PREMIERE PRO – BASIC INTRODUCTION

1. Creating a new project:

Name: e.g. YY.MM.DD_COMPANYNAME_PROJECTNAME

Location: [BROWSE] Select directory and create a new folder path

Scratch Disks: This is your cache directory where your temporary files are stored. You can
keep them in the same as your project directory, or you can have all your project scratch
files stored in one folder.
NB: Focus on where all your project autosave files are.
2. Your Workspace

Important workspace windows:

a. Project
b. Timeline
c. Source Monitor
d. Program Monitor
e. Effects
f. Effect Controls
g. Tools

These are the windows you will be using the most.

a. Project:
This the window that holds all of the footage you have imported for the project.
b. Timeline:
This is the window that holds all of the sequences you create.
c. Source Monitor:
This is the monitor window that you can view the video/audio files you import into your
project bin. Here, you can set your in and out points of a clip before bringing the footage
into your sequence.
d. Program Monitor:
This is the preview window that you can view the clips that you have brought into your
sequence on the timeline.
e. Effects:
This is the window that holds all the different effects you can put into your video and audio
clips in your sequence. There are video effects (like colour), video transitions (like dissolves),
audio effects (like reverb), and audio transitions (like fades).
f. Effect controls:
This is the window where you can control the effects you place on a clip in your sequence.
Select the clip on the timeline, and go to this window.
g. Tools:
This is your toolbox. This is where you can select the tool for your timeline. The most used
tools are your selection tool (V) and razor tool (C).
3. Importing footage into Premiere Pro

a. [Cmd + i] to import footage. If you select a folder, you can import the folder.
b. Bottom thumbnails from left to right:
i. Detail view
(You can see folders and files in list format)
ii. Thumbnail view
iii. Zoom scroll
(You can control the size of your thumbnails)
iv. Search tool
v. New bin
(for organising your folders and files!)
vi. New item
(creating Premiere Pro generated media – these include Adjustment layers,
title layers, solid colour layers, etc.)
vii. Automate to sequence
(After creating your sequence, you can select some clips from your project
window and add them into your sequence using this tool, instead of
dragging and dropping)
viii. Trash (To delete footage you have imported from your project window – this
will not delete your file from your harddrive, but just the project itself.
4. Organise your files and folders
Good etiquette means making sure all the footage you import is ordered properly so that
you can access them more easily. A good rule of thumb is to assume you or another editor
will return to this project file a few months from now, and that you want to order your files
and sequences so that you can find all the files even without a fresh memory of where
everything is.

My system of ordering the files can differ according to the kind of shoot, but generally this is
how I do it:

i. AUDIO (Audio footage)

1. External Recorder (to synchronise with on-camera sound)
2. Sound effects
3. Music

ii. FOOTAGE (Video footage)

1. Day 1
a. Location AAA
i. D1A01 Establishing Shots
ii. D1A02 Interviews
iii. D1A03 Cutaways
iv. D1A04 Extra shots
b. Location BBB
i. D1B01 Establishing shots
ii. D1B02 Interviews
iii. D1B03 Cutaways
iv. D1B04 Extra Shots
c. _unusable bin
What I deem unusable footage for the project. I like to have these still
within the project, but out of my way, in case I want to scrounge about in
them.
2. Day 2, 3, 4 …

iii. GENMEDIA (Generated Premiere Pro media)

1. Titles
a. Intro and Opening credits
b. Subtitles
c. Closing credits
2. Solid colours
3. Other

iv. SEQUENCES
It is a good habit to keep different versions of the sequences. When you have a first
rough cut or paper edit, duplicate the sequence in the project, and continue making
more refined changes in the second sequence.
Some people like to edit different scenes in different sequences, and then bring them
back together again in another “final” sequence.
A good sequence naming and ordering convention may be:
 1. Sequence Versions
a. ProjectName_Draft01_CurrentDate
i. 001 ProjectName Compiled Sequences
ii. 002 ProjectName Scene 1
iii. 003 ProjectName Scene 2
iv. 004 ProjectName Scene 3…
b. ProjectName_Draft02_CurrentDate
c. ProjectName_FinalDraft_CurrentDate
d. ProjectName_FinalCopy_CurrentDate
2. Extra Sequences

v. EXTRA RESOURCES
1. Third party stock footage
2. Photographs
3. Company Logos
4. Social media icons
 5. Making a Sequence
After you have imported your footage and organized your files, you want to make a
sequence to start building your video. You want the sequence settings to be the same
configuration and codec as the video/audio that was shot. This is good principle.
a. Right click on a video clip, select New Sequence from Clip.
b. The project automatically makes a sequence for you with the right settings, and with
the clip in the sequence. You can remove the clip from the sequence.
c. Rename your sequence to: [VideoProjectName_VersionNumber_Date] If you will
be editing scenes in separate sequences you can name your sequence as
[VideoProjectName_01_Scene01]. These are examples of how to name your
sequences. Come up with a system that is ideal for you.
d. Move your sequence to a folder where you will choose to hold all of your sequences.

