Adobe Premiere 6.5 Tutorials
Adobe Premiere 6.5 Tutorials
Adobe Premiere 6.5 Tutorials
Presents
Premiere 6.5 Tutorials on CD-ROM
Premiere is a sophisticated video editing application and it will take some time to learn
all of its capabilities. However, you can create some remarkable productions once you
have mastered the basics. After working through this tutorial, you will have seen the
essential techniques required to edit your own programs.
NOTE: Before starting this tutorial, we strongly recommend that you carefully go
through Tutorial 1. It explains how to optimize your computer to get the best
performance for video editing.
NOTE: When you start working on your own video productions in Premiere,
there will be no need to routinely delete the Premiere 6.5 Prefs file. However,
sometimes your computer “crashes” during an editing session and you discover
that Premiere is not functioning well after restarting your system. In this case,
you can often fix a host of problems by exiting Premiere, deleting the prefer-
ences file, and reloading your project.
If you are using a proprietary video capture card NOTE: When editing full-motion video with a
with your computer, there will be a variety of cus- specific capture card, it is very important to
tom settings listed under Available Presets. For ex- choose a preset that conforms to that card. There
ample, a computer equipped with the Pinnacle will be instructions provided with your video
DV500 capture capture board that outlines how to select the
card will contain proper presets.
numerous addi-
tional presets as For the tutorials in this series, we will be using
highlighted above various settings that are not specific to any
in red. particular capture card. The video clips are all in
QuickTime format (.mov files) so they'll work on
both Macintosh computers and PCs. QuickTime
5.0 was installed at the same time as Premiere.
Starting Premiere 5
Customizing
Task 2 New Project Settings
Arranging a Workspace
Using a monitor set for 1024 x 768 pixels, we NOTE: When moving a window, always click on
recommend working with Premiere by rearranging its colored bar at the top. Do not click and drag
the windows to the positions shown below: the tabs that are named inside the window.
Deleting a Workspace
From the Window > Workspace drop-down
menu, select Delete Workspace....
As you prepare to position the clip, you will see a You will also see a second gray bar that corres-
dark gray “shadow” bar in the Timeline window ponds to the audio component that is linked to
representing which track is being chosen. the video clip, as explained on page 20.
Playing a Project
NOTE: As projects get larger and more complex,
it takes longer for Premiere to refresh the timeline
as you scroll about. We recommend routinely
using the “Heads and Tails” Track Format when
editing. Before continuing with this tutorial, switch
back to “Heads and Tails” as discussed on page
23.
<SHIFT>+<ARROW LEFT>
reverse direction five frames at a time
Premiere Help
Premiere 6.5 offers extensive on-line help. For
additional information on keyboard shortcuts, go
to the Help menu and select Keyboard....
Volume Control
Notice the small speaker icon ( ) just to the
right of the Numerical Entry area. If you click this
icon, you will turn the sound off ( ) during
playback—handy when you get a nagging phone
call while editing. Click the icon again ( ) and
the project will play back at a lower volume—
handy if you’re getting a headache during a long
editing session!
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+ARROW RIGHT>
moves from clip to clip (i.e. edit to edit) going
forward in the timeline. This command will work
with either the Timeline or Monitor window
active.
<CTRL>+<SHIFT>+ARROW LEFT>
moves from clip to clip (i.e. edit to edit) going
backward in the timeline. This command will
work with either the Timeline or Monitor window
active.
Using the Work Area Bar Playback Using the <SPACE BAR>
Save the project again, <CTRL>+<S> . When you press the <SPACE BAR> the
program will start playing from wherever the
Press the <HOME> key or <ARROW UP> key Playback Head is situated, whether inside or
so the Playback Head goes to the start of the outside the location of the Work Area Bar.
timeline.
Notice the yellow line ( ) near the When you press the <ENTER> key, the program
top of the Timeline window. This line is called the will begin playing from the starting point of the
Work Area Bar and it controls which portion of yellow Work Area Bar ( )and stop playing at the
the program will play when you hit the ending point of the Work Area Bar ( ).
<ENTER> key. Therefore, you have full control over what part of
the timeline you wish to view.
You can adjust the width of the yellow bar by
clicking and dragging its control handles ( or ) Set the Work Area Bar as shown below. When
at either end. You can click and drag anywhere on you press the <ENTER> key, notice how the
the yellow portion ( ) to move the location Playback Head moves from left to right only
of the entire Work Area Bar in the timeline. across the selected portion of the timeline.
