Chapter 3. Editing Techniques

Author: Christine Steele, with Maxim Jago

You have the courage of your convictions. When you’re editing you have to make thousands of decisions every day and if you dither over them all the time, you’ll never get anything done.

—Anne V. Coates

Crafting a compelling story from images is a process that demands more than just perseverance. Deft hand-and-eye coordination helps, but making art from a folder full of camera files requires learning and continually practicing essential editing skills.

Studio professionals need to perform editing functions in the Timeline as fast as they can think about the changes they want to make. In this chapter you’ll learn some tricks-of-the-trade that can help you achieve professional-level speed. Adobe Premiere Pro is designed for the quick and easy joining of visual and audio elements, and it allows you to reorder and refine story ideas—in real time—if you know how to use important editing features and understand when and how to apply specific tools.

Maybe you’re already familiar with drag-and-drop editing, and can perform insert and overwrite edits. If so, great! It never hurts to review the basics, so I’ll start by covering common methods for assembling a cut. Arranging windows, customizing the Timeline, and incorporating keyboard shortcuts makes working in a sequence easier and more enjoyable, but it’s trimming that makes a story flow. Choosing the trimming technique that best fits your needs in the moment is the most important step toward increasing speed and precision.

This chapter focuses on practical steps to improve your overall performance while editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, and it shines light on some familiar tools that often don’t get nearly enough use. I’ll share a few tips that make editing any sequence more fun. Sometimes the most advanced editing tools seem simple to use once practiced in context, so I’ll guide you through some steps to enhance your overall skill set. Finally, you’ll move into more refined methods of finessing a cut, using Trim tool shortcuts, and using real-time playback.

An experienced artist is always learning and layering new ideas on top of standard practices. To turn creative insights into tangible forms of expression, editors must keep their primary skills sharp while making adjustments to their editing style when new tools arrive to improve workflow. Dede Allen once said, “Intellect and taste count, but I cut with my feelings.” The goal of this chapter is to get you to a skill level that allows you to cut from your feelings without having to think too much about which tool to use or how to use it. Let’s get started by implementing basic editing protocol, and then ramp up to professional practices. Patience will turn the use of a few new techniques into habits, and the result will be fast cutting with minimal hassle.

I dock open bin tabs next to the Project tab, directly above the Media Browser, so I can view and hoverscrub through footage in the Media Browser, and then quickly drag folders and clips directly into my project bins. Once I begin editing in a sequence, I drag the panel boundaries to make the Project and Media Browser panels narrow and maximize the Timeline, Source, and Program panels.

I further customize my workspace by placing the Audio Meter directly underneath my Timeline, so it occupies only a thin horizontal space but is easily visible while I’m playing a sequence. I drag my toolbar to the upper-left corner or delete it altogether in favor of using keyboard shortcuts (Figure 3.1).

I recommend trying some of the Adobe Premiere Pro preset workspace arrangements, just to discover panels, features, and layouts that you might not otherwise stumble upon. Choose Window > Workspace, and quickly try these useful layouts:

Add Metadata and Sync Scripts. Open the Metalogging Workspace. Whether you’re editing a scripted feature, a TV show, or a documentary with transcribed interviews, the Metadata panel is great for syncing scripts to clips. I use this workspace to quickly add descriptions, notes, and scene information to large batches of clips. It’s invaluable for documentary work. When combined with script syncing, the Metadata panel helps me locate the exact lines of dialogue I need while editing.

Apply Effects. Choosing the Effects Workspace instantly places the Effects panel just to the left of the Effects Control panel, making it easier to add and tweak effects.

Mix Audio. Open the Audio Workspace, and both the Clip and Track Mixers are ready to use, allowing you to quickly adjust the mix for individual clips or for an entire audio track.

Color for Broadcast. The Color Correction Workspace will open a Reference Monitor loaded with video scopes.

Once you’re familiar with workspace panel options and layouts, you can access the Window menu, open individual panels that meet your needs, and drag to dock them into appropriate panel groupings.

Making decisions about which panels to close or dock with other panels means experimenting to find out what works best for you. I Option-double-click (Alt-double-click) on bins of video footage to dock them right next to the Project panel, and then set the bins to display in Icon view. I prefer the Project panel to display in List view. This setup allows me to quickly switch between the Project tab and the Bin tabs, so I can browse the same group of clips in List view with metadata in the Project tab, and then quickly switch views by clicking the bin tab, where I can visually scrub shots and mark the clips. This is especially useful when working with bins filled with lots of visual imagery, like B-roll footage.

