| To complete this tutorial you should have a comfortable working knowledgeable
of HTML
coding and some prior experience with editing video either on an analog editing system or with computer video editing software. Your computer must be A/V capable and should have one of the following input connections:
professional capture card that offers better compression and cleaner digital to analog or CD-Rom output. The video editing software used for this tutorial is Adobe Premiere 4.2. You can download a try-out copy at Adobe's homepage. If you have the tutorial files available, do the Premiere tutorial first
before you begin this lesson.
Hooking It All Up Connect your camcorder or video recorder to your computer's A/V connection
ports. Turn on the
|
First Things First
| Now that you have your video clips, you are ready to begin the editing
project. From the File menu select New,
New Project.
Choose 160X120 and make sure the frame rate is at 15 bps.
|
Navigating The Workspace
| When the project loads you will see
multiple windows. The Construction Window is the timeline where you will place your video, audio, and title clips. The Project Window imports and holds the clips you will assemble for the final movie. The Preview Window allows you to see your results as you compile your clips. The Transitions Window offers various effects to add interest and dimension to your movie between video clips. The Info Window provides basic information about the project and clips. The Trim Window is a clip editor that will remove seconds from your imported captured clips. |
Capturing Video
| Now you are ready to import your captured video clips. From the File Menu choose Import, Multiple. This option allows you to bring all the clips into the project at one time. Select the audio or video files and click import in the dialog window. Continue this process until you have all the files imported and click done. |
| In the project window you should now see your imported clips. You will assemble these clips in the construction window to create your movie. | The construction window is your video edit controller. You have separate tracks for inserting video and audio clips. Your video clips should have audio on them so when you place them on the video timeline, the audio will automatically insert in the audio timeline. The video timileine has four tracks, video A, Video B, Transitions, and Superimposition. The audio timeline has three tracks, Audio 1, Audio 2, and Audio 3. |
Ready, Set, Assemble
| Video clips are measured in frames. Each second of video equals
1 frame. When you drop a clip into Premiere in the Frame View mode,
you will see each frame in the timeline. If the Frame View mode is
not selected, you will only see a single image regardless of how long your
actual clip is. The yellow bar with red handles on each end at the
top of the timline
must stretch across all video and audio clips you add to the construction window in order to preview your clips. If the bar doesn't move as you add clips, put the cursor at the end and drag it the length of your clips. Time is measured on the timeline in second increments. For more detailed time information on a specific clip open the Info Window. The large forward arrow in the upper right corner will play your clips in the Preview window and the back and forth buttons will fast forward and rewind the clips on the timeline. |
| To assemble your clips select the Project window. Using your storyboard (see Creating A Video Tutorial) as an editing guide, select the first clip from the Project window and drag it to Video Track A and drop it on the timeline. |
The drag and drop feature of Premiere makes assembling your clips easy.
Premiere has a locking feature that will keep your clips in place so
they don't move by accident. This feature is good but if you use it,
you will
not be able to relocate any clips unless you turn the locking feature
off. You may want to lock the project at the end of each editing
session only.
| If you want straight cuts (no transitions between video clips) then select the next video clip from the project window and place it on the Video Track A timeline right next to the previous clip. If you want an fade, dissolve, or other fancy transition between clips, place a transition from the transition window on the T Track at the very end of the first video clip. |
Adding Transitions
To make your movie interesting, add transitions between clips.
Premiere offers the standard fade and wipe effects as well as
some pretty dynamic digital transitions that you normally would
find only in very high end video editing systems. The transitions
are added to the T track in the construction window. You must
have a clip on track A and track B between each transition in
order for the effect to work.
|
|
Previewing Your Clips
| Now place video clip 2 on the Video B track at the very end of the transition. To see your results, place the cursor at the bottom of the ruled time lime of the Construction window. Make sure the yellow bar extends over all your clips, including the transition. Hold down the mouse until the arrow becoms a thick black down arrow. Move this arrow over the length of the clips and you will see your video with transitions play in the Preview window. |
| Note ( if you try and play the video clips with the play arrow you will see a huge X over some of your clips as the transitions won't play by clicking the play button in Premiere. |
Reducing or Increasing File Duration
| If you place a clip and it's there are several ways tol lengthen or shorten your clips if they aren't exactly what you want. Use the Trim window to remove frames (seconds) from the front or end of the clip or trim the clip in the construction window by selecting it and dragging it back or forward. Keep in mind that you can shorten a clip and lenghten it back but you can't lengthen a clip at it's original in or out point. To add video in this way you will need to do another capture that lasts longer than the current clip. |
Continue to assemble your clips until you have all sequences
complete. Preview the project often to make sure you are
satisfied with the results. When you have completed adding
the last video or audio clip you are ready to make a movie.
Converting Edited Clips Into A Movie
From the Make Window, select movie. Premiere will then compile
your all your clips, flatten the images and sound together and create
a new movie file. Save this file as a movie with the .mov
extension.
You should now have two files. One will be your Premiere project
file that
you can come back to and make any additions or corrections during
another editing session. The movie file cannot be edited. The
only way
to overwrite what you just saved it to go back into your Premiere project,
edit the timeline and make a new movie saved with the first movie file
name.
Viewing Your Movie
To play the movie, open MoviePlayer located in the Quick Time folder
and see your results. You can link to your movies from a Web page or
embed them in an HTML document. For more information on
how
to add sound and movies to Web pages, see the adding sound
& movies
tutorials
in the WIT 2001 advanced curriculum.
The End
Congratulations! If you've completed the turorial you now realize
that
making movies takes more time than most teachers have. Adobe
Premiere
is a professional editing software pacakge and it is very complicated
to use
if you do not have any prior analog or non-linear editing experience.
The
good news is that in the last two years more capture card manufacturers
are including free editing software that is easier to use but will
still require
some patience and skill to put video clips together, As the digital
revolution
continues, watch for prices to drop on hardware and software as the
ability
to make your own movies will be within the reach of everyone.