Intro to Editing - Premiere Pro Interface & Creating a Workflow

This page is intended for those with little to no experience with Premiere Pro

Establishing an effective workflow is key to ensuring a smooth running edit.

Workflow Steps

Media Management

Media management is always a good way to start your editing workflow.

 

Screenshot 2024-02-09 at 3.25.59 pm.png

 

Base file names to include on MCASI Server within your Project file:

  • PrP (Projects)

  • Media

  • Audio

  • Graphics

  • Exports

  • MISC Items (Miscellaneous Items)

Screenshot 2024-02-09 at 3.40.09 pm.png

Base file names to include on Premiere Pro:

  • Media

  • Audio

  • Graphics

  • Seqs (Sequences)

Opening Premiere Pro

 

Press ‘New Project’ to begin.

Name it appropriately. E.g. ProjectTitle_RoughCut_V1_01.02.24

Decide its location on the server (the ‘PrP’ file that you should have already created)

 

 

Understanding the Interface & Panels

 

Project Panel (Bottom left)

Stores all your media

  • Bottom left: viewing options of the panel

  • Bottom right: ‘new item’ & ‘new bin’ icons.

  • Media Browser - search and browse through your directories to locate source media files.

  • Effects - access video and audio effects from here - drag and drop straight onto media in the timeline.

Source Monitor (Top left)

Plays back individual clips selected from Project Bins, Media Browser, or Timeline (double click to open the source monitor).

  • Effect Controls - any effects that are applied can be adjusted here.

  • Audio Clip Mixer - shows the clip’s audio tracks & can manipulate these tracks. If a clip’s audio track is double clicked in the timeline, this tab opens automatically.

  • Metadata - shows clip metadata. A good place to quickly check frame size, frame rate and codec.

Timeline (Bottom right)

  • Left side: Tracks & Tools

    • Selection Tool (V) (Top)

    • Track Selection (A) - Selects all the clips to the right of the curser in a sequence.

    • Razor Tool (C) - Makes one or more incisions in clips in a timeline. Click a point on a clip to split it at that location.

    • Text Tool (T) - Click on text tool and the the clip in the Program monitor to add text. Use the Selection Tool to enlarge. Then go to the Captions & Graphics workspace to edit further.

    • Snap Tool (S) - Snapping means that when you slide tracks around or add new tracks to your timeline, the start of the track will snap to the end of the track that you put it next to, or to a marker, or the playhead.

    • Linked Selection - When Linked Selection is turned on, clicking a linked clip in the Timeline automatically selects all the associated tracks.

  • On the right - audio master meters

 

 

Program Panel (Top right)

Displays what is on your timeline

  • Scrub through what is on the timeline using the arrows or playhead.

  • Use the play button to watch through.

  • Top right of workspace = Workspaces icon (Editing, Colour, Effects, Audio and Captions & Graphics are the most important ones).

Import Media

 

Drag and drop media into project panel or press ‘File’ > ‘Import’ and navigate to your media on the server – select it and press ‘open’. It will then load and appear in the project panel.

Sequence Settings

To alter sequence settings, make sure the timeline is selected, then go to ‘Sequence’ > ‘Sequence Settings’.

  • Timebase (frames per second) and frame size are the most important.

 

Audio

 

You can directly manipulate the audio levels within the audio track itself on the timeline.

  • Expand timeline – this gives access to key frames.

  • Use the white line that runs through the audio track to raise or lower the audio levels.

 

Look at the master meters to assess your audio as a whole.

  • Audio should average at -12db for dialogue.

  • Background music or sound should average between -18db to -25db.

  • Louder sounds should average around -6db

 

 

Go to Audio Clip Mixer in the Source Monitor section of the workspace to individually assess audio and change levels.

Change to the Audio workspace to manipulate your audio further.

 

Effects

Go to the effects tab in your Project Panel, or to the Effects workspace.

 

Locate the effect you want – you can search for effects using key words in the search bar.

e.g. Warp Stabilizer

  • Once you find the right effect, grab its icon and drag and drop it onto the video or audio track in the timeline.

You can alter the effect through the ‘Effect Controls’ tab in the Source Monitor Panel.

Lumetri Colour

 

Go into the ‘Color’ workspace.

 

 

 

 

 

Basic Correction is a good place to start to tweak colour and add a LUT.

 

 

Extend to desired length and make colour changes on the adjustment layer as oppose to directly onto your clip. (Make sure the adjustment layer is selected when altering the colour).

More info on color here:

Exporting/ Rendering