Hello and welcome to the eighth video in this Beginner's Guide to Adobe After Effects.
This is the first video in the second section of this course, Essential
practise. In this section we are going to cover a lot of cool things After Effects
can do. We are going to get hands-on and learn by undertaking a number of
exercises which later in the next section we will use to build a project
from scratch. In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to manage video in After
Effects and how to perform a simple video edits. Now it's important to state
at the start of this video that After Effects is not a video editing program
by design. Now that's not to say you cannot do video editing in After Effects.
In this video I'm going to show you how but it's important to note that Adobe
After Effects is primarily used for post-production. Any video you use in
After Effects will typically be edited in a specialized video editing program
like Adobe Premiere first, exported and then brought into After Effects. That's
how I make my videos for example I first shoot my raw video, then edit it together
in Adobe Premiere, export from there and import into After Effects. Remember After
Effects is based on compositing and works not only with video footage but
with still images, type and files brought in from other programs like Adobe
Photoshop, Illustrator and 3D programs to create video presentations. What you will
come to learn is that video editing in Premiere as opposed to After Effects is
a far more easier task. However when we bring in video that has been exported
from other programs we still need to edit it in After Effects to a certain
degree. In this video I'll be showing you an example of how to edit video simply
in After Effects. So in this video we're going to be covering the following
topics: Importing video into After Effects and editing video clips in the
timeline panel. So first I'll start by showing you what
we are going to create in this video and then I will show you how to do it.
So let's get into it! So here I am in After Effects and I have a project open
demonstrating a simple video edit sequence
I have prepared earlier and here I have some footage of marine life taken at
the London Aquarium. If we look in the timeline panel we can see that this is
made up of 7 video layers and we can see the red line traveling across the time
line indicating we are in preview mode. Looking at the timeline panel we can see
the classic layer bars and as the red line passes over each bar we can see how
this edit looks in the composition panel above. Now if you want to follow along
with this video and create your own video edit like this, you will need to
download the project folder. You can download the project folder for a small
fee, the download link with instructions is in the description. The download
folder comes with lots of exercise documents we will be using on this
course that have been carefully developed to aid your learning
experience. The folder also comes with document resources such as videos,
graphics and images you can use to build your first video presentation from
scratch later on in this course. To get the full learning experience I recommend
you get the project folder, download link with instructions is in the description.
So with the project folder open click into the S-2 essential practise folder,
into the 8th folder, simple video editing and open the video editing After Effects
file and you will have the same document I have opened here. Now if we look
carefully in the timeline panel we can see that only part of each video layer
bar is highlighted and they string together seamlessly in a stack to create
this edit. This is how a typical video edit looks in After Effects.
When we place video into compositions we cannot easily cut and move parts of it
around like we can in video editing programs like Premiere Pro. When we place
a video file into After Effects we have to work with its entire contents on a
layer and clip which part is visible and which part is not.
OK so with that introduction, let's see how we can create a simple edit like
this in After Effects. So first I'm going to close this project down. I'll come to
file scroll down and select close project. So with the blank screen here
I'm going to begin by dragging in some video files, to do this I'm going to make
sure I can see my browser window on top of the After Effects interface. In the
project folder I'll come to the assets folder into the video folder, then into
the Aquarium folder and in here you will find some video files. So in this
instance I'm going to select them all by clicking and dragging over them, then
drag them into the project panel on the left of the After Effects interface. Upon
release they should all appear in the panel. So the first thing I'm going to do
is create a new composition. So I'll come up to composition at the top bar click
and select new composition, with the composition settings window open I'll
name the comp to 'video edit'. Next I'll click here on the preset drop-down. Now
I'm based here in Europe, so I'm going to set this to HDTV 25, if you're based in
the United States you may want to go with your regional standard which is
29.97 frames per second. So you may want to go for HDTV 29.97. So I'll select HDTV
25 and this is going to result in 25 frames per second. So by clicking on this
it will set my dimensions to 1920 by 1080. Next I'll set my Duration to 35
seconds and I'll keep the background black and click OK.
Upon click we will have a new composition to work with. So with the new
composition ready I'll place in my video. So I'll come over to the project panel
and the first video I'm going to add will be the deep blue clip. So I can do
this a number of ways, I can click and drag it down into the timeline name
section and release like so, and I'll just undo that, or I can click and drag
into the composition panel, as I do this I can see the outline of the video, I'll
make sure it snaps to the borders and release.
