Storytelling & Video Editing: Learn From Scratch

Discover storytelling through video editing, from ideation and creative briefs to shaping style, pace, and rhythm, mastering the Adobe Premiere Pro timeline, keyframes, transitions, color grading, and audio.

Create a one-minute video using an intuitive storytelling approach and a flexible class project. Learn to source stock footage, draft a creative brief, and edit with Adobe Premiere.

Create a creative brief to consolidate ideas, messaging, and goals for your video, guiding editing with eight sections like overview, audience, platform format and length, tone, and visuals.

Learn how rhythm and pace in editing shape viewers' emotions by sculpting shot timings, cuts, music, and duration; balance fast action with deliberate long takes to support the creative brief.

Master cut on action and jump cuts to maintain continuity and create seamless transitions in edits. Explore how these Hollywood techniques shape pacing, convey time, and heighten urgency in storytelling.

Explore cross-cutting and parallel editing to intercut two or more actions happening at the same time, build tension, and reveal character thoughts with cutaways, then connect shots through match cuts.

Source footage and music to shape your narrative, manage licensing with royalty-free or Creative Commons options, and organize assets for a legally compliant edit.

Explore the Adobe Premiere interface and personalize an editing workspace by arranging key panels: project, source, program, and timeline, then save a custom layout for improved productivity.

Import and organize your footage using a standard folder structure and bins for media, audio, and graphics, then set in and out points and prepare your first sequence.

Set up a sequence in Adobe Premiere using a DSLR 1080p 25 preset or custom settings, and learn two methods: File > New Sequence or New Sequence from Clip.

Learn to manipulate footage in Premiere with tracks and layers, use editing tools, set in/out points with shortcuts, unlink audio, harness markers, and adjust speed to craft storytelling visuals.

Master the effect controls panel in Adobe Premiere to adjust position, scale, rotation, and opacity, apply blend modes, and animate with keyframes for dynamic video edits.

Explore seamless video transitions and speed ramping in Premiere using cross dissolve and VI gradient wipe. Use time remapping, keyframes, and adjustment layer blur to create smooth transitions.

Explore the Kuleshov effect, a shot-order technique that creates meaning from shot sequences. Learn to apply it in Premiere, adjust short durations and order, and export an MP4 for YouTube.

Apply lumetri color to desaturate or tint and adjust contrast and blacks, then layer blur, masks, overlays, and light leaks to convey dreamlike, vintage, or chaotic moods.

Access the essential graphics panel in Premiere to create text elements, titles, and motion graphics. Customize typography and appearance, including alignment, and ensure safe margins keep text visible on screens.

Master audio editing in Adobe Premiere by importing audio, inspecting waveforms, balancing levels with keyframes, applying transitions, and using the essential sound panel to remix duration.

Master color grading basics to create mood and polish in your videos using Lumetri Color, color wheels, and curves. Compare skin tones, white balance, and exposure for a cinematic look.

Explore a project breakdown of video editing techniques, including transform-based zooms with motion blur, overlays, luma key transitions, and VR gradient map wipes.

Export your footage by setting in and out points (I and O), choose between H264 mp4 or Apple ProRes 42, and use Media Encoder to export while editing.

Reflect on the journey from a simple story to a short film, and plan with a creative brief to master rhythm, shot duration, and premiere tools for storytelling.