IIntroduction

So here we are at version 2.0 of Adobe Premiere Pro. For those of you keeping track, this is the 12th version of the product. When I finished the previous edition of this book, I did not anticipate the grand vision the Premiere product team at Adobe had in mind. They revamped the entire interface to unify it with the other video products and then added a lot of new features.

For Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques, I revisited every chapter and every lesson with 2.0's latest features in mind. In a few instances, the lessons are not much changed. In others, such as multi-cam, color correction, track mattes, and DVD authoring, it's a whole new ballgame.

A Real Tool for Real Work

A lot of changes in my professional life are also reflected in the restructuring and in the content of some lessons. My expertise with Premiere Pro led to my involvement with the feature film, Dust to Glory. I conformed Dust to Glory in Premiere Pro and supervised the assembling of an HD project (Digital Intermediate) that served as the source for the final film output of the movie. The workflow that I designed and the lessons that I learned were invaluable. Dust to Glory was made during the development of cycle of 2.0, so many of the issues we encountered in the editing room were addressed in this latest version of the software. Coming off of Dust to Glory I have new-found admiration for the capabilities of Premiere Pro and a lot more personal experience using it in the most demanding situations.

Today all the work I do is in high definition. If you haven't done so already, you should start to explore for yourself the potential that HD video offers you as an editor/producer/director/photographer. Superior quality video clips are now within reach at a consumer price point. It's time to start digging in to maximize that potential.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to money and a budget. Sure, you can pay high prices and get great integrated editing systems, but throughout its history Premiere and its diverse feature set have offered a high value for a relatively low price. Think about it: You can digitize video, add titles, apply effects, fine-tune audio, and export directly to a DVD without having to use any other softwarethat's fantastic. With the new advances in hardware, cameras, and processors, now is as good of a time as ever to invest in a simple editing solution. In this book, you will find lots of lessons and tons of tips that will help you make the most of your investment.

Who Should Read This Book?

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques is for anyone who wants to get more out of using Adobe Premiere Profrom new users to old hands.

If you are new to Premiere, the "Fundamentals of Premiere Pro" section and bonus appendices on the accompanying DVD will give you a good foundation to build on.

If you're looking for step-by-step lessons to help you hone your skills, the "Advanced" sections will give you plenty of resources to mine. Jump to the subject you desire and dig in. The step-by-step lessons are derived from real-world examples and techniques that I have used and developed during my own work, and many include some of my original video and audio files. The best way to learn editing is with real material, such as shots that make up a scene that must be tailored into a whole.

Being a visual person, I sometimes need to see exactly what a feature does in order to understand it. Video tutorials on the DVD supplement the discussions in the book. Watch the short video clips to learn more about difficult, technical, or purely visual concepts. Notes in the book's text will direct you to the clips at the appropriate time. You'll find the tutorials very conversational and direct.

What's in This Book?

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques is composed of seven sections. Here's a quick preview of what you'll find where.

• I: Fundamentals of Premiere Pro. Here you will find almost every Premiere Pro feature, window, and button explained in simple terms and clear illustrations. New to this section are Chapter 1, "The New Premiere Pro Workspace: How It Works and What's New," Chapter 10, "Titler Basics," Chapter 11, "DVD Basics," and Chapter 12, "Adobe Bridge and Adobe Production Studio."

• II: Advanced Graphics and Titling. After the overview come the hands-on lessons. In this section, you will learn how to properly import layered Photoshop files, nest sequences to build more controllable effects, create custom image pan effects with presets, and get better results from the Titler. The lessons here culminate in the creation of a custom menu-based DVD using the latest DVD authoring tools, with the all-new Chapter 16, "Custom DVD Design."

• III: Advanced Audio Techniques. Imagery is only half of your project, and this section shines the spotlight on the other half: audio. After a complete overview of fine-tuning your system's audio settings, you will learn to record a voiceover, edit it, add effects, and mix it all down. New to this section is Chapter 21, "5.1 Surround Sound Mixing," which explains how to convert a stereo project to a surround sound one.

• IV: Advanced Effect Techniques. Focusing on several of Premiere Pro's most important effects, this section provides plenty of real-world examples. Chapter 22, "New Color Correction Tools," and Chapter 23, "Advanced Color Correction: Three-Way Color Corrector," reveal two of the new color correction tools and take you further than before in understanding how to properly white balancing your footage, create a custom color look, and apply secondary color corrections. In this section, you will also investigate track mattes, key green-screen material, and create a good-looking picture-in-picture effect.

• V: Advanced Editing. Here you will work with professional footage from a short film and some music videos too. You will refine your timeline editing and trimming skills, and learn the brand-new multi-cam editing workflow.

• VI: Professional Workflows. These three new chapters, located on the book's DVD, were too big to fit in the printed book. You'll learn about Adobe's new Clip Notes feature; encoding into Flash, H.264, and Windows Media using the Adobe Media Encoder; and getting a complete workout with HDV and HD. By the end your brain should be full of new ideas about the best ways to work now and in the future.

What's on the DVD?

Accompanying this book is a DVD chock full of additional chapters, lesson files, video tutorials, plug-ins, and tryout versions of Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and Adobe Audition 2.0. Copy its entire contents to your hard drive, then drag and drop all the folders of the APPST2 disc directly onto one of your video drives (preferably not your root drive). The APPST2 Lesson Files folder contains lessons for each chapter.

Throughout the book, you will be directed to the Video Tutorials folder when a tutorial exists to explain or illustrate something in the chapter. The video tutorials are arranged by the name of the technique shown. For example, Titler_Workout.wmv is a short clip that shows how to rearrange the Titler panels. I have also included additional tutorials not referenced in the book that highlight a few cool features that I couldn't squeeze into the book.

The Third-Party Plug-Ins folder is full of trial versions and demo copies of plug-ins that add extra functionality to Premiere Pro. Documentation and installation instructions for using each of the plug-ins are also provided.

If you have a question that isn't answered elsewhere, consult the Appendices folder. The appendices are formatted as PDF files. You can copy them to your system and read them using Acrobat Reader.

• Before You Edit. These appendices define the terms, technical presets, and system settings you need to review before and during your initial launch of Premiere Pro. You'll learn about all the nuts and bolts that go into creating a DV system from the ground up, as well as definitions of common digital video terms. Most importantly, you'll learn the proper settings for your system and Premiere Pro to keep them working together at their best.

• While You Edit. To make way for new material, we removed a few lessons from the previous edition. Appendix D updates the Color Match technique and explains the Auto effects. Appendix E is updated from the previous version, as well, discussing EDLs and AAF file import and export. If you are having technical difficulties while you edit, consult Appendix F, "Troubleshooting."

Where Do I Go Beyond This Book?

If you want to continue your quest for Premiere Pro knowledge and experience beyond this book, consider looking into my Premiere DVD training series from Total Training. These DVDs contain alternate real-world lessons, examples, and additional footage. For more details, explore the Premiere Pro/Digital Video links at www.totaltraining.com Other good resources are Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Classroom in a Book (Adobe Press) and Aanarav Sareen's podcasts for CreativeCow.net.

Check out my Web site at www.formikafilms.com for info on the films, music videos, and productions that keep me busy. If you want to stay current with my Adobe Premiere Pro work, visit www.premiereprotraining.com. You can also email me at [e-mail].