• Getting Started
• Premiere Pro Interface
• Basic Editing
• Working with Effects
• Audio Editing
• Basic Color Correction
• Titles and Graphics
• Saving and Exporting

Before setting up your project, ensure that all the media that you are working with is saved to one place. We recommend saving to an external hard drive, especially when working on public computers or when sharing with a group.

Creating a New Project

When you open Premiere Pro, you will create a new project by selecting the blue "New Project" button in the top left corner. Here you can also open existing projects that you may be working on. Before opening a new project, it would also be beneficial to explore the "Learn" tab. The "Learn" tab has a variety of both in-app and web tutorials to help you get started as you learn the program.

Once you have selected "New Project", you will want to name your project and set a location for it. You should save your project to the same location as your media. 

Importing Media

The main way to import media is to do it as you set up your project. A list of locations for you to choose your media from will appear on the left-hand side. When you choose a location, all the available media will appear in the center of the window. Click on all of the media that you would like to be imported into your project. 

Note that in the right hand list "Create new sequence" is toggled on. Toggle this off if you do not want all of your media immediately added to the timeline once you create your project.

To add media to a project that has already been created, either go back to the import tab in the top left or choose File > Import.

Once you have selected your media, click the blue "Create" button in the bottom right corner of the window to get started on your project. 

Project Panel: The project panel is where your imported source media will live. 

Source Monitor: The source monitor is where you can watch your source media from the project panel. Double-click the media in the project panel to view it in the source monitor.

Timeline: The timeline is where you will do all of your main editing and where your final project will come to life. You can add media to the timeline from either the project panel or source monitor.

Program Monitor: The program monitor is where you can watch your edited media from the timeline.

Tool Bar: The tool bar has the basic tools that you will use when editing your video. We will go over the individual tools in the next section of this guide.

Audio Levels: Audio levels allows you to view how loud your audio output is. Typically, you want your audio to stay around -12 dB.

Adding Media to the Timeline

The simplest way to add media to the timeline is to drag and drop it there from either the Project Panel or the Source Monitor. 

Working with the Tool Bar

The Tool Bar will allow you to do many types of edits in Premiere Pro. The variety of tools is beneficial for creating efficient editing as you work in the software. 

Selection Tool: The selection tool should be your default tool as you work in Premiere Pro. You will use this to select and move media around.

Track Select Forward Tool: The track select forward tool selects all of the media to the right of your playhead. This is best used if you need to select multiple clips at once. 

Ripple Edit Tool: The ripple edit tool allows you trim a clip and shift all of the trailing clips.

Razor Tool: The razor tool will be used to make cuts in your media.

Pen Tool: The pen tool allows you to create keyframes as well as draw custom shapes straight onto the Program Monitor. 

Rectangle Tool: The rectangle tool allows you to create basic shape layers.

Type Tool: The text tool lets you create text layers on the timeline. 

Moving and Resizing Clips

There are two ways to move and resize clips. The first way is to use the "Position" and "Scale" effects in the Effects Control panel. This is covered more in the next section. The second way is to double-click on the video in the Program Monitor and blue handles will appear around the video. You can use these to scale the clip up or down. Then, click on the video itself to move it to the position you would like it to be placed in, demonstrated below.

To open the Effects panel in Premiere Pro, go to Window > Effects. 

Adding Transitions

Premiere Pro has options for both Audio Transitions and Video Transitions in the Effects panel. Toggle down the arrow on the left of each option to explore the different types of transitions that Premiere has to offer. Open up the "Crossfade" bin in Audio Transitions. The default transition for audio is "Constant Power". Under Video Transitions, open up the "Dissolve" bin. The default transition for video is "Cross Dissolve".

To add a transition of your choice to a piece of media, just drag and drop the transition at the end or beginning of a clip. To automatically apply the default transition for video, select a clip in the timeline and move your playhead to the beginning or end of the video. Press "Command + D" on Mac or "Control + D" on Windows and the default transition will be added. To automatically apply the default transition for audio, select a clip in the timeline and move your playhead to the beginning or end of the audio. Press "Command + Shift + D" on Mac or "Control + Shift + D" on Windows and the default transition will be added.

The Effects Control Panel

The Effects panel in Premiere Pro also lets you add a wide array of "Video Effects" and "Audio Effects". Once an effect has been added to a piece of media, it can be edited in the Effects Control panel. To add the Effects Control panel onto the interface, go to Window > Effects Control.

On top of allowing you to edit video and audio effects, the effects control panel is where you can edit the position, scale, and opacity of a clip. Toggle down "Motion" and "Opacity" to adjust these settings.

Notable Effects

Position: Found in the Effects Control panel under "Motion", position allows you to change where the selected layer is positioned on the monitor. 

Scale: Found in the Effects Control panel under "Motion", scale allows you to change how large or small the selected layer will appear. 

Opacity: Found in the Effects Control panel under "Opacity", opacity allows you to adjust how transparent the selected layer will appear.

