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FOCAL EASY GUIDE

TO PREMIERE PRO:
FOR NEW USERS AND
PROFESSIONALS
VERSION 1.5 UPDATE
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THE FOCAL EASY GUIDE TO PREMIERE PRO

You are most likely reading this document because you’ve purchased
Focal Press’s Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro: For New Users and
Professionals, which covers Adobe Premiere Pro version 1. Since publication,
Adobe has released Premiere Pro 1.5. The good news is that the information
published in the book for v1 is virtually the same for v1.5. The better news is
that there are many improvements to Premiere Pro that elevate a
powerful editing application to being an even smarter and more versatile
editing tool.

In the spirit of the Easy Guide series, we’ve put together an update that
covers some of the big advances in the software. With that, let’s get right
into it....

Increased Performance
While it isn’t something that you need to do anything about, it’s worth
mentioning that there are significant performance increases in Premiere Pro 1.5.
Playback of motion, rotation, the Basic 3D effect, and blurs are all improved
when previewing, while the Titler will now preview rolls and crawls directly to
your DV out without rendering. For audio, you can now play back an audio clip
immediately instead of having to wait for the entire clip to finish conforming
when bringing it into a project.

The Project Manager

When working with video editing projects, managing the source files or “media”
files is one of the most important skills you can develop. The all new Project
Manager was developed with this in mind.

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Project> Project Manager.

The Project Manager feature in Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 is designed to help you
manage your projects and your media efficiently and easily. To open the Project
Manager window, choose Project>Project Manager from the menu.

When the window opens, you will notice the first area on the top of the window
is asking you to choose the “Resulting Project” type.

It makes sense for us to start with the second option. “Collect Files and Copy to
New Location” will create a new project in a new folder that will also include
copies of all the original media files. This can be very helpful when your
intention is to archive your project and media for later use and the media is
located across many different folders and/or hard drives on your computer.
Once the project is “collected” in one folder, you can be sure that you have all
the files necessary to recreate the project later. The folder with the collected
media files and the new project file will have the name Trimmed_<Your Original

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Project Manager Window

Project Name> and will be placed in the location you specify in the “Project
Destination Path” section of the window.

Secondly, the first option is to create a “New Trimmed Project” which will collect
your project’s files as we covered above with the addition of trimming your

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source files and creating a new folder with the trimmed files and the new project
file. If you have captured a large quantity of material and have only used small
parts of it (as I did in the television commercial project referenced in the
illustration), the amount of disk space you can free up in this manner can be
significant.

This feature will trim unused portions of most video and audio file types,
creating a smaller file. In cases in which one file is used several times and has
several sections used, the trim will create one file that includes all the used
content. In other words if you use only two small sections of one clip but they
include the very beginning and very end of your source file, that file will
effectively not be trimmed at all.

Below the “Resulting Project” section you will find an option to “Exclude
Unused Clips.” By checking this box, you’re telling the Project Manager to not
include any clips that weren’t used on the timeline in the new project. By
selecting “Make Offline,” the new project will store the reel name and timecode
for each clip that can be recaptured later. If your raw tape is archived, this option
can be used for the maximum benefit in saving drive space.

In the “Options” section, the first option is to “Include Handles.” This option
allows you to save additional head and tail beyond the points at which your
media is trimmed in your project in case you want to alter the project slightly at
a later time.

“Include Preview Files” and “Include Audio Conform Files” are options that are
only available when selecting the “Collect Files and Copy to New Location”
option. Video Preview files are the files generated by Premiere Pro when you
render an area with an effect or transition while Audio Conform files are the
uncompressed working files that Premiere Pro uses to speed audio effect
previews. In both cases the files are large and, unless you intend to use the
project immediately in its new location, I would suggest you leave these
unchecked for strictly transporting or archiving project data. Rendered Video
Preview files are easily regenerated the next time you need the project and
audio will be reconformed automatically.

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There are times when an editor will rename a clip inside a project after it has been
originally captured under a different name. Renaming the clip inside of Premiere
Pro does not rename the original media file on your hard drive. With “Rename
Media Files to Match Clip Names” checked, the new trimmed clips will take on the
name of the file as you renamed it inside the project. In instances in which you may
have created more than one renamed segment from the same source clip, the new,
trimmed media will take on the name of the first renamed segment in the project.