I don’t need redundant information provided by both the Info panel and the preview area, so I close the Info panel. You might prefer to close the preview area to save space, in which case the Info panel is useful.

I dock the Marker and History panels in the lower-right pane group next to the Media Browser, because I often use these panels to view marker information and to undo edit steps while I’m working in the Timeline.

From the Source and Program panel fly-out menus, I often choose to close the transport controls, because I rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts.

These choices are mainly a matter of personal editing style, but you might find that your preferences change as a project progresses and new, job-specific panel groupings become helpful.

I often work with two monitors, so I dock most of my bins in Icon view on the left monitor, and then set up my Source, Program, and Timeline panels on the right monitor. Take the time to customize your editing interface the way you like it, and then name and save a preset for your workspace.

I save different Workspace presets for both my laptop and desktop edit sessions, and for single and dual monitor setups. I also save presets for creative story editing, audio, and finishing work. I’ll occasionally bounce over to the standard Adobe Premiere Pro Workspace presets to quickly access a needed panel, and then press a keyboard shortcut to return to my favorite arrangement. The workspace you choose is all about personal style and project-specific editing needs (Figure 3.3).

The following sections describe a few helpful options that I can’t work without.

Zoom in and out at the Timeline playhead location. Select the Timeline and press the keyboard shortcuts for zoom in (+) and zoom out (-).

Scale the sequence to fit all clips within the Timeline length. Press the backslash () key.

Scroll tracks. If you use a scroll wheel, placing the mouse pointer over the center of the Timeline video or audio tracks allows you to vertically or horizontally scroll tracks. Set this option in the General category of the Preferences panel. When editing with many layers of video or audio tracks, vertical scrolling is necessary.

Snap to playhead. While you have the General tab open in the Preferences panel, select the check box next to Snap Playhead in Timeline when Snap is Enabled. This allows clip edges to snap to the playhead when you’re dragging to move shots around in the Timeline, or snap the playhead to a cut point while viewing visual guides that indicate the playhead and cut point are lined up.

Scroll to expand or minimize Timeline track height. Place the mouse pointer over the empty gray area just to the right of the track targets, and then use the scroll wheel to increase or decrease the size of individual tracks. Hold down the Shift key to increase or decrease all track heights while scrolling.

Expand or minimize all Timeline tracks. Press Shift++ and Shift+- to expand or minimize all audio and video tracks at once.

Consider customizing your Timeline display settings as soon as you begin a project. While training a new assistant editor, I noticed he was struggling while editing in the Timeline. He was thrilled when I showed him the Timeline Display Settings button, which I call “the little wrench” (Figure 3.4), because he was able to customize his displays to make his work a lot easier. Little things can make a big difference when you’re performing repetitive tasks. Here are few settings you can configure to make working with the Timeline more enjoyable:

Name and save a couple of your preferred track height displays—the ones you use most often.

Configure video and audio track headers to serve your project needs.

Activate visual aids, such as through-edit marks. Through-edit marks are new to the Adobe Premiere Pro CC release. Now when you razor blade a clip, a through-edit mark shows you that those two sections were once one clip.

Toggle audio waveform and keyframe displays on and off.

One of the most helpful Timeline Display Settings button options is the ability to create and save custom presets for my track heights. When editing a dialogue scene, for example, I rely heavily on expanding the video thumbnails in V1 and the audio waveforms in tracks A1 and A2, so I can zoom in and fine-tune the audio that is typically linked to the primary video clips. This track viewing preference allows me to recognize which actor is speaking at a glance and visually identify exactly where the dialogue is located in the Timeline.

To set this up, I use the scroll wheel to expand the height of Tracks V1, A1, and A2 so they’re large enough for me to see thumbnail images and waveforms; then I use the Timeline Display Settings menu to save a display preset (Figure 3.5).

To save your own track height preferences, follow these steps.

1. Make sure Show Audio Waveform and Show Video Thumbnails are selected in the Timeline Display Settings menu.

2. Use the mouse scroll wheel or drag the dividing line between tracks to open the audio tracks so they are tall enough in height to reveal waveforms.