I'll undo that, now another way is to use the keyboard shortcut. So with the media
selected in the project panel I can press command ? on Mac or Ctrl /
on PC and this will place the video straight into the timeline panel.
So here I have my first video footage as a layer in my timeline. Now if I come
under the composition panel hit the resolution factor pop-up, I'll click on
half then I'll make sure my time indicator is at the start of my timeline
and I'll press spacebar to preview my video like so, easy! So for now, I'll click
spacebar again to stop. Right, so let's get some more videos in here. So over in
the project panel this time I'm going to press and hold command on a Mac or Ctrl
on PC and select fish, 2, 3, 5, horse 1, jelly 1, and jelly 2, with them all
selected I can either press command /on Mac or ctrl forward slash on PC to
quickly place them into my timeline panel or I can click and drag them over
into the compositions panel. As I do this I can see the outline of the video, I'll
make sure it snaps to the borders and release. Upon release we can see the
video layers appear in the timeline. So looking closely at the layers we can see
that these clips vary in length and we can tell this by the lengths of the bars.
Now in this instance, we only want each video clip to show for five seconds,
so these video layers will work just fine. So with our videos in the timeline
panel, now we are ready to edit. So the first video file I want to edit is deep
blue, but right now this is set at the bottom of the layers. If I come over to
the layer names, I'll click and hold the layer name for this layer and drag it to
the top of the layer stack. Upon release I can now see it on top, so if I click
and drag my time indicator across this layer the entirety of this video layer
is visible. Now if I carefully put my mouse cursor over the end of the layer
bar on the right we will see the mouse cursor icon change to arrows pointing
horizontally in and out. Now if I click and drag inwards like so, we will notice
that we are dragging in the highlighted part of the layer bar, for
now I'll drag this in to around 15 seconds referring to the numbers in the
top of the timeline ruler. Next I'll do the same, but on the left-hand side. So
I'll place my mouse cursor over the far left side of the layer bar, when the
mouse cursor icon changes to arrows pointing horizontally in and out I'll
click and drag into ten seconds like so. So if we look carefully the rest of the
layer bar still exists, but we have simply edited the highlighted part of
the bar. Whatever is highlighted on the video bar is visible, if I click and drag
my time indicator across from the beginning we can not see the video but
if I move it across into the highlighted area we can now see it in the
composition panel above. So that is the main principle of editing a video clip
in a composition in the timeline panel. Now I want this highlighted bit to be at
the start of my composition, next I'll click on the highlighted area and drag
left so the start of the highlighted area starts at the start of the timeline,
easy! So that's my first clip edited. now it's just a case of doing the same
process to my other clips and placing them in the correct position. So next
I'll click and drag the next video layer up and under my first one. In this case I
want the next clip to be jelly one. I'll click and drag this up and under deep
blue, next I'll click across on the timeline ruler, so I can see my new clip
in the composition panel. This time I'm going to click and drag my layer left
and right like so, to try and find a good starting point in my composition panel
above. Once I find a good starting point I'm going to edit the layer, now earlier
we put our mouse cursor at the end of each layer bar and drag them in. Now here
is a quick tip, first place the time indicator where you want to begin and
press alt open square bracket on the keyboard, notice the highlighted area of
the clip snaps right to the time indicator, easy! So next I'm going to
click and drag the layer under the deep blue layer. By holding shift the start of
the highlighted area is going to snap to the start of the highlight
area above. Next I'm going to click and drag my time indicator left while
holding shift to snap to the end of the deep blue layer above. With the jelly
layer selected and my time indicator in place I'll press Alt close square
bracket and the highlight area is now clipped exactly the same as the layer
above. Next I'll click and drag my new edited clip layer to the right while
holding shift so the start of my new clip snaps to the end of the clip above.
So now I have my two layers edited if I click and drag the time indicator over
them we can see how that looks. So let's do this again for the next video layer.