As we addressed the “Project Destination” section earlier, we skip to that area in

the bottom of the window. In the “Disk Space” section, you will see the disk space
available and the original project size displayed and, by pressing the “Calculate”
button, you will see the estimated project size that will result from your settings.

And of course, pressing “OK” gets it all done.

Background Capturing
It is now possible to capture video with Premiere Pro in the background while
doing other tasks on your computer. It is advisable to test this before capturing
a large clip, depending on the speed of your system. The general caution is that
there is an outside chance of dropping a frame if you are doing a processor
intensive task while capturing video, but what constitutes a “processor
intensive” task is measured on a sliding scale depending on the “intensity” of
your processor to begin with. Common sense dictates that you test this feature
on your system before depending on it. The bigger and faster your system, the
better this feature will work.

Copy/Paste to and from After Effects

When using Adobe After Effects v6.5 and Adobe Premiere Pro v1.5 together, it is
possible to copy/paste assets between the two programs. This feature works
between a Premiere Pro Sequence in the timeline window and an After Effects
Composition.

You can select and copy clips from the Premiere Pro timeline window and paste
them into the After Effects Composition window, or vice-versa. The caveat is that

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any effects or additional settings associated with a copied clip must be available
or convertible in the destination application to appear with the pasted clip. For
instance, Motion settings from Premiere Pro will show up in After Effects as
Transform settings and dissolves show up as opacity changes. Photoshop layers
and sequences convert as nested compositions and Premiere Pro’s “crop” effect
shows up in After Effects as a layer mask.

There are many After Effects plug-ins that are now available inside of Premiere
Pro, or can be installed so they work in Premiere Pro, but the arsenal of available
effects is extensive and different in both programs and you will probably want to
experiment a little to ensure you see the result you expect.

New Zoom Behavior

When you use the “+” or “−” keys to zoom, Premiere Pro 1.5 now zooms around
the position of the cursor instead of the current-time indicator. This eliminates
the step of moving the CTI to the position of your desired zoom.

Create New Adobe Photoshop Document from

within Premiere Pro
You can now open a new Photoshop file from inside Premiere Pro as long as you
have Photoshop 7 or later installed. The Photoshop document will be formatted
to your Premiere Pro project settings and, depending on the preference you
select, Premiere Pro will automatically add the document to your video project.

Premiere Pro opens a document optimized for your project settings by accessing
a Photoshop template. You can make your own templates for frequently used
Premiere Pro project settings as well.

To open a new Photoshop file from within Premiere Pro 1.5:

1. Choose File > New > Photoshop File.

2. You will be asked to save the new Photoshop file.

3. If you want the file to show up immediately in your Premiere Pro project,
check the “Add to Project” box at the bottom of the Save dialogue.

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(Note that the only import method available is merged layers. If you want
to import the new Photoshop document as individual layers or as a
sequence, you will need to import the finished document from the saved
file on disk.)

4. Click Save and start working on your Photoshop file.

Working with 24P Footage in NTSC

Support for footage shot at 24 frames per second-progressive scan, such as DV
footage shot with the Panasonic AG-DVX100, is built in to Premiere Pro 1.5.
Additionally, any time you capture footage shot with the Panasonic AG-DVX100,
Premiere Pro will recognize it as 24p footage and capture it properly no matter
what your project settings are.

To set up a 24p project, the quickest way is to simply launch Premiere Pro 1.5
and choose to start a new project and select one of the Panasonic 24p presets
from the folder available. These presets include a 2:3:3:2 “pull-up” that features
a telecine-like field duplication that creates very smooth playback.

This playback setting can be changed once the project is open by accessing
Project > Project Settings > General > Playback Settings, or selecting
Playback Settings from the monitor window menu. You will notice toward
the bottom of the window that there are two options under “24p Pull-Up
Method.” While 2:3:3:2 creates very smooth playback, it can take significant
system resources to use it. ABBCD playback simply duplicates on complete
frame as necessary to create the proper frame rate, which doesn’t look as
smooth as 2:3:3:2 but will lessen stress on your system, speeding up your
editing.