3. Scroll or drag to set the height of individual video tracks to your liking.

4. From the Timeline Display Settings (the wrench icon), name and save your own custom preset for track heights.

5. When you return to the Timeline Display Settings, your new preset will appear in the list.

It’s also useful to configure your track headers to accommodate specific editing tasks at the touch of a button. These features are “at a glance” items. By that I mean that I can see whether they are active or off. For example, I add Mute and Solo buttons to my audio track headers because I constantly solo lines of dialogue or mute music tracks while I’m working. I like this feature because I can glance to the left and see which audio tracks are active or silenced. I keep Toggle Track Output (the little eyeball) in all video track headers for the same reason.

You can customize individual tracks by right-clicking in the empty gray area next to track targets and choosing Customize or Rename. For example, when I want to keep certain types of clips on specific tracks, I name individual tracks VFX for visual effects, GRFX for titles, DX for dialogue, SFX for sound effects, MX for music, VO for voice-over narration, and so on. Typically, only my VO narration track header will contain the R button that enables recording.

From the Timeline Display Settings, you can quickly customize all video and audio track headers at once by following these steps.

1. Click the little wrench and choose Customize Audio Header.

2. Drag and drop to place icons for Mute, Solo, and Record into an audio track header.

3. Drag and drop to place Add-Remove Keyframe or drag the mini Audio Track Meters into the track header area to find out if it’s helpful for you to have these visual references in this area of the Timeline.

4. To remove an item from the track header, click and drag it out of the header area.

I always recommend activating the display indicators for Duplicate Frames, Clip Markers, and Through-Edit Marks. Just click the Timeline Display Settings button and make sure these items are selected. You can turn any of these visual indicators on and off as needed, but I typically leave Markers and Through-Edits visible at all times. I like visual indicators to appear when I’ve added a cut, even if I haven’t removed any frames. If I’ve added a marker, I want to see it!

From the Timeline Display Settings menu you can also activate keyframe displays. This allows you to adjust volume keyframes for individual clips in the track (great for dialogue) or for the entire track (great for adjusting music and voice-over narration). Adjusting track keyframes allows you to replace audio while maintaining previously set volume adjustments. I keep the Show Keyframes button in all audio track headers. I use Clip and Track Keyframes when adjusting audio levels, which allows me to swiftly switch between the two types of keyframes (Figure 3.6).

Change the start time of your sequence. I set this option at the start of every edit. Professional editors need access to this feature to ensure that time is allowed for slate information, black, and bars and tone at the head of programs. The program typically starts at hour one, whereas the sequence may begin at 00:58:30:00 or 00:59:45:00, for example.

Alter the look of Timeline waveform displays. Rectified audio waveforms are easier to work with when audio volume is low and waveforms are consequently small. This view is also helpful when working with Timeline tracks set to smaller heights when there are many tracks that you need to view simultaneously.

Set up Multi-Camera Audio. In some multi-cam workflows, audio needs to be independent; in others, it needs to follow the video. This toggle switches between the two capabilities.

Turn on Show Audio Time Units. When you want to edit at the subframe levels, select Show Audio Time Units. When you need to zoom in all the way down to the audio sample size, this feature enables you to make a cut at a subframe location, allowing you to add keyframes and remove those annoying clicks and pesky coughs that always seem to occur between frames.

Use keyboard shortcuts

Master three-point editing

Mind the tracks

You should rarely look down at the keyboard while performing basic editing operations, like playing footage, marking In and Out points, or putting clips into the Timeline with insert or overwrite. It takes time to perfect, but if you map your keyboard correctly, you’ll rarely look down at the keys while assembling the cut. Keep your eyes on the prize—the footage!

You may already be using the JKL keys to play through footage, but perfect this trick and layer on additional keyboard moves to increase your speed while performing the most common editing tasks. The following simple practices will train your muscle memory in preparation for dynamic trimming:

Use key commands, not buttons. Always use the JKL keys to play, rewind, and pause rather than clicking buttons with the mouse or pressing the spacebar. Using keyboard shortcuts is the fastest way to navigate through hours of footage and helps prevent carpel tunnel syndrome.

Place three fingers on the “home keys” (JKL) and you’ll be able to keep your eyes on the content at all times while playing through clips and sequences. This method is similar to touch-typing (without looking down at the keyboard) and is far faster than hunt-and-peck typing.

Use the keyboard as a work surface, not as a typing tool. Consciously place the keyboard so it’s easy to reach and comfortable for you. To encourage key command use and reduce hand and arm fatigue, the keyboard should be positioned so your fingers land on the JKL keys when in a neutral position, so the wrist is in alignment with the elbow.

