3 Video Editing Tips on Adobe Premiere Pro
At Coussins Associates we edit using Adobe Premiere Pro, I thought I’d offer a few tips for other Premiere Pro users that I generally follow in order to keep my video workflow organised and to get the best results from this piece of software.
1. Bins/Folders
One of the things I’m guiltiest of is leaving things in a bit of a mess, and nobody likes a mess. So, whilst my bedroom floor may still be a disgrace, my Premiere Pro projects are neatly stored into clearly labelled folders.
This, of course, comes in handy when you’re returning to projects and need to find an old sequence quickly or if another editor is trying to make sense of one of your files!
Similarly, it’s often a good idea to save projects regularly with new save files for different stages of an edit, that way if – for whatever reason – you need to go back to an earlier edit you don’t have to worry about trying to undo what you’ve spent hours changing, instead you can open up that previous version and work from there.
2. Trim the fat
Oscar nominated director Paul Thomas Anderson compared script-writing to ironing a shirt, you go back over the same creases again and again until it’s perfect, the same can be true of editing. It’s always best to make a ‘self indulgent’ first pass where you don’t worry about refining the stumbles and stutters instead focus on telling the story.
Once you have this basic structure in place it’s easy then to watch the video through and go back to trim the fat, whether that’s a stammer or thoughtful ‘um’ or even repeated statements and irrelevant asides. With each consecutive edit trims and changes made in one part of the video will undoubtedly affect others until you come up with a finely tuned, balanced piece of film.
3. Short audio transition (Constant Power)
Once you have your edit trimmed down you may find that there can be a dull ‘blip’ between edits, using a very short audio transition can often soften this out, usually lasting a couple of frames either side of the cut.
It’s a great idea to change the default settings on the ‘Constant Power’ audio transition so that you can just drag-and-drop and always have a very short, sharp fade between tracks at your fingertips.
Furthermore, if you remember to store your most used transitions in a ‘Favourites’ folder then you won’t have to go trawling through a number of drop-downs to get to your editing life-lines.
Of course, if all that sounds like gibberish, you could always outsource your video editing and we’d love to hear from you!