Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's get a general overview on the
newest Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018 and all the tips to get started as a
beginner.
Leave us comments below to improve our future video guides on this
software!
Premiere Pro CC is one of the best video editing software to create your
own customized videos and slideshows, full of outstanding effects,
transitions, titles and more. As with all Creative Cloud products,
Premiere Pro is subscription-based only.
Check our guide link in the video description to discover more about the
other major products from Adobe Creative Cloud!
When you open Premiere Pro, the Welcome Screen opens with several options,
leading to guided pages and tutorials, very useful if you start from a
beginner level. To discover all the main features together, we will skip
this page.
After some time, the Start dialog box opens, with two sections on top:
use Learn to get additional tips and tutorials, and Work to start working
on Premiere. On the left, select Recent to pick a recent project, or
choose CC Files to start from Creative Cloud files saved.
At the bottom, use Open Project... to browse for your own project, or use
New Project... to start from a new blank project. Team Projects are often
used inside a team or business environment. We won't see these in this
beginner tutorial.
When starting with a new project, choose a proper Name above, where to
save it under Location, and, under General, set the project format to use,
in particular if you prefer to use seconds with Timecode, or number of
Frames to measure time.
When you click on OK, the whole Premiere Pro workspace opens with several
windows, whose kind and position may change according to the tab selected
above. In this video, we will just use the default Editing workspace,
composed by Video Previews on the first half, several useful windows in
the bottom left corner, and the project timeline at the bottom, where you
work and edit your media. In case you need to open other kinds of windows,
just go to Window, and then choose from the list.
A Premiere Pro project is composed by several independent timeline
structures called Sequences, and each Sequence contains several copies
of your media called clips, which can be pictures, videos, audio and
pieces of text, edited and placed in time properly. In this video, we will
see how to create and work with a single Sequence.
To create a new Sequence, use CTRL+N to open the New Sequence dialog box,
in order to fix its main video and audio settings. Under Sequence Presets
you can pick a ready template, or choose Settings above to fully customize
the setup to use. With Editing Mode, you can choose the template to start
from, or use Custom to fully customize the Sequence, such as its frame
rate under Timebase, its size in width and height under Frame Size, and
the Sample Rate for the sound files under Audio.
Once you are ready, just go to OK below. The new Sequence will appear on
your project timeline.
At this point, you have to add your own media to start creating and editing
your video. To import files, you can drag and drop them on the timeline
either from your computer folders, or from the Media Browser window on the
left.
All the imported files, plus the Sequences of your project are all
listed inside the Project window. Here, if you double-click on the small
icon, you will get a direct preview of such media through the Source
window right above. This shows audio waveforms on sound clips and a visual
preview on pictures and video frames. In case of videos with sound, you
can choose what to see by using the buttons at the bottom.
To playback all, use the player below. Set the preview quality on Select
Playback Resolution, and save the current video frame shown as a snapshot
by using Export Frame.
Now, let's see how to manage and use the project timeline.
All the media files imported inside the timeline are shown as rectangles
called clips, with different colors: pink for pictures and titles; green
for audio files; and blue for frames and audio from videos. All these are
contained inside several rows, such as Video Tracks, indicated by a V
letter plus a number, with visible clips inside; and Audio Tracks,
named with the letter A, with all clips regarding sound and speech.
To move through time, use your mouse wheel. To zoom in and out around
your pointer, just use your mouse wheel while holding ALT down.
All clips also show a quick preview of their content. Sound files and
sound from videos show their own audio waveform, one per stereo channel.
Visual clips show several frame thumbnails, once you have enlarged Video
Tracks enough. You can do so by clicking and dragging their top edge.
To playback the whole content of your timeline with all your
modifications applied, you have to use the Program window. This previews
exactly the frame under the blue playhead from the timeline. If you click
and drag it, you can easily check the project frame after frame, including
its audio. To playback all, use the player instead.
Now, let's see how to edit and work with your clips by using the Selection
Tool, next to the timeline window.
You can move a clip through time by clicking and dragging it, within the
same or another Track. In case of videos with audio, both clips will be
moved together. To make them independent, just right-click on the clip and
go to Unlink.
Pay attention that Video Tracks fixes the order of visibility on all the
visual clips that overlap it: all clips that stay on a higher Video Track are
shown in front of all the other clips placed on lower Video Tracks.
You can also move and edit multiple clips at the same time by selecting
all of them first. If you click and drag on the timeline, you will select
all the clips that touch the rectangular region created. At this point,
all of them can be moved and modified in the same way. To deselect all,
just click elsewhere.