I slide my keyboard to the left so the arrow keys point to the center of my body. You may need to push the keyboard even farther to the left so the number pad is centered in front of your torso. I also angle the keyboard slightly, so the number pad is a little farther from my body than the Esc key. I park my ring finger at the bump on the J key to find “home” position on the keyboard. The keyboard should not be centered in front of your torso like a typewriter! If the JKL keys are in front of your torso, your wrist will be forced to work at an angle. Move the keyboard into a comfortable position and learn to use it “by feel,” without looking at it.

Drive the keyboard with one hand. Keeping one hand on the keyboard and the other hand on the mouse allows you to work more efficiently with both tools.

Speed through footage by pressing J and L multiple times. The fastest way to preview footage is to use the keyboard shortcuts for fast forward and rewind. Press J repeatedly to rewind and press L repeatedly to fast-forward through clips. Press JJ or LL to achieve double speed, or press these keys multiple times to play even faster. You’ll eventually be able to hear exactly what is playing at double speed. It’s actually a bit freaky.

Scrub clips. Hold down both K and L or K and J to scrub footage in the Source and Timeline panels. Turn the option Play Audio While Scrubbing on and off in the Audio category of the Preferences pane (Figure 3.7 on the next page).

Move one frame at a time. Practice moving the playhead back and forth across a cut point in the Timeline in single-frame increments by holding K down while tapping J and L. I call this rocking the cut.

Mark clips on the fly. While playing footage, always press I and O to mark In and Out points rather than mouse click on the buttons.

Quickly add shots to a sequence. Use the comma and period keys to insert and overwrite shots into the Timeline. Insert and overwrite edits are covered in more detail later in this chapter.

Here are a few of the default keyboard shortcuts I use constantly while editing:

Zoom to sequence. A helpful default keyboard shortcut I use all day long is the backslash () key. It zooms the display of clips in the sequence to fit the Timeline panel.

Zoom in sequence. To zoom in and out on the clips inside a sequence, press the + and – keys (without modifiers). I use these keys constantly while working in the Timeline. Try remapping these keys to the G and H keys if you find you’re looking down at the keyboard to locate + and - too often.

Maximize frame under cursor. Pressing the accent (`) key enlarges any panel the mouse is hovering over so it fills the screen. I use this most often to enlarge a bin of clips that are in Icon view or to get a quick view of all Timeline tracks.

Toggle full screen. Press Command+` (Ctrl+`) to view the Program panel at the full screen size.

Restore frame size. The accent (`) key commands are like light switches. Press them again to return the panel to normal size.

Recently, while I was working with the San Francisco 49ers media team, I noticed that some of the guys couldn’t use my favorite personalized keyboard shortcuts because their hands were twice the size of mine! A few of them could reach the arrow keys with the thumb of their left hand while ring, middle, and index fingers were parked in the “home position” (JKL). That’s not an option for me. My thumb rests naturally near the Command and Option (Alt) keys, but the thumb of someone with larger hands can rest on the Ctrl key and might easily stretch to reach the arrows. To move the playhead between cut points in a sequence, which I do all day, I map keyboard shortcuts to the semicolon and apostrophe keys. I move the default lift and extract keyboard shortcuts up a level to the bracket keys, which are located just to the right of the P key.

Mapping the keyboard is very personal, and your choices should accommodate your editing style and physical comfort. The physical size and position of your hand will dictate some mapping options. It makes a huge difference in speed when you get it right.

Saving and using keyboard shortcuts helps me stay in the flow of the creative process. When I’m deeply engaged in editing, I don’t want to lose my hold on a fleeting idea because I have to go hunting through a list in a fly-out menu. A simple solution for increasing speed while editing is to set up your keyboard so everything you need is within easy reach. Then practice pressing those keys without looking at the keyboard.

Here are some guidelines when you choose keys to remap:

Increase speed. Any shortcut you use all day should be in reach of your “home” hand position on the keyboard. I use the G and H keys to hold some of my favorite editing options (such as sequence zoom in and zoom out) because those keys are right under my pinky finger. Take time to modify the keyboard to suit your needs. It’s the simplest thing you can do to fly through the more tedious tasks of the trade.

Modify pre-mapped shortcuts. Shift+2 and Shift+3, which toggle focus between the Timeline and Source panels, can be remapped to the 2 and 3 keys (without the modifier) if you’re not currently using those commands for multi-cam editing.

Reclaim unused keys. Consider remapping infrequently used keyboard shortcuts, like the capture keys (F5 and F6). It’s rare to capture from tape-based sources these days, so set these keys to more commonly used commands.