Gaussian Blur: Found in the Effects panel under "Video Effects" > "Blur & Sharpen", gaussian blur creates a basic blur on the layer it is applied to. You can edit how much of the effect is applied under the Effects Control panel.

Crop: Found in the Effects panel under "Video Effects" > "Transform", crop allows you to crop the video layer it is applied to. You can adjust the effect in the Effects Control panel once it is applied. 

Adjusting Gain

When working with audio in Premiere Pro, a great workflow is to first adjust your audio gain. The gain is the input level of your media, and this is how you make a baseline adjustment for all of your audio.

To adjust audio Gain, first review how loud your overall audio is in the Audio Levels Panel and determine if the audio needs to be quieter or louder. Then, select all the media that you want to edit and right-click on the selected media. Find "Audio Gain..." and a pop-up window like the one to the left should appear. Adjust the gain by a negative number to bring the audio levels down or by a positive number to bring the audio levels up.

Adjusting Volume

After adjusting your gain, you can adjust your audio volume. The volume is the output levels of your media, and it lets you adjust your audio levels on a clip-by-clip basis.

Volume can be adjusted with the white line that appears in the middle of the audio tracks. Select the line and bring it up or down to adjust the volume. The lower you bring the line, the quieter it will be, and the higher you bring it, the louder it will be.

When you need to edit the color and look of your video, go to Window > Lumetri Color to open the Lumetri Color panel. This is where you can do all basic or advanced color editing in Premiere Pro. For this guide, we will be working solely under the "Basic Correction" tab of the Lumetri Color Panel. 

White Balance

White balance adjusts the colors in your image to make it look the most natural. 

Premiere Pro has an automatic white balance adjustment within the Lumetri Color panel. Under Basic Correction, find where it says "white balance" and use the eyedropper to select the part of your image that should be naturally white. From there, Premiere will automatically adjust your settings.

Exposure and Contrast

Exposure and contrast affect the overall brightness of your video as well as the range between the lightest and darkest values in your image. Use the sliders to adjust the exposure and contrast of your media. Moving the sliders to the right will increase how much of the effect is applied while moving the sliders to the left will decrease the effect. 

Adding Text

To add Text, select the Type tool in the tool bar. Draw a text box over your image in the Program Monitor, and a new layer will appear in the timeline. Use the layer in the timeline to add transitions or effects to your text. You can adjust the the duration by dragging the sides of the layer to be longer or shorter.

To edit the font, style, and appearance of your text, open the Effects Control panel and toggle down by where it says "Text".

Keyframes

Keyframes allow you to animate a specific value, such as the position or scale of a layer. You can use keyframes to create dynamic text.

Toggle down by where it says "Vector Motion" and move your playhead to where you would like your animation to begin. Select the stopwatches by "Position" and "Scale" to create keyframes. They should turn blue like the example below. Move the playhead to the point of time you would like something to change. When you make an adjustment, new keyframes will automatically appear. Keyframes will turn blue when selected. Once selected, you can either move around or delete keyframes. 

Adding Captions

Premiere Pro can automatically create captions from clips in the timeline. Go to Window > Text to open up the Text panel that will allow you to create transcriptions and captions.

Before you create a caption, you will need to create a transcript of your audio. First, select the clip on the timeline that you want to transcribe. Then, under "Transcript", select the blue button that says "Transcribe". Premiere Pro will automatically create a transcription based off of your audio. Read through the transcription before creating captions to make sure everything is correct. Double-click on the text that you want to fix to edit the transcription.

Once you have created a transcription, you will create your captions by going under "Captions". As shown in the picture on the left, you will find three options for creating captions. Select "Create captions from transcript". Premiere Pro will use the transcribed audio to apply captions straight to the timeline. Once the captions have been added to the timeline, edit the font, size, and appearance of the captions in the "Properties" panel that appears to the right of the Program Monitor. 

When working in Premiere Pro, you will want to both save and export your video file. Saving your video allows you to come back later and make more edits. On the other hand, exporting your video will produce the final project, usually an .mp4 file.

Saving Your Video

As you work on your video, continue to save after making any big edits so no work is accidentally lost. Do this by periodically going to File > Save. If you want to save a new version of your project, go to File > Save As. 

Exporting Your Video

When it is time to export your video, make sure that the timeline is selected and choose "Export" in the top left corner of Premiere Pro.

Name your file and click on the blue location to choose where you would like your file to go. Various settings can be changed in the export menu. However, the most important ones to focus on are Preset and Format. Under Preset, select "Match Source - High Bitrate". Under Format, select "H.264". These settings will export a standard .mp4 video file. 

Once all your settings are selected, click the blue "Export" button in the bottom right corner of the window. A box will appear that will count down the remaining export time.

NOTE: Exporting can take some time. This depends on the length of your video, the resolution, and 
how many effects you've added. Make sure you leave time to export before you have to turn it in.