Adobe Premiere Pro is regarded as one of the best video editing platforms. It’s considered the industry standard and is used to edit everything from films and TV shows to online adverts and marketing material.
However, despite being the go-to platform for professional filmmakers and editors, Premier Pro is still an accessible tool that can be used by anyone, whether they be amateur filmmakers or social media content creators. We’ve written up a guide to help you get started editing your video on Premiere Pro. Check it out below.
First time in Premiere Pro?
If it’s your first time using Premiere Pro, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed when you first open up the software. While it may look complicated, it’s actually rather intuitively laid out, and after some exploration, you’ll start to feel more comfortable with how the platform operates and the various processes involved in using it.
The first thing you need to do is to create and name a new project. Next, you’ll have to import the media you want to use. This can include video clips, images, music, or a combination of all three. You don’t need to edit or polish these clips before importing them into Premiere Pro, that can all be done within the platform.
After you have imported your media, the main edit window will open up. This is where things can get confusing, so it’s important to learn about what each section does before you proceed. In the top left you’ll see the project window, this is where you can view all of your imported media and drag clips into the timeline window below.
The timeline window is a long section where clips can be dragged and placed chronologically. They can be clipped, dragged, and moved around as you make changes to your video. Above the timeline, you’ll see the playback window, which is where your video will be displayed as a preview while you edit.
To the left of the screen, you’ll also see a section for additional editing tools and options. This section will become more important as you learn more about the platform and try out more advanced editing techniques.
Quickest and most efficient
Why is Premiere Pro considered to be the best video editing platform? There are other contenders, such as Final Cut Pro X and DaVinci Resolve, but Premier Pro comes out on top time and time again.
One of the main reasons why is that Premier Pro is simply the quickest and most efficient video editing platform out there. What’s more, it offers extensive customisation tools, including colour editing and options for Adobe Premiere Pro subtitles captions.
Premier Pro’s biggest strength lies in its versatility. It can be used to make quick videos for social media on the fly, or for feature-length films using professional-grade footage, sound effects, and soundtracks.
However, the vast majority of Premier Pro users will use the platform for making short videos, generally for social channels like Instagram and TikTok. When making these kinds of videos, speed and efficiency is the key, and Premier Pro offers the best solution for rapid video editing, with options for further creative customisation should it be necessary.
Captions
Captions or subtitles can be used for all sorts of purposes in video content. They can be there for translation means, to make videos more accessible to deaf viewers, or as a creative and artistic decision.
Captions are particularly prevalent in social media videos, especially on short-form video-sharing platforms like TikTok.
If you want to add captions to your video, thankfully Premier Pro allows you to do this quickly and easily, with various options for different captions to suit the style and form of your content.
To add captions, head to the edit window on the left of the screen and click the Text tab. Here, you’ll see an option that says Transcribe Sequence, click this and Premier Pro will generate a transcript for your video. You can read through this transcript and make any necessary edits before clicking Create to add the transcript to the timeline and to your video.
Themes
An excellent approach for beginners using Premiere Pro is to make use of available themes and templates. These will give you a basic initial structure that you can build your video around, making for a faster and more efficient editing process.
Themes can offer you template introductions, transitions, and outros, with titles and captions already in place. All you need to do is edit the text to match your video and you’ll be all set.
Conclusion
Don’t feel intimidated by the thought of using Premiere Pro. While the platform may be complicated and powerful, it’s surprisingly accessible and you’ll be able to pick up the basics in no time at all. Use this guide to get started and to learn all about using captions and themes in Premiere Pro.