If you use a feature more than five times during an edit session, consider creating a shortcut, and then test it while you’re editing to see if it speeds up your workflow. Here are the specific steps if you’ve never done this before.

1. Open the Keyboard Shortcuts panel. Choose Premiere Pro > Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac) or Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows).

2. Select the Adobe Premiere Pro default keyboard layout. From the pop-up menu, begin with the Default Layout or choose [Custom].

3. Twirl the disclosure triangles. Click the disclosure triangles to view available menu options and panel features.

4. Map a keyboard shortcut. Click the Edit button, and then press the desired shortcut keys on your keyboard.

5. Do not press Return (Enter). Continue to customize your keyboard layout before you press Return (Enter) or click the OK button.

6. Click OK. When you’ve added all the custom keyboard shortcuts you want, close the Keyboard Shortcuts panel by clicking OK.

Here are a few tips for mapping keys:

Map features you use repeatedly. Because I often use markers, I was constantly right-clicking on the markers to add comments, so I created a keyboard shortcut for the Edit Marker panel. Now I can press M to add a marker, and then immediately press Ctrl+M to add information and designate a duration for the marker. The added text appears right on the marker “tail” after the duration has been set (Figure 3.8).

Map features that save time. While you’re currently adding and testing new keyboard shortcuts, make a shortcut that opens the Keyboard Shortcuts panel! Type the word keyboard into the search field and add your own command for quick access to this panel so you don’t have to repeatedly mouse up to the main menu. I use Ctrl+K.

Learn the default keyboard shortcuts. Learn the built-in features that Adobe Premiere Pro offers by opening the Keyboard Shortcuts panel, twirling the disclosure triangles, and simply looking at the list of available items.

Save your custom keyboard layout. Open the Keyboard Shortcuts panel. If you’ve customized keys without saving them, the pop-up menu will be set to [Custom]. Further customize as needed, click Save As, name the set, and then click OK.

Create additional sets. Select Custom from the Keyboard Layout Presets pop-up menu, edit or add commands as needed, and then name and save the new set.

Add to an existing set. Rather than creating a new set, select an existing preset from the pop-up menu, add or edit some keyboard commands, and then rename the updated set using the same name so it replaces the previously saved layout.

Saving a keyboard preset allows you to quickly adjust your work surface to meet your needs for speed in any given situation. I regularly update my customized keyboard shortcuts, and alter them for specific projects as needed, so I can fly through an edit with ease.

Keyboard presets (along with other saved presets) are saved inside your Adobe Profile folder. You can move the presets to other systems manually, but don’t forget that syncing your settings is a fantastic advantage of the Creative Cloud (see Chapter 1).

If you regularly drag and drop footage into the Timeline, cut with the Razor tool, and constantly move groups of clips around inside the Timeline to make room for more shots, I guarantee your workflow will speed up if you master three-point editing using the overwrite and insert keyboard shortcuts to add clips to an existing sequence:

Overwrite. An overwrite edit replaces frames in the sequence with new frames from the source clip.

Insert. An insert edit adds a clip to your sequence and shifts the existing material to the right (later in the sequence) to make room for the inserted media.

Three-point editing allows you to define the segment of a clip you want to put at a specific place in the sequence or to define a specific range in the sequence that you want to fill with a clip.

Typically, when adding media of a set duration into a sequence at a specific point in time, I use a three-point insert edit. For example, in the sequence named Skiing Everest_Time Alone_Insert, I’ve placed the playhead at 28:10 to define the point where I want to add a sound bite. In the Source panel I’ve set an In and Out point for the clip called SE_03 to bracket the segment where the narrator says, “When you’re climbing, you’re not talking to your buddies.” I press Option+K (Alt+K) to play from In to Out in the Source panel to check my selection, and then press the comma key to insert the footage into the sequence at the Timeline playhead (Figure 3.10, facing page).

In the Skiing Everest_Time Alone_Overwrite sequence, I’ve defined a range in the Timeline for a clip I want to write over with another shot of B-roll. The narrator is talking about time spent alone, so I’ve selected a shot of him climbing alone from clip SE_04 and marked an In point in the Source panel. To mark and accurately fill a desired duration in the sequence, I set an In and Out point in the Timeline by clicking to select the clip at 31:07 in the sequence and then pressing the forward slash (/) key to mark the clip I want to write over. Having defined all three edit points, I then press the period (.) key to perform an overwrite edit. Note that I chose a B-roll clip that did not contain audio. The new video clip now perfectly fills the space where the previous clip had been (Figure 3.11).