This time with the fish 3 layer. So I'll click and drag the layer up and under
the jelly 1.mp4 layer. So I'll click and drag the layer bar over to the right,
I'll click on the time ruler so I can see it, I'll find an appropriate place
towards the beginning and I'll press alt open square bracket to trim the clip.
like last time, I'll drag the layer across under my first clip while holding
shift to snap it in line with the top layer, I'll drag my time indicator left
while holding shift to snap to the end of the top layer. With my fish 3 layer
selected I'll press Alt close square bracket to trim the end of the clip then I'll click
and drag my new edited clip layer over to the right while holding shift to snap
it to the end of my second layer, easy! and if I click and drag the time
indicator over my 3 edited clips we can see how that looks. So let's do this
again but this time with the horse 1 layer. So first I'll click and drag it up and
under the fish 3 layer, I'll click and drag the bar over to the right, I'll
click on the time ruler so I can see it, I'll find an appropriate place towards
the beginning or maybe in this case towards the middle and I'll press alt
open square bracket to trim the clip. Like last time I'll drag the layer across under my
first layer while holding shift to snap in line with the top layer, I'll drag my
time indicator left while holding shift to snap to the end of the top layer, with
my horse layer selected I'll press Alt close square bracket to trim the clip,
then I'll click and drag my new edited bar over to the right while holding
shift to snap it to the end of my third layer and if I click and drag my time
indicator over my four edited clips we can see that's looking just fine, So by using
this technique we are making sure each video clip is the same length. So next
the fish five video layer. I'll click and drag it up and under the horse layer,
I'll click and drag the bar over to the right I'll click on the time ruler so I
can see, it I'll find an appropriate place to begin the video clip and I'll
press alt open square bracket to trim the start of the clip. I'll drag the layer across
under my first layer while holding shift to snap it in line with the top layer,
I'll drag my time indicator left while holding shift to snap to the end of the
top layer, with the fish layer selected I'll press Alt close square bracket to trim the
end of the clip, then I'll click and drag my new edited clip over to the right
while holding shift to snap it to the end of my fourth layer. So next the jelly
2 video layer, I'll click and drag it up and under fish 5, I'll click and drag the
bar over to the right, I'll click on the time ruler, so I can see it, I'll find an
appropriate place to begin the video clip and I'll press alt open square bracket to
trim the clip. I'll drag the layer across and under my first layer while holding
shift to snap it in line with the top layer, I'll drag my time indicator left
while holding shift to snap to the end of the top layer, with the jellyfish 2
layer selected I'll press Alt close square bracket to trim the clip, then I'll click
and drag the new edited clip over to the right while holding shift to snap it to
the end of my fifth layer, easy! OK so one last time with the last layer I'll click
and drag the layer bar over to the right, I'll click the time ruler so I can see
it, I'll find an appropriate place to begin the video clip and I'll press alt
open square bracket to trim the clip, I'll drag the layer across under my first layer
while holding shift to snap it in line with the top layer, I'll drag my time
indicator left while holding shift to snap to the end of the top layer. With my
jellyfish 2 layer selected I'll press alt close square bracket
to trim the end of the clip, then I'll click and drag the new edit clip bar
over to the right while holding shift to snap it to the end of the sixth layer
and there we have our final clip in position
completing the composition video edit. So if I now click and drag the time
indicator to the start of the timeline ruler and make sure the resolution
factor pop-up is set to full, I'll press spacebar to activate preview and the
video edit will play out just how I want it, perfect! So that is how you can edit
video in After Effects. Now there is something else you will need to be aware
of as a beginner. On occasions you may find yourself accidentally
double-clicking on a video layer in your timeline, for example with the video edit
complete let's double click on a video layer here. Now upon double-click the
video will appear in another tab in the composition panel. This is a way to
isolate a video layer to inspect it, in this instance we are no longer looking
at the video edit reflected in the timeline panel below. Now in this
instance as you scroll across your timeline you will not be able to see any
of your other layers on the timeline. Now as a beginner you may wonder where your
comp has gone. Now don't worry if you look carefully in a composition panel
above you will see your comp is still present but on a tab on the left. If ever
you find you have accidentally double clicked on a video layer you can simply
close down the tab in the composition panel at the top to come back to your
main comp. So remember to keep this in mind.
So now you know how to manage and edit video it's now time to start applying
basic animation. In the previous episode I discussed in depth keyframes. In the
next video we are going to start to get more hands-on with keyframes. In the next
video I'll be discussing simple animation principles and showing you how
to animate in After Effects with keyframes.
So see you in the next video!