Chapter 3. Editing Fundamentals

This chapter should be the quickest and simplest, yet one of the most important. Getting your footage into and out of Premiere is crucial, but knowing what to do with it and how to manipulate it after it is in Premiere is just as important. This chapter covers the theory behind nonlinear editing systems, even beyond Premiere. Streamlined nonlinear editing systems have an advantage. You can feel comfortable jumping onto any other nonlinear system and being able to figure out how it works within a reasonable amount of time (sure, you'll need to learn where it hides everything, but the overall concepts are still the same). In essence, Premiere, like its competitors, allows you to select the portions of the clips you have already digitized into the system and piece them together in the timeline to produce your final edited program. Although this chapter covers some fairly basic topics, not having your skills perfected can really hinder your editing style and limit the quality of your productions. Take a moment to make sure you are comfortable with all the topics covered in this chapter.