6. Building your Sequence

When you double click on a file in your project, it will pop up on your Source Monitor window. Here,
you can look through your footage properly, play it back, and put in your in and out marks to
determine when the clip starts and ends when you bring it into your timeline.

When you’re done setting your in and out points, you can drag the clip into the timeline. You can
select just your audio, or your video, or both.

a. Timecode in blue: This is where your playhead is in the clips, or at which point
you are stopping in the clip playback.
 b. Fit: This is where you can decide the size of your video preview. “Fit” is where the
video is automatically fit into the window. Your other options are in percentages
of the video’s original size (e.g. 25%, 50% etc.)
c. } Symbol: This is a notification that you are at the “Out” marker you have set in
the clip. If you were on the “In” marker, you would see {. This will not show if
your playhead position is not on any markers.
d. Film Block: Your video preview. If you select this and drag it into your timeline, it
will only bring the video.
e. Audio Waveform: Your audio preview. If you select this and drag it into your
timeline, it will only bring the audio.
f. ½: This is where you can choose the resolution of your video preview. Depending
on the speed of your computer, you may need to lower this to ¼ to have smooth
playback.
g. Timecode in grey: This shows how long the video is – when you have set in and
out points, this will automatically show you how long the selected part of the
video is.

Bottom row:

a. Marker: This is different to your In/Out point markers. This is if you want to mark
a certain point in your video that has significance to your editing.
b. {: Put in an “in” point. Alternatively, press “i"
c. }: Put in an “out” point. Alternatively, press “o”
d. {<-: Go back to the in point in the video preview
e. <|: Go back one frame at a time
f. Play: Play through your clip. You can also press your spacebar.
g. |>: Go forward one frame at a time
h. ->}: Go to the out point in the video preview
i. Insert: This button will insert the footage into your open sequence at whichever
point the playhead is at in the timeline. If there are any clips in that position in
the timeline, it will cut the clip, insert your selected footage, and move everything
else forward to make space for it.
j. Overwrite: This button will similarly insert the footage into your sequence.
However, instead of moving all other footage that comes after the playhead, it
will overwrite them.
k. Snapshot: This will take a snapshot of the video preview and you can save it in
whichever directory you like. This is useful for if you want to use the frame for a
poster, or if you need screenshots, or want to use stills in the video at certain
point.
l. Button editor: This is a toolbox where you can select which buttons to display on
this window.
 7. Your Timeline

a. At the top, you can see the title of the sequence. If you have more than one
sequence created, you can toggle between these sequences. If you close a
sequence, you can find it again in the Project window, in the folder you have chosen
to put all your sequences in.
b. The blue timecode will show you what timeframe your playhead is.
c. For now, the most important tool under your timecode is the magnet tool: this is
called “Snap” and can be enabled or disabled with “S” on your keyboard. It will
affect how you can move your clips on the timeline, by either allowing a lot of
control, or it will help you by snapping to the other clips etc.
d. You can see beside the timecode, I have set an in and out point for my sequence. If I
know that a video has to be 12 minutes on the dot, I can set these points for myself
as a restriction guideline. These will also be important for your when you export
your video.
e. In your video and audio tracks, you can see a lock: when you activate this, it will
lock all the footage in that track so it cannot be moved around or affected. This is
useful when you have a music track for a music video that must not be moved or
accidentally cut.
f. Mute and Solo (Audio track): Here you can either mute one or several tracks, so
that you can only hear the track you want, or you can solo the track, which will
automatically mute everything else except the track you want to listen to.
g. Disable/Enable video track: Here you can also disable the visibility of one or several
video tracks. It is useful when you have footage underneath each other and want to
see what’s underneath.

Toolbar:

Right now, the most important tools for you are the selection tool and the razor tool. They will help
you move clips around appropriately in the timeline (selection) and help you cut the clips (razor).

We will be exploring the other tools later.

8. Some useful tools for basic editing:
a. V: selection tool
b. C: cutting tool
c. alt + drag: your selected clip in the sequence will be duplicated to wherever you
want.
d. Shift: will allow you to select multiple clips in the sequence.
e. i: set your in point
f. o: set your out point
g. S: snap enable/disable
h. Ctrl + D: will set a dissolve on the selected end of a video clip
i. Shift + D: will set a fade on either the selected end of a video and audio clip, or if
your whole clip is selected, then on both ends of a video and audio clip.