There are different types of interpolation, by default it’s linear. Since a natural motion is always in form of a parabola, it’s most realistic to imitate that and interpolate with arcs – using the Bezier curve.

Keyframes can be created for every numeric parameter. On the left side next to keyframable values there’s a stopwatch symbol, that activates or deactivates the keyframes. To activate click at the stopwatch on the start frame of the animation. It will turn blue and a small square will appear in the effects timeline next to the effects panel – the first keyframe is set. The second one will be created automatically by changing that parameter at another moment.

There are a few properties, like “Opacity”and “Level” that, by default, have keyframes activated.

With CTRL Leftmouse keyframes can be created for the level paramenter in the timeline itself. The x-position controls the actual value, while the y-axis controls the moment in time. A keyframe at the lower left corner and the second one in the middle a few seconds later, makes the audio fade in.

In the audio-workspace there’s two panels to control the volume. The audio-clip-mixer and the audio-track-mixer. The clip-mixer controls the audio of a single clip. By activating the auto-keyframe functionality, the volume can be controlled during playback – while keyframes are created automatically. The audio-track mixer can be used to finalize all audio before export. Every track should be used for a specific content and be level throughout the video, so changes, for example, in the level of the off-text or the music, can be made globally, instead of locally on every single clip. The audio-track mixer also contains the controls for the master volume.

EXCERCISE

-Modify the volume

In the effect controls

In the timeline

„Select the clip. Navigate to the effect controls panel and increase the parameter “level” to about 5db to make the “click” sound pop a little more. To lower the volume of the music, expand the audio-track and drag the timeline to about -12db.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

To expand an audio track, double click on the left side.

TRANSITIONS

Transitions can be found in the effects tab, which is located next to the project panel. There are video and audio transitions, that can be applied in front, after or in between clips via drag and drop. The duration can be altered by dragging or double clicking. The default duration of 25 frames can be changed in EDIT | Preferences | Timeline Video Default Transition and will affect every newly placed transition.

EXCERCISE

The simplest of all transitions is called “cross dissolve” and blends two videos in another. It can be found in the effects panel in video transitions.

TIPS AND TRICKS

In case a transition should be applied on many clips at once, right click on the transition and chose “set selected as default”. With the shortcut SHIFT D is can be applied on a selection of clips in the timeline.

EFFECTS

Another possibility to fade a video in or out makes use of keyframes on the parameter opacity, which is besides scale, position and rotation, one of the standard parameter of every video clip.

There are many built-in video effects, that can be found in the effects tab. To name a few of them: Blurs, distorts, shapes and gradients, noise and grain, stylized effects and transformation operators, like horizontal or vertical flip. They can be applied via drag and drop.

EXCERCISE

-Apply the „gaussian blur” effect onto a video

-Keyframe the intensity of the effect

„Select the clip first, then apply the gaussian blur effect. Use the quick search to find effects. As soon as applied a new paragraph will appear in the effect controls tab. To Keyframe the intensity, click on the stopwatch at the beginning of the clip, move forward a few seconds and change the value to set the second keyframe.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

Effect settings can be saved as presets. This can be handy if you have to dial in a few numbers everytime you use an effect.

TIME

To change the speed of a video, right click and chose speed. In this panel there is also an option for “reverse speed”. If the speed of a video should be keyframed, there is a feature called “time remapping” that allows a keyframe control similar to the level-one in the timeline itself. Right click on the fx symbol of the clip and chose time remapping | speed. Expand the video-track. To add keyframes hold down CTRL and left-click. With these keyframes the video is separated in different regions that can have different speeds. To get rid of harsh cuts between these areas, use a Bezier-interpolation. This can be done by dragging the needle in the desired direction and adjusting with the handles.

To stop a video, use the hold-function. To access, navigate to the exact moment you want the video to stop, right click and chose “frame hold options” and confirm.

EXCERCISE

-Change the speed of a clip

-Invert the speed of a clip

„To change the speed, right click on the clip and chose speed | duration. You can chose between using a percentage of the original clip to speed up or down the video, or set a specific length. Also we can directly chose “reverse speed” in addition to our speed manipulation.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

The local playpack speed can also be altered. To speed up the playback press “L” during playback. To slow down the playback use the shortcut shift J. Using the shortcuts repeatedly increases the effect.

COLOR CORRECTION

A good way to look at colors in premiere are it’s lumetri scopes. In contrast to monitors or our eyes these are graphs, which means they are not dependent from calibration or optical perception, but measurements only. They can be used to look at differences in brightness and colors between videos or color channels. There are a few different scopes, all to be found in the color working space. Which ones to use is a personal choise. In general they all show the same, but in different detail in some parts. The wavefrom rgb, the histogram and the vectorscope yuv are ideal for color correction. The histogram and the waveform rbg show the three color channels, the vector scope a yuv color system that’s meant to replicate the human perception of color. In all three scopes the dominance of the red channel is visible. The histogram shows that in the upper corner, the waveform in the red area and the vectorscope with it’s signal towards red and yellow. It’s best to work with a very neutral image before color grading. The red channel must be altered for this to work. The scopes of a neutral image are even and without a tendency towards a color channel.

The video effect lumetri color combines every color and exposure effect in a single color-tool. In the basic correction exposure and saturation can be adjusted, in creative the look, vignetting and sharpness, in curves single channels and color-specific saturation, in color wheels and match the tint of highlights, mids and shadows. With HSL-Secondary a selection of color can be made and adjusted separately.

