PrP - Colour Coding Your Timeline

Owned by Nikola Mateja
Last updated: May 29, 2024
4 min read

Navigating through your timeline can get tough once you have numerous scenes, markers and other elements situated on it.

A good way to keep it tidy and comprehensive is to use Premiere Pro Colour Coding features.

You can colour code:

  1. Video & Audio Clips

  2. Markers

  3. Bins & Files

 

Color Coding Video and Audio Clips

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Select the clip you’d like to change the colour of.

Right-click it and navigate to Label.

A drop down menu will appear with 16 colours for you to choose from.

Screenshot 2024-05-22 at 11.11.42 am.png

If you’d like to change the colour of ONLY the video or audio clip, left-click on it while holding ALT (Windows) or Option (Mac).

This will select only the desired part.

This method can be used also on any graphic elements (ie. graphics, texts, items).

You can use this feature to organise your scenes by labeling them with different colours to be able quickly navigate to them (Scene 1 - Red, Scene 2 - Green, Scene 3 - Orange, etc.)
You can also label different element groups the same colour (Video - Blue, Text - Orange, Graphics - Yellow, etc.).

 

Color Coding Markers

To place a Marker on your overall timeline, click M on the keyboard while having the sequence selected.

This will create a standard marker on top of the timeline.

To place a Marker on a specific video clip, click M on the keyboard while having the clip selected.

To change the colour, title and additional aspects of the marker, double-click on it.

It will open up a window where you can adjust few things.

You can:

  1. Change the Name of the marker - it will appear while hovering your mouse over the marker on the timeline.

  2. Change the Duration of the marker - extends the marker on the top of the timeline.

  3. Add Comments - allows you to add detailed information regarding the marker.

  4. Change the Colour - you can choose from 8 different colours.

  5. Change the Type of the Marker.

You can also extend the duration of the marker manually by holding ALT/OPTION key and clicking on the marker.

This method allows you to quickly navigate from maker to marker.
You can also use it as a reminder on what to work on later.

 

Color Coding Bins

To change a colour of a specific bin or file, right-click on it and navigate to Label where you can choose from a selection of colours.

 

CHANGING THE DEFAULT SETTINGS

Premiere Pro allows you to adjust the default colours up to your liking - here’s how to do it.

Navigate to Premiere Pro > Settings > Labels.

Here you can find a list of all available label spots.

You have 16 colour spots that you can rename or change to ANY colour you like by clicking on any of the coloured rectangles.

You can also assign different elements a specific default colour, ie. Video - Purple, Audio - Green, etc., in the Label Defaults column.

You can also choose from four Label Colour Presets (Default, Classic, Vibrant & Editorial) or upload a new preset you’d like to use.