PE1_Premiere_Pro

Although not very flashy at first glance, Premiere Pro's drab panes hide a plethora of professional video editing functions. 

This week for the Emerging Technologies in a Collaborative Culture (ETC) course at Full Sail, I'll be learning my way around Premiere Pro, Adobe's video editing tool in their well-known Creative Suite.  Originally, this week's assignment was based on iMovie, but my professor noted in the assignment that if you already knew iMovie well, there would be the possibility of an alternative assignment.  Since I had already explored most of the functions in iMovie, I inquired, and she suggested that I complete the assignment using Premiere.  As I had already explored some of the other applications in CS5, I thought it would be a great idea.

So, step one of the process was to dive into the Premiere Pro Essential Training Series on Lynda.com, by Chad Perkins.  Like many of the other series on Lynda, Premiere Pro starts with some basic background information, spending a good hour explaining the interface (pictured above), how to set up projects and handle footage, as well as the basics of editing.  After a bit of the technical, the focus of the series shifts to the artistic, and demonstrates how to make good decisions about cuts, pacing, and scene choices.

Soon after, its back to the technical where some of the real power of Premiere Pro is unveiled.  Playing with time is discussed, and not only can clips be accelerated or played in slow motion, but reversing clips can even be done with just a few clicks.  Transitions and titles are also discussed, and although very powerful, seem to be a bit complicated to deal with.

The last page of tutorials

Although you can't see what I've completed above, you can see what I've got left to complete in the Essential Training series.  At this point, I'm happy to find that many of the functions are similar to those in After Effects and other Adobe programs, so it isn't a completely foreign environment.  As well, nearly every aspect of the video is dynamic, which allows amazing creative flexibility.  Overall, Premiere looks like an amazing program, so its back to the tutorials for me!