Each of the two options for handling playback upconverts 24p footage to
playback at 29.97 to make your project’s playback compatible with existing
NTSC video monitors.

Note that if you use 30 frame per-second non-dropframe timecode for your
24p project, Premiere Pro will drop every fifth frame to stay chronologically

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accurate. The frame rate will display as 23.97, but the timebase of the project
will remain 29.97.

Audio Mix...Keyframe Handling

Often, when using the audio mixer to automate audio changes on the timeline,
the result will be dense masses of keyframes that aren’t all necessary. In fact,
many times only a small percentage of them are necessary. Having all these
keyframes on the timeline slows system performance so it can be an advantage
to be able to remove redundant keyframes.

Automation Keyframe Optimization

Select Edit > Preferences > Audio, and select one (or both) of the following
choices to utilize Premiere Pro 1.5’s new “keyframe thinning” option: <set
indented, with “headings” on their own line, in italic>

Linear Keyframe Thinning

This option ensures that “redundant” keyframes of identical values aren’t

created. You will only see a keyframe when a change needs to be
recorded. This option is on in the default configuration.

Minimal Time Interval Thinning

This option allows you to set the minimum distance between keyframes
as a method to prevent extraneous keyframes. You can set the value as
high as 30 milliseconds or as low as 1, but I have doubts that most
people in most circumstances would want to deal with keyframes 1
millisecond apart.

Bezier Keyframe Interpolation

Now opacity handles and audio volume handles can be manipulated with Bezier
curves between the keyframes. Fine control over changes from point to point is
accomplished through the use of a special handle. The farther away from a point
you drag the handle, the more curve tension you apply to the line segment.

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To create a Bezier control keyframe:

1. You can create a keyframe by choosing the Pen tool with the “P” key and
either using Ctrl-P, Create a New Keyframe, after choosing the property
you want to adjust, or selecting Create a New Keyframe in the Effect
Control window (See “Working with Keyframes” on page 103 of the
book).

2. If you are working in the Effect Control window, you can right-click on a
keyframe and choose an interpolation option from the menu. If you are
working on the timeline, Ctrl-click the keyframe to change its type from
linear to Bezier and drag out the handle.

Adobe Title Designer

I often run into situations in which I
struggle to evenly space or line up multiple
text objects in a complex text document in
the Title Designer. Manual adjustment is
usually all that can be done and you end
up “eyeballing” it...until now.

The “Align” and “Distribute” commands in

the Title Designer are designed to give my
eyeballs a rest.

You can align or distribute objects along a

vertical or horizontal axis. “Align” simply
lines up the objects you select along
whichever edge you choose, while
“Distribute” evenly spaces them from each
other.

Alignment will use the object that is closest

to the desired alignment as the guide. If
you left-justify your objects, they will align
with the object that is the farthest to the
left, and so on. Distribution simply evenly

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spaces the objects selected between the two objects at the extreme limits of the
group. In the case of a vertical distribution, the objects will be spaced with the
objects at the top and bottom of the group as a guide. The only caveat with
distribution is that the calculation is done from the option you choose, and the
results vary depending on the objects. I prefer to start with “even spacing” and
go from there as the other options can give you unexpected results with
unevenly sized objects.

To align or distribute a group of text objects:

1. Select all the objects that you want to work with by selecting the first
and Shift>selecting the additional objects, or simply dragging a box
around all the objects to select everything inside the box. (You can only
align two or more objects or distribute three or more objects.)

2. Use the appropriate align and/or distribute buttons to the left of the
composition area in the Titler window and choose Title > Align Objects
or Title > Distribute Objects from the menu.

As it is with everything . . . there’s even more to like about the Premiere Pro 1.5
upgrade, but I didn’t want the update on the book to get longer than the book
itself. As always, use the “Help” menu at the top of the interface for instant
access to detailed instructions on what we’ve covered here and more . . .

Here’s hoping the book and the update has made your experience with
Premiere Pro easier and successful.

Tim Kolb

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