Navigation Controls
This enlarged image shows how the Navigation
palette relates to the Timeline window.
Click repeatedly on the button to increase the Click and drag the mouse anywhere inside the
scale of the timeline. The scale can be enlarged to green rectangle to move back and forth through
the 1 Frame level where each tick mark on the the timeline.
timeline ruler represents 1 frame of video (or
1/30th second). Hold down the <SHIFT> key and click and
drag precisely on the red line in the Navigator
Click repeatedly on the button to reduce the palette to scrub through your program. You will
scale of the timeline. The scale can be reduced to see the video being displayed in the Monitor
8 minutes which can be useful in very long window. If you do not see the video changing
projects. in the Monitor window while scrubbing, then
first click on the Monitor window, then hold
Click and drag the mouse on the button to down the <SHIFT> key while you click and
increase (drag right) or reduce (drag left) the scale drag on the red line.
of the timeline.
Setting Up a Transition
The edits we have created so far are commonly referred to as cuts. The video simply changes from one
clip to the next. Premiere lets you add effects (known as transitions) between clips. To do so, the clips
must be positioned alternately on the Video 1A and Video 1B tracks, and they must overlap.
Click once on Ash.mov and the clip will become REMINDER: To unselect a clip you can simply
"selected" as shown by the animated marquee press the letter V or use the key combination,
(like "marching ants") around the clip. <CTRL>+<SHIFT>+<A>.
Adding Transitions 51
Improving Clip Control
Adding Transitions 53
Click and drag Barn Doors to the Transition track
and position it to fit into the overlap area between
Don.mov (Video 1A track) and Ash.mov (Video
1B track). With the mouse button still being
pressed, you will see a dark gray "shadow" in the
Timeline window showing you where the NOTE: Even though Snap to Edges is turned off,
transition will be placed. the transition icon will still “snap” into place.
In Premiere, when new video is created, it must IMPORTANT NOTE: When you start using
be rendered before it will play back. What do we Premiere to edit your own productions, it will be
mean by new video? Up to now, everything that important to specify a hard drive where Premiere
played back when we pressed the <SPACE can save its rendered files. Ideally, you want these
BAR> was material that already existed on the files to go onto your fastest disk drive, dedicated
hard drive. With a transition, there must be new to storing video (refer to Tutorial 1, Task 5).
video created that combines material from both
video tracks. This new video does not yet exist at To specify the location of Adobe Premiere
all. Preview Files, go to the Edit menu and select
Preferences, then choose Scratch Disks and
Rendering takes time because Premiere must Device Control....
"calculate" what each new video frame will look
like and then write a new file to your hard drive It’s important to realize that whenever you delete
that contains the rendered clips. Premiere saves the preferences file (Premiere 6.5 Prefs) as
these files in a folder on your hard drive called discussed on page 4, Premiere loses any record of
Adobe Premiere Preview Files. your specified preferences, and you have to enter
them again.
Adding Transitions 55
Instant View
Adding Transitions 57
A small green bar ( ) appears just below the NOTE: After a segment has been rendered once,
yellow Work Area Bar. The color indicates that it will not have to be rendered again because its
new video has been successfully rendered. Prior new video has been saved on the hard drive.
to rendering, this bar was red ( ). The red color However, if you modify a transition after it has
alerts you about which sections in your project been rendered, or you move any video clips in
still require rendering. the rendered region, Premiere will have to re-
render again before playback.
Adding Transitions 59
Tutorial 3
Task 15 Summary
NOTE: This automatic feature is a real help However, if you <ALT> click on the Work Area
because it helps you "discover" accidental breaks Bar and it does not immediately stretch out to the
in your program. Sometimes, you might full extent of the clips in your timeline, then
inadvertently leave a tiny gap between two clips you've detected a "break." The break will be at the
in the timeline. This gap could be as small as a position where the Work Area Bar stops.
single frame and would not easily be detected.
Summary
As you learn to work with Premiere, you will The fundamentals of basic editing with Premiere
discover that there are often different methods of have been covered in this tutorial. We suggest
performing certain operations. For example, you going through this entire module again before
might choose to use a menu flyout, a right mouse going on to Tutorial 4. Pay particular attention to
button click, or a keyboard shortcut. Try to be the NOTES that are highlighted in red.
consistent with the approaches you use. There is a
lot to learn in Premiere, and you'll progress faster
when you work consistently.