To cut and copy a selected clip, just use CTRL+X and CTRL+C. You can cut
clips to delete them quickly. Use CTRL+V to paste the clip right after
the blue playhead inside the timeline. Just make sure this does not
overlap the other clips, or these will be cut.
If you make any mistake, you can use CTRL+Z to undo, or use the History
window to go through your past actions made.
In case you need to set the clip duration in time, you can either cut part
of its content, or change the speed rate used to play it back.
You can shorten or stretch clips by simply approaching their edges and
clicking and dragging them. Consider that this will modify the clip
content in case this is a video or an audio file.
If you don't want to change the clip content, you have to shorten or
stretch the clip by acting on its speed rate by using the Rate Stretch
Tool. In this case, if you want to shorten the clip, this will be played faster,
with a playback rate higher than 100%; if you stretch it, this will be
played slower, with a playback rate lower than 100%.
To split a clip in two or more independent pieces, enable the Razor Tool,
and click directly on the clip.
Let's see how to manage the content inside the Video and the Audio Tracks.
On both Video and Audio Tracks you have several buttons to manage their
content. Inside Video Tracks, you can use the eye icon to hide or show
their content inside; or use the Lock button to block any possible
modifications on the clips, until you unlock the Track.
The Audio Tracks have the Lock button, and also two other buttons: Mute
disables the current Track, muting all its clips inside; Solo enables the
current Track only, muting all the other ones.
Whenever you need to delete or add new Tracks, just right-click on a
vacant place, and go to Add or Delete Track....
Take a look at the deciBel meter on the right: this sets the overall
volume coming from your project, which should never reach red levels or
this will be distorted. In case this happens, you can correct the volume
from the Master Audio Track at the very bottom.
With Premiere Pro you can also edit the properties of each clip, adding
visual and audio effects to make them cooler.
The Effect Controls window list all the basic properties of the selected
clip from the timeline. If it's a visual clip, you can fix Position,
Scaling, Rotation angle with its Anchor Point, and the clip transparency
with Opacity. Make sure to use the Program Preview to check the results of
your new setup.
If it's an audio clip, you can adjust its general volume with the Volume, or
correct it on each of the stereo channels with the Channel Volume. Use Panner
to equalize the stereo channels instead.
Moreover, from the Effects window you can browse for extra visual and
audio effects that you can drag and drop on the interested clip. Then added
effects will be listed inside the Effects Control window as a new property
with all its settings you can change.
You can reset any property or effect by using the Reset button on the
right. You can also disable or enable each line by clicking on the fx icon
on the left.
Whenever you change the clip properties, or add any extra effect, the
clip will show a colored fx icon.
With Premiere you can also add text and titles by using the Type Tool.
With this tool enabled, click and drag directly on the Program Preview
and start typing. Just make sure the red contour is sufficient for your
text content. At this point, a new title clip is created on top of all
the other clips, with the same basic properties seen for the visual clips
under the Effects Control window. In addition, you will also get the title
properties under Text, in order to fix the font family, style, size,
distribution, fill color, and any stroke or shadow effect. Consider that
changes will be effective just if you have pieces of text selected.
Moreover, if you click on the text with the Selection Tool, you can drag
it to move it, use its blue points to scale it, and drag from outside its
contour to rotate it.
From the Effects window you can also import Video Transitions, which are
special effects to make clips appear and disappear. To add one, just drag
and drop it on the edges of a clip, or between two clips. You can also add
Audio Transitions, which act on the audio clip volume instead. To change
the transition setup and duration, just select it, and use the Effect
Controls window.
Now, let's see how to save and export your work!
To save your project go to File, and then to Save As... to create a
.prproj file, in order to save your whole Premiere project, including all
its Sequences, clips and effect settings and placement.
Whereas, to extract the final video you have to render it. First of all,
select the Sequence to be rendered, and then go to File, Export, and then
to Media.... The Export Settings panel shows a complete preview of your
Sequence on the left, and the rendering options chosen on the right. Here
fix the video format under Format and the video name and destination
folder under Output Name.
To choose your own customized setup, choose a H.264 format on top, and
personalize all settings under the Video tab below, such as resolution
and frame rate. By default, these are set by the media files (or Source)
used, but you can fix your own ones by unchecking the square on the right.
The other Source page allows you to crop the Sequence in order to change
its aspect ratio. In this case, remember the match the video resolution with
the Sequence one with the Match Source button.
When you click on Export, Premiere will render the entire Sequence
timeline. If you want to render parts of it, just place the triangular
marker at the bottom of the preview and select the part to render.
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