Datasheet

Part I ✦ Getting Started with Premiere

How Premiere Works

To understand the Premiere production process, you need a basic understanding

of the steps involved in creating a conventional videotape production in which the

production footage is not digitized. In traditional, or linear, video production, all

production elements are transferred to videotape. During the editing process, the

final production is electronically edited onto one final or program videotape. Even

though computers are used while editing, the linear or analog nature of videotape

makes the process very time-consuming; during the actual editing session, video-

tape must be loaded and unloaded from tape or cassette machines. Time is wasted

as producers simply wait for videotape machines to reach the correct editing point.

The production is usually assembled sequentially. If you want to go back to a previ-

ous scene and replace it with one that is shorter or longer, all subsequent scenes

must be rerecorded to the program reel.

Nonlinear video-editing programs such as Premiere have revolutionized the entire

process of video editing. Digital video and Premiere eliminate many of the time-

consuming production chores of traditional editing. When using Premiere, you

don’t need to hunt for tapes or to load and remove them from tape machines. When

producers use Premiere, all production elements are digitized to disk. An icon in

Premiere’s Project window represents each element in a production, whether it is

a video clip, a sound clip, or a still image. The final production is represented by

icons in a window called the Timeline. The focal point of the Timeline are its video

and audio tracks, which appear as parallel bars that stretch from left to right across

the timeline. When you need to use a video clip, sound clip, or still image, you sim-

ply click it in the Project window and drag it to a track in the Timeline window. You

can place the items of your production down sequentially, or drag them anywhere

to different tracks. As you work, you can access any portion of your production by

clicking in the desired portion in the Timeline window with the mouse. You can also

use the mouse to click either the beginning or end of a clip and shorten or extend

the clip’s duration.

To fine-tune your edits, you can view and edit the clips frame by frame in the

Timeline window. You can also set in and out points in the Clip or Monitor window.

Setting an in point affects where a clip starts playing, and setting an out point affects

where a clip stops playing. Because all clips are digitized (and no videotape is

involved), Premiere can quickly adjust the final production as you edit.

The following list summarizes some of the digital-editing magic that you can perform

in Premiere by simply dragging clips in the Timeline:

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