Utilizing Premiere 6.5

That first step, after having installed Premiere, start the program. This is the first window that pops up. This is just your project settings. I prefer to edit in Multimedia video for Windows. Don't worry about the specifics of the settings now, you can adjust all of these later before exporting video.

The Next Step: Importing your clips/video/audio

If you right click in the “Project” window (Mine is in the lower right hand corner) but you can move it wherever you'd like so it's comfortable for you) Select Import, then the files you'd like to use in your project. At any time you add or remove files from this list. You can also create “Bins” to keep them organized if you are using a wide variety of clips. You can also import clips through the FILE menu.

Step 3: Once your clips are imported, you will see them in a list (like below) I used Everwood as an example of a full episode (broken into 5 parts) for editing into one large file without commercials. If you take the first file (or any for that matter) and drag it up to the Source Window (Mine is on the left hand side) It will log the file in the clip drop down. (just below the window where it says Everwood01.avi) This is where you can mark in and out points for your source clip.

Step 4: Marking in and out points and placing it on the time line.

Utilizing the { and } Tools (In and out points) – to the left of the source drop down menu. You can Scrub through the video, (By moving the marker from left to right-right to left, or the play/or advance-retreat buttons. These work like a VCR and are located next to the time code markers below the source window) To mark an in point, select the { Button. It will be marked on the source clip timeline. To make an outpoint (locate it within the clip) and select the } marker. The video of your clip will now be marked in Green indicating your selected clip from the source. You can now drag this to the timeline by clicking and holding on the source window and moving it towards the timeline below. Repeat this step for any number of “Clips” from this source, or in this case, for each of the five files in the project in turn.

Step 5: Once you have the clips lined up on the timeline as you wish, it's time to export the file. This can be done by doing Control + M and selecting a save location, or by FILE/Export Movie. At the bottom of the “Export Movie” dialog box, you'll see a settings Button. This is where you will select the desired settings for the export of your assembled file.

Step 6: Export Movie Settings: My chosen file Type in this case is “Microsoft AVI” but you can make other formats/file tapes. Range: - Can be the entire project, or the Work area (selected or marked within the yellow bar on the timeline The yellow bar can be adjusted to select areas of the video to be exported, leaving the others untouched).

Select Next or Previous to move through the various Menus.

Step 7: Export Movie Settings: Video-- For a compressor, you can chose from any codecs where currently reside on your machine. For this particular example I chose Divx Pro 5.02 Codec. By clicking on the “Configure” button one can adjust many of the codecs specifically, but usually the defaults will suffice until more knowledge is acquired on settings.

Frame Size: The Size of the Frame. For this example I chose 320x240, (which is the size of the original material) This can be altered to whatever frame size you wish (in sets of eight—so 352x240 is good, where as 351x240 will give you errors) You can check the 4:3 aspect ratio to lock in the frame size to this aspect ratio when adjusting the numbers.

Frame Rate: The speed to which the frames play. For this example I chose 30, given this is the video standard for NTSC video. This can be set to any number, such as 15 (1/2 NTSC) The higher the frame rate and frame size, the larger your video will be). The rest of the options are unimportant for this exercise. Click next to adjust audio parameters. (These can be adjusted in the same was as the video, selecting a compressor, bit rate etc) When you're done, select okay. The Save on your export movie settings. The file will then begin to compress. At this point, it will give you a general idea on how long it will take. Depending on your test material, you can either go to bed and let it run, or sit back, check your e-mail, and return to make another file.