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I've been teaching with different software in my composition and writing classes for six years, but I've also run workshops in classrooms and in studios for even longer. This page is intended to help students, staff, and faculty with procedures we go over in workshops and classes. This resources is intended to help any and all that need help with specific tasks in these software. If there is an error or something you could like to add, please email me at cstuar2@clemson.edu
Adobe Premiere Pro
Premiere Pro can be daunting at first, but if you know the basics, you can start making videos right away. Here are some tutorials for you:
- "Premiere Absolute Basics" - Chris Stuart
This video will teach you how to Import, Export, Cut, Move Files, Add Text, and Change Time.
2. "Learn Premiere Pro 2020 in 15 Minutes" - Lila
This is a great video to show you everything you need to know to get started!
Some people would find these topics to be basic editing, but to others, these are advanced techniques because you may not use them for every project.
Stabilizing Video
Before starting, know that using a stabilizer will crop your video and can take a long time to analyze longer clips. To minimize the need for a stabilizer, use a tripod or gimble.
- Click on Effects > Distort > Warp Stabilizer.
- Drag Warp Stabilizer onto the clip.
- This will activate it to start analyzing.
- Once finished, you can change some settings.
- I typically change "Smoothness" to 10-20% but if there is a lot of movement, you may need more.
- Method should be subspace warp
- Framing should be "Stabilize, Crop, Auto-scale"
- If cropping is an issue, you can go to Advanced > Crop Less <-> Smooth and make it a lower percentage.
Color Correction
Everyone has a different method and approach to color correction. This is highly dependent on what "look" you are trying to achieve in your film. "Natural" looks try to achieve balance (good for interviews).
- Click on the "Color" workstation at the top.
- Click on Window > Lumetri Scopes
- Right-Click on the waveform under Lumetri Scopes and select "Vectorscope YUV" (a circular graph should show up.
- The first adjustment you make is White Balance. Under Lumetri Color, click on "Basic Correction."
- Click on the eyedropper next to "WB Selector" (white balance), then click on something in frame of your clip that is supposed to be white.
- For fine tuning, you can click on "Curves" and make sure the dropdown says "RGB Curves."
- Based on the circular graph, you should be able to see if R, G, or B are spiked. For a natural look, you want them to be pretty even.
- Select the color that is in need to adjustment from the Curves and then grab and drag an anchor point on the top or bottom of the line to make adjustments.
- Points can be added to create curves.
- You can make other adjustments to help balance the image the way you want it to. (Too blue? Make it warmer. Too orange? Make it colder.)
Sync Sound
You should always try to capture multiple sources of audio in case one source doesn't work the way you intended.
- To sync multiple sources, make sure you have the sources on the timeline and select them all.
- Go to Clip > Synchronize.
- Click on Audio then Ok.
- The clips should synchronize. You can mute different audio tracks to see which one is better. If you want to delete one, make sure you unlink the audio attacked to the video (clip > Unlink)
Noise Reduction/Audio Enhance (manual)
Sometimes there is background noise that you want to get rid of. Maybe the speaker is quieter than you want?
- Go to "Effects"
- For noise reduction, go to Audio Effects > Denoise.
- Once you drag it onto the clip, you should hear a big difference. You can go to the effects panel and change the Amount under "Individual Parameters" if you need to.
- For vocal enhancement, go to Audio Effects > Vocal Enhancer.
- This enhancement is automated based on the vocals Premiere hears. It will enhance the vocals only.
Essential Sound
There are a lot of automated features under "Essential Sound" under the Effects workspace. These can clean up audio quickly with minimal effort.
- Click on "Effects" at the top of the interface.
- Click on the Essential Sound menu to the right.
- Select the type of sound that best describes your audio clip (dialogue, music, sfx, or ambience).
- Each feature has its own adjustments. Most notably, if you change the talking clips to dialogue and the music to music, you then have the ability to engage "auto ducking" with music which will automatically lower the volume of the music when people are talking.
Green Screen
Green screen is both easier and more difficult than it may seem. To key out green is a simple click of a button, but to get it to cut out everything you don't want is more difficult.
Setting up the lighting is one of the most important parts of green screen work. If there are shadows or uneven lighting, it will be very difficult to cut out.
- Bring in your green screen clip.
- Note: If your subject is mostly stationary, I recommend making a mask to minimize what you have to key out. Go to the Effect Controls > Opacity then click on the circle, square, or pen tool. Adjust to have the whole subject in the mask.
- Click on Effects.
- Go to Video Effects > Keying > Ultra Key.
- Click and drag Ultra Key onto the clip.
- Click on the eye dropper next to "Key Color" then click on the most "common" green in your clip.
- To make adjustments, you can either make manual adjustments under "Matte Generation" or "Matte Cleanup." If you want to automate the cleanup, click on the "Settings" box and choose one of the presets.