Insert and Overwrite

Add Edit

Extract and Lift

Copy, Paste, and Paste Insert

Move Playhead to Next and Previous Edit

Some of the techniques that require patching include:

Edit source video and audio into Timeline tracks V1 and A1. This is the most common Timeline configuration for inserting and overwriting clips that contain picture with synced sound, such as dialogue scenes and interviews.

Click to highlight the V1 and A1 Source buttons. “Patch,” or align, the Source buttons with the corresponding V1 and A1 Timeline track targets (these do not need to be highlighted). Mark an In point in the sequence, or use the playhead location as the In point, and then press insert (,) or overwrite (.) (Figure 3.12).

Edit a sound bite from the source video onto the A2 track in the Timeline. Sometimes I want to use a sound bite from a clip but don’t need the picture. This is especially common while editing promos, trailers, and commercials where fast-paced cutting makes synced dialogue less important than placing the most exciting visuals above sparse but powerful sound bites.

To edit the audio track only from a source clip into the sequence, first select an In to Out range in the Source panel. For the Skiing Everest scene called Time Alone, I marked In and Out points around a sound bite from clip SE_03 that says, “We had great weather...we were psyched.” Click in the Timeline source patching area next to the A2 track to highlight and place the A1 Source button next the A2 Timeline track target. Make sure the Video Source buttons are dark (not highlighted), and then press overwrite (.) (Figure 3.13).

In this documentary about skiing Mount Everest, I want to build a “radio cut”(sketch out the story in sound bites) and later choose B-roll imagery. I typically “checkerboard” the tracks when working with audio that isn’t in sync with the picture. In other words, I place sound that isn’t dependent on sync onto a lower audio track, such as A2, so it stands out from the audio that is in sync with the picture on V1. After a few more edits, the audio on A1 and A2 will take on a checkerboard pattern in the Timeline. To see exactly what I mean, investigate the Skiing Everest_Time Alone sequence in the included project where audio on track A1 is linked and in sync with the picture on V1, and audio on track A2 is not synced or linked to the picture tracks and can be easily slid around (Figure 3.14).

Edit video without audio into the Timeline. To place the video portion of a clip into the Timeline without its synced audio, patch the V1 Source button to a specific Timeline track target by clicking in the empty Source button area where you want the source video to end up. Make sure the Audio Source buttons are dark (not highlighted), and then press overwrite (.)

In the Skiing Everest_Time Alone sequence, I edited a video-only portion of clip SE_02 onto V2, so I could slide it around and check placement over different sound bites. Later, I changed my mind and performed an overwrite edit to try out another image from the clip called SE_03 above the sound bite I’d chosen to use in this scene. Feel free to try this out using the provided project and sequences (Figure 3.15).

Add Edit. Using the Add Edit command to make cuts across multiple tracks is faster and more precise than using the Razor tool. Clips under the playhead will be spliced only for targeted tracks when you press the keyboard shortcut for Add Edit (Command+K [Ctrl+K]).

In the Skiing Everest_Time Alone sequence, toggle (highlight) the Track Targeting button for V2, but leave other audio and video tracks dark (not highlighted) (Figure 3.16).

Now place the Timeline playhead at 25:21 in the sequence and press Command+K (Ctrl+K) to place a cut on the video track and isolate the onscreen lip-synced interview. The video portion of the clip will be spliced, but the audio portion of the clip will remain whole, making it easy to replace the B-roll portion above the sound bite while preserving the on-camera interview segment.

Cut, Copy, and Paste. Pasting clips is a quick way to rearrange clips in the Timeline or to move segments from one sequence to another. Toggling the Timeline track targets allows you to paste audio or video into specific Timeline tracks with intent when using Cut, Copy, and Paste commands.

Select and cut (Command+X [Ctrl+X]) or copy (Command+C [Ctrl+C]) a clip or group of clips in the Timeline. Toggle (highlight) the track targets for specific video and/or audio tracks and then paste (Command+V [Ctrl+V]) to overwrite clips at the playhead location.

Go To commands. Track targets affect the Go to Next Edit and Go to Previous Edit buttons and keyboard shortcuts (Up and Down arrow keys). Targeting all tracks results in the playhead stopping at cut points on every track.

It’s not uncommon to set an Out point for the source clip to specify where a clip should end, and then allow Adobe Premiere Pro to “back-time” the clip to fill a duration in the sequence. When you perform this type of three-point edit, the frame under the Out point in the source clip will be placed exactly where the Out point is set inside the sequence. The clip is edited into the Timeline for the duration defined by the third point—most often, the In point in the sequence.