To remove the reddish from this pictures, select the video and change to the color working space. In the right half of the monitor is – already opened - the lumetri color effect. First of all, I’m using the color wheels to shift mids and highs to a colder color. My focus is especially on the background – what I assume is a white wall. Looking at the histogram, we can already see the yellow part being covered up by the blue-tones to a grey/white. That’s also visible in the viewport.

In the next step I will once again add colder color nuances by using the color wheels in creative.

The background already looks quite good, the face in the foreground has still too much red. To only affect the face, it must be selected. That’s what the HSL-Secondary sliders are for. HSL, standing for Hue, Saturation and Luminance offer the possibility to select a specific color and brightness and use it as a mask. First a color must be set either with a preset or with the color picker tool. For a better control, tick the “Color/Grey” option. With the sliders adjust the selection until only the face shows color. Use a blur to avoid harsh edges in the selection. Now the color wheels and sliders underneath them can be used to make changes to the face. In this case adding yellow to shadows and midtones and reduce the saturation.

In the last step highlights, shadows, whites and contrast can be increased in the “basic correction” to lighten the image a bit more.

With the „fx“ symbol the lumetri color effect can be turned on and off. It can be quite informative to look at the before and after to understand what else has to be done.

During the color correction process the image should stay as neutral as possible and as constant as possible. The final look of the film can be set afterwards with an adjustmentlayer. To create one, right-click in the project panel | new item | Adjustmentlayer, set the Dimensions of your Sequence, drop it on top of every other layer in the timeline and adjust the length to cover the whole sequence. Any effect applied on this layer will be affecting every layer beneath it. Another lumetri color effect would affect the whole sequence. That’s the way to color grade your video, for example, with a Look in the creative tab of the lumetri color effect.

EXCERCISE

-color correct one video clip

„First of all, select the clip and change the working space to “color”. Now the lumetri color panel is on the right hand side. Open the color wheels tab and correct the red-tone by adding more blue in all three sliders. After that open the creative tab and add more blue once again. When the wall has a somewhat white/grey color without to much red/yellow spill, check the skin and face of the actor. In my case it’s to red. I’m using the HSL-Secondaries to get rid of that. Pick the color of the skin, adjust the sliders to match your scene, blur the selection and make changes until the skintone looks good. In this case I’m shifting the color to the yellow/orange spectrum and lowering the saturation. The last step is to adjust the brightness in the basic corrections.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Color wheels and match provides an option to automatically adjust the color of two videos. Click on “Comparison View” to open up the reference viewport und navigate to the clip you want as reference. By clicking “apply match” premiere will attempt to equalize the selected clip. Unfortunately this only works for suddle color differences.

In the creative tab there’s also an option to load custom Looks in form of LUT’s.

ORDER

Premiere has many tools to organize the timeline, clips and sequences. These should be used to keep the overview – especially in bigger projects. Tracks should always have one function, labels can help to differentiate between different aspect within one track. To assign a label to a clip, select it, right click | label and chose a color. If a project consists of many different parts it can be a good idea to work in different sequences or nests. To nest a selection, right click “nest”

TIPS AND TRICKS

To label a specific moment you can set markers. They are created with the shortcut M and can be colored and named by double-clicking on them.

If a track is final, always lock it with the lock symbol to the left, to prevent unwanted changes.

RENDER

To render the sequence, which means exporting it, use the sortcut “CRTL M”. In the pop-up window all settings can be made. By clicking “output name” location and name of the clip can be changed. The video name should always have a version number included. I’m using the H.264 codec with the “Match Source High Bitrate” Preset. Theses Settings are good for most occasions, since H264 is a relatively new codec for playback on multimedia devices with a good ratio between quality and compression. To start exporting, click “Export”.

TIPS AND TRICKS

On the bottom of the export window there’s an estimated file size. You can use the bitrate to lower or increase that file size to your liking.

EDITING | RULES

It is very important to keep in mind the chronology of of the story you want to tell, since the audience will only understand your plot if the order of your scenes makes sence

There are a few important rules, you have to know when editing. One of them, probably the most important, is crossing the line. It refers to an imaginary line which cuts through the middle of the scene, from side to side with respect to the camera. The reason for that is the principle of continuity. Breaking it, will confuse and disorient the viewer. That is called a jumpcut, which can also be intentionally. Picassos quote applies: Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

To keep a movie visually interesting, keep static and long shots shorter and moving and close-up longer. That’s simply for the reason how much you can see in the image and how long that takes. If a static shot gets displayed for too long, the viewer get’s bored, if a long shot flashes briefly, the movie feels rushed.

The tempo of the cuts depends on the temper of the scene. In action-sequences it makes sense to step up the tempo and make the audience feel the tension, while in quiet scenes a low shot-frequency is essential to not stress the viewer. It’s always best to cut during the movement of an actor, or on the beat of the music to make to cut invisible.

Camera movements like pans, zooms, and dollys better be separated by a static shot. Consecutive scenes should also differ in angle by at least 45° and not be of the same kind. The only exception is cutting close-ups, since they can be cut pretty much as you like.

Transitions are an effect and are to be used sparingly, since most of the time you are indicating a change of location or time. Within a scene, use hard-cuts. In general the rule applies: What you can’t hard-cut, you can’t blend it either.

The method of editing can differ greatly and is very individual, but for the start it does make sence to start with three steps. Sort and order your scenes in the timeline. Look for jump cuts and wrong scenens. Add music, set your tempo, effects, color grade. Not until the last part, the cuts should be adjustet to fit the beat. Use the waveform to make out to beat precisely.

EXCERCISE

-Edit the video in an meaningful way

-Put cuts during movement

-Put cuts on the beat of your music

-Avoid jumpc cuts

-Be thoughtful with transitions

-color correct and grade the footage