When playing the footage on the timeline, pressing the 'm' key will place a little green shape above the place of the timeline you pressed it - this is called a 'marker'. Markers can be used for many things in editing, like assigning pieces of footage to the ones that you have put in. This can be done by going to a bin of clips once the markers have been placed, then going to the bottom and pressing the 'automate to sequence' button, deciding if you want the clips to appear in the order you selected them or the way they're sorted in the bin, and press ok. This feature can be really useful for projects such as music videos, where a clip appearing or disappearing on beat with the song is a wanted inclusion often. The markers can also just be used to show where future edits are to be made or as reminders for example though - it is up to the editor what exactly the markers are used for each time as there is no one set use.
The 'razor' tool is a constantly used tool by many editors in Premiere Pro. This tool is an extremely easy to understand and use one; its purpose is to be used to split a piece of footage into two separate pieces. This is done by clicking on the razor button on the left of the timeline, then using your mouse to place the cursor on the part of the clip which you want to split, then clicking on it to do it. Once this is done, the editor could delete one of the parts of the footage, move it to somewhere else, add an edit to it (like a speed change, scale change, etc) without effecting the other part of the clip in the slightest, or any other changes they want to add.
Multicam:Using many different pieces of footage and a piece of 'master audio', a sequence called a 'Multicam sequence' can be made; this is another technique which is very useful when editing projects like music videos, tv shows and movies for example. To create one of these sequences, the editor should select multiple pieces of footage from the bin which all include the same basic audio, as well as the important 'master audio' file, then right click and select the option 'create multi-camera source sequence' from the options that appear. After this is done, a new file will appear in the 'processed clips' bin, which the editor should again right click and select 'new sequence from clip'. Once this is all done and the sequence is opened up in the timeline, the option to edit the footage in 'multi-camera view' will work. To turn this view mode on, the logo above the timeline of the left side which shows two rectangles side by side, with more rectangles inside the left one, needs to be selected. With this activated, watching the footage and selecting the different pieces of footage playing in the left rectangle will switch to that clip in the edit easily without even stopping the project playing until the editor pauses it themselves.
Premiere's 'bins' are used to store each piece of video, audio and images which the editor wants to use in the project they are editing. Within the bin itself, you can even actually skim through the piece of video with the cursor before placing it in the timeline. Also, the bin can be looked at either in list, icon or freeform view, depending on what the editor finds easiest to work with; both of these features are really useful when deciding and realising if the footage is what you are actually looking for before placing it in the timeline to edit and wasting time.
If the editor right clicks on a specific clip on the timeline, the option to edit the 'clip speed/duration' will appear. If this is clicked, the editor is allowed to slow down or speed up the clip of choice, by either decreasing or increasing the speed percentage respectively. The same effect can also be done by decreasing or increasing the duration of the clip, which is likely the method used if the person wants to be more specific on how quick the clip is to fit a specific amount of the project's length. This menu also allows the clip to run backwards if the 'reverse speed' box is ticked. Something else worthy to note is that due to the frame rate of the clip once it is slowed down or sped up, it can potentially end up playing a bit choppy and not very smooth in the final product. However, if the option 'optical flow' is selected from the 'time interpolation' drop-down list, the clip will appear more smooth in the final project from then on.
Under the 'effects' tab, there are many different presets and features that can be added to any piece of audio or visuals currently on the timeline; these can vary from audio and video effects, transitions, lumetri presets, and more. To add one of these effects to one of your clips, the logo of the specific effect needs to be dragged with the mouse over to either the left or right edge of whatever clip you want it to affect. If there is a clip directly before or after the clip that the effect has been dragged onto respectively, it will affect one of those as well, depending on what side of the clip you the effect was dragged onto of course. For example, using the 'cross dissolve' video transition as an example, the clip before will fade into the clip the effect was placed onto. In order for this to not happen and for the transition to only affect the singular one wanted, the clip should be dragged onto a layer where there is no clip before it (or after it if the effect is on the other side of the clip).
Premiere Pro also allows the user to edit more subtle changes to the footage they want to use in their project, like tons of little details about the visual look of the clip in the 'colour' tab of the program. This area of Premiere lets the editor change so many options related to the colours of the clip they have selected on the timeline; these changes are all split into multiple sections, with these being: basic correction, creative, curves, colour wheels & match, HSL secondary and vignette. Each section includes colour wheels, boxes that can be turned on or off, lists of presets, adjustable dials and more, which vary from the changing the colours of the clip subtly or quite noticeably.
The 'effect controls' tab allows the editor to change a variety of details about the clip they have selected from their timeline. Specifically, options that affect the clip's position, scale, rotation & anchor-point and opacity are all located under this tab - even the method to add keyframes to the clip is found here. In order to change any of these features, the number to the right of the name of whatever feature it is can be either increased or decreased; either using the mouse to drag the number in blue left or right to decrease or increase the number respectively, or simply clicking on the number and typing in the specific one wanted are viable options, and it's ultimately up to the user to decide which method they find better and more usable for their project.
Under the same 'effects' tab where the video and audio transitions can be found, the option to crop a piece of footage can also be found; specifically, the effect that lets the editor take advantage of this quite simple editing tool can be found in the 'transform' folder which itself under the 'video effects' folder. Once this effect has been found, the user needs to drag the block on the left of the 'crop' tool up to the 'effect controls' area of Premiere. Once this has been dragged into its place, at the very bottom of this tab, beneath all the options to edit the clip's scale and position etc, the option to remove (aka crop) the footage selected from the left, right, top and bottom is all now available to the user. These options work similar to the scale and opacity differing above it, with dragging the blue number to the right of the name left and right removing more or less of the footage visible respectively.
Keyframes:
Multiple 'keyframes' can be added to a piece of footage in order to create what could be described as an alive edit. These kind of edits include the clip being zoomed into while playing as if a camera is being brought closer or further away from the footage over time, the clip's opacity slowly being brought to zero until it seemingly disappears, mirroring the same effect as a 'dip to black' effect being used at the end of it, and more of the same 'changing while the footage is playing' manner. In order to create these kind of edits in your project, at least two keyframes need to be used. A keyframe can be added by clicking the stop-timer next to whatever video effect you want to change, then clicking the dot on the right that has just appeared to add/remove a keyframe at whatever point of the clip you want to. In order to create a slow zoom effect for example, a keyframe should be placed at whatever point of the footage you want the zoom to begin, and then another added at the point where the zooming wants to be stopped. Then, the editor should drag the cursor on the right of the effect controls settings to the keyframes that have been added, and change the scale settings of the footage at each as if they were two separated clips, with a bigger scale number being used at the later keyframe for a zoom in effect to be made. What this will then create when playing the footage is the program making the edit, which in this case is the scale getting larger, over the time in between each keyframe's placement, ending up in a smooth zoom in affect being present.
Excellent work at Distinction level. Very well done Will.
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