Check out the example sequence I’ve set up for you called Skiing Everest_Peak Scene_Backtiming. I’ve marked In and Out points in the sequence around a clip I’d like to write over to set a duration that I’ll fill using another shot. I want to use clip SE_01 where there is a close-up of the skier in red. After loading SE_01 into the Source panel, I mark an Out point where the skier is closest to the viewer and largest in the frame. I want the Out point I’ve selected in this source clip to replace the frame under the Out point in my sequence. After I press overwrite (.) the viewer will see a wide shot of a skier in red completing a left turn that began in the close-up. The Out point of the action is more important to me than where the shot begins, because I want it to match-cut with the next shot in the sequence. Allowing the Out point to be dominant in this case helps me create the feeling of continuous action across the cut, which was my intent. I’ll play around this area in the sequence after completing the edit to make sure the close-up shot of the skier in red contained enough footage to fill the Timeline duration I selected (Figure 3.17 on the next page).

Generally, when an Out point is set in the source clip and two points are set in the Timeline, you’ll want to perform this special type of overwrite edit, where the source clip’s Out point is timed to the Out Point in the Timeline.

Here are the variations of the Fit Clip panel:

Change Clip Speed. In and Out points for the source clip are preserved, and the clip’s speed is adjusted to fill the duration set by the sequence In and Out points.

Ignore Source In Point. The frame marked with an Out point in the source clip is placed at the Out point mark in the Timeline. The duration is determined by the sequence In and Out points. This only works when the source clip is longer than the range set in the sequence.

Ignore Source Out Point. The Out point in the source clip is ignored. Duration is determined by the sequence’s In and Out points, and the frame marked by the In point in the source clip is placed at the In point mark in the Timeline. The source clip must be longer than the range set in the sequence.

Ignore Sequence In Point. This choice will ignore the sequence In point and perform a standard three-point edit. Duration is defined by the source clip points. If the clip is shorter than the duration defined, you might need to clean up unwanted video in the sequence.

Ignore Sequence Out Point. The sequence Out point is ignored, and a standard three-point edit is placed in the sequence with duration defined by the source clip In and Out points.

When I accidentally make a fourth point and simply intended to add a clip to the Timeline using a standard three-point edit, I typically choose to ignore the Out point in the sequence and perform an insert edit. When my intention is to fill a set duration in the Timeline with a specific piece of footage, such as B-roll that illustrates a great sound bite, I commonly choose to ignore the Out point in the source clip. However, when the Out frame in the source clip defines action for a match-cut—pertinent action is happening at the end of the shot and I want it to continue in the incoming shot—I’ll choose to ignore the source In point and press overwrite to back-time the shot.

Test this feature in your own work. Set In and Out marks in both a sequence and a source clip, and then press insert or overwrite with the very clear idea that you’re going to force the source clip to speed up or slow down to fill an intentionally defined range in the sequence.

Here are some nuances of the Fit to Fill choice:

Be deliberate in your actions. Learn how the different Fit Clip options work so you can choose what best suits your needs. Use four-point editing to place a speed-varied clip into a specific duration in the Timeline.

Set Preferences. It’s great that Adobe Premiere Pro offers so many four-point editing options, but because every second counts when a deadline is looming, you might want to deactivate this pop-up dialog. Set Fit Clip to perform one specific task every time you insert or overwrite with four points chosen by clicking the radio button next to the option you prefer in the Fit Clip panel. Then select Always Use This Choice. The Fit Clip panel will no longer open when you perform four-point edits.

Or Reset Preferences. If you’ve adjusted the Fit Clip dialog to perform one specific function—for example, you’ve selected Change Clip Speed and then selected Always Use This Choice—you might later find you want to choose another option and the Fit Clip panel no longer opens. Go to the Adobe Premiere Pro Preferences panel and in the General category select “Fit clip dialogue opens for edit range mismatches.” The Fit Clip dialog will become active again (Figure 3.19).

I use this feature while storyboard editing to rough out a quick assembly. It’s great when you want to grab interview sound bites and assemble them in order or insert several B-roll clips at once into the Timeline. It’s the fastest way to edit a montage with dissolves, and you can use it to place clips precisely at numbered markers in the Timeline.

