Did you know you can have audio track keyframes? (Premiere)
This is one of those 'totally cool' features that I'm always surprised that most people don't know about.
Adobe Premiere Pro has clip keyframes and it also has keyframes for the track.
Look! There are keyframes on the track now!
Two Quick thoughts
These are GREAT for swapping different music in/out (you just use replace - the keyframes are on the track, so music stays ducked!)
But if you make timing changes on your tracks (such as trimming/removing/adding frames) these keyframes won't slide to stay in place.)
Adobe Sessions with tips like this will be at NAB/Post Production world
Nobody needs the work area bar (Premiere)
Sorry, I don't know an editor who needs/wants the Work Area bar in Premiere pro. I get how it came to be there, but if you're an editor? It should go.
Bonus, the "Enter" key (to render/preview) now becomes Render In to Out.
Adobe Sessions with tips like this will be at NAB/Post Production world
Build your photo montage to music quickly (Premiere)
Everyone sooner or later is asked to build a photo montage. Here's how to build them quick in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Drop your music in, play back and press the M key for markers on the music during the beat. Then use the Automate to Sequence button at the bottom of the project panel.
Click to view. Switch from sequentially to "at unnumbered markers"
Boot Camp Adobe Premiere Pro
Crash Courses are always hard - they're only a stepping stone to start learning.
Here are the notes from the class.
This is a devastating Adobe technology. I dub it "SmartSpeak"
If you've ever edited any interview, you're plagued with the 'ums' and 'likes' and other linking words. (If you have short attention spans, skip my text, watch the video and then come back here.)
Somewhere, thankfully forgotten to history, when I was in film school I did a series of interviews where all I did was cut the linking words together. Funny (wish I had a copy to show right now.)
Any way you cut it (pun intended), it's the biggest struggle in construction of documentary/corporate productions - getting concise sound bites created from people who aren't professional speakers.
You end up with a Franken-edit - where you've glued sections together (often out of order, often slugging a word from a different spot to replace a work that didn't inflect that you way you needed) and you prayed that you had a good 3-4 opening seconds for a lower third, knowing you'd cover up the edits with B roll.
Adobe funds quite a bit of speculative technology. They make smart bets and acquisitions, some that might take years to take fruit.
Adobe - don't take years on this. This is as groundbreaking as content aware replace/removal was to Photoshop users.
I'm going to call it "SmartSpeak" because it'll remove linking words making people sound smarter. I also like SmartBite.
From John Nack's Blog:
Adobe’s Wil Li plus UC Berkeley-based collaborators Maneesh Agrawala and Floraine Berthouzoz have unveiled “a one-click method for seamlessly removing ’ums’ and repeated words, as well as inserting natural-looking pauses to emphasize semantic content.”
Advanced Adobe Premiere Pro tips
I love tips sessions - they're always about 'Can I find something really new and powerful that this group doesn't know.' And my goal always is to find at least five items for every person in the room.
Since Tips sessions are custom to the room - there are no notes; if you look at your notes and have questions email them or leave them in the comments.
The rule is cool/quick/smart about which items I pick. Sure, it might be nice to have insight to the how/why of setting up Adobe Premiere Pro sequences - but that's really a blog post. For example, it's about the idea that you can render faster if someone shows you how to create previews at half resolution.
The problem with tip sessions is tips one the one above (which I didn't show) is unique to the crowd. I usually come in with a dozen or so cool tips and let the crowd tell me where they're frustrated/lost with the software.
I didn't do the above tip during the session, so I wrote it out below.
If you create a sequence preview and switch it's editing mode to custom, you can halve the vertical and horizontal resolutions of your previews in Adobe Premiere Pro. This is only useful if you export Media at the default setting (use previews off.) If you turn this on, you'll screw up your exports. Keep "Use Previews" off if you want to use this technique.
Take your Preview size and set it to half - so 1920 becomes 960, 1080 becomes 540 - 960x540. If you're working in 720, that's 640x360.
Since we're calculating only 1/4 of the area - your previews will be 4x faster in Adobe Premiere Pro - and this tip works (at least) all the way back from version 5.
“This tip will quadruple the speed of your previews in Adobe Premiere Pro”
Please plan your workflow. Please?
I've just come across a friend who is dealing with a workflow problem. The problem is that he switched from one NLE to another...and things don't work the same.
I'm not calling out the person; I'm not calling out the editorial tools....I understand that he has an investment in hardware and software (including cameras.)
But why, why not first, contact the NLE manufacturer or resller and say "How to best do this?"
Get the download demo, walk thorugh head to tales what your workflow plans to be.
Realistically, that's what whiteppapers are for, right? But the day of one format (like one NLE) is pretty much a myth. It's always a mixture of formats (and frame rates, and compression types.)
Adobe Roadshow hits DC
On Monday, I was speaking at the Adobe CS6 Roadshow in DC.
This is a great event; when it does come to your city, it's worth attending (there are loads of upcoming cities!)
In NYC, DC and LA, there are also special training seminars.
These are perfect for an editor who sees the Adobe Production Suite (Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Speedgrade) in their near future.
Here are the presentations I gave, as promised.
Broadcast centered editing.pdf- this is about adopting Premiere Pro and understanding some of it's feature set that apply to a broadcast environment.
Editing faster.pdf- a crash course in editorial in Premiere Pro.
Trimming.pdf- Trimming, the adjustment of clip length in the timeline - something that I feel makes and breaks and editorial system (and editor) demystified.
If you're going to join us in LA - drop me a line - I might be able to arrange a special present.
Adobe RoadShow hits NYC
On Tues, I was speaking at the Adobe CS6 Roadshow. This is a great event when it does come to your city; but in NYC, DC and LA, there are special training seminars. These are perfect for an editor who sees the Adobe Production Suite (Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Speedgrade) in their near future.
I'll need to update these for the next city, but here were the presentations, as promised.
Broadcast centered editing.pdf - this is about adopting Premiere Pro and understanding some of it's feature set that apply to a broadcast environment.
Editing faster.pdf - a crash course in editorial in Premiere Pro.
Trimming.pdf - Trimming, the adjustment of clip length in the timeline - something that I feel makes and breaks and editorial system (and editor) demystified.