You usually have an idea about the order you’d like to see certain clips play in a sequence. It’s time-consuming to load a single clip into the Source Monitor, mark In and Out points, edit the clip into the sequence, and then double-click another clip from the project to load it into the Source Monitor, mark In and Out points, edit that clip next to the first, and so on. Instead, open a bin of clips and use it as a multiple-Source Monitor.

Although you could drag and drop several clips into the Timeline all at once, using the Automate to Sequence feature gives you finer control over how clips are edited into the Timeline. Preparing the interface for this process will make rough cutting and B-roll editing fast, easy, and fun. Here’s how to set up your workspace:

1. Option-double click (Alt-double-click) on a bin of video clips to open it into a tab (or set Preferences so bins open into a tab when double-clicked to avoid holding down the Option [Alt] key).

2. Drag the bin by its tab and drop it in the center of the Source panel. You don’t really need to relocate a bin to the same panel as the Source Monitor, because the bin can be docked anywhere, but try this for now so you’ll grow accustomed to a bin behaving like a Source Monitor.

3. Set the bin to display the clips in Icon view by selecting the bin and pressing Command+Page Down (Ctrl+Page Down). Drag the size slider so the images are larger and, if needed, drag the edge of the Source panel so it’s large enough to see multiple clips. You’ll now have multiple source clips available while editing, and you won’t need to double-click to open each clip into the source window for marking—the clips are already open!

4. Play through each of the clips using JKL. Set an In-to-Out range for each clip you want to add to the Timeline (Figure 3.20).

Now that you’ve set up a bin as a multiple-Source Monitor, let’s use the Automate to Sequence feature to edit several clips into a sequence. You can use these steps in your own project, or open the project I’ve included for this chapter and double-click on the Skiing Everest_Automate sequence. If you’re using the sequence I’ve prepared, you’ll also want to open the bin named SE_Video. I suggest dragging the tab and docking that video bin inside the Source Monitor.

1. Play through the sequence to get familiar with the sound bites.

2. If any clips are selected in the sequence, deselect all by pressing Command+Shift+A (Ctrl+Shift+A).

3. Turn on Snapping (S) and move the playhead to the end of the last video clip in the sequence.

4. Press M to set a marker.

5. While playing through the sequence again, press M to set another marker after the narrator says, “We had great weather...,” but just before he says “The North ridge...”. Adjust your Timeline tracks so you can see the audio waveforms in the dialogue track while playing the sequence to help you locate each sound bite when adding markers.

6. Place a third marker where the narrator says, “The way that it is...”.

I’ve already set In and Out points for clips SE_02, SE_03, and SE_04 inside the SE_Video bin.

7. Select the clips in the order you want them to appear in the sequence by pressing Command-click (Ctrl-click) to select multiple, noncontiguous clips.

8. Click the Lock icon next to the Timeline tracks you don’t want affected by the edit.

9. Click the Automate to Sequence button (Figure 3.21).

10. The Automate to Sequence dialog appears, giving you options to insert or overwrite clips in sort or selection order. Explore the options that allow you to ignore audio or video and add transitions and still images (Figure 3.22).

11. From the Ordering pop-up menu, choose Selection Order.

12. If you’ve added markers to your sequence, select At Unnumbered Markers for Placement. If you haven’t added markers, choose Sequentially.

13. For Method, select Overwrite Edit.

14. Select Use In/Out Range for stills.

15. Deselect Default Video and Audio Transitions.

16. Select Ignore Audio.

17. Click OK.

For extra credit, try dragging a few more clips to the top your the bin in the order you’d like to add them to the sequence. Place the playhead at a cut point in between two shots in your sequence and Shift-click to lock all audio tracks. Click the Automate to Sequence button and choose Sort Order from the pop-up menu. Choose Insert Edit from the Method pop-up menu and select Ignore Audio. Click OK. Clips will insert onto the targeted tracks, and audio tracks will not be affected.

Using Automate to Sequence is a great way to quickly get a sequence started. It’s also useful for inserting several shots simultaneously into an existing sequence. Automating clips to numbered markers is helpful when you want to overwrite B-roll or graphics onto a higher level Timeline video track in time to music or audio narration, especially when you know exactly where each shot should be placed in the sequence. If you use this feature regularly, make a keyboard shortcut to open the Automate to Sequence dialog. I use Shift+A (Figure 3.23).

1. Place the Timeline playhead at the In point of a shot in the sequence (Figure 3.24), and then press F to load the master shot into the Source Monitor.

2. Toggle Source Track patching on for audio and off for video.

3. Press period (.) to overwrite the audio track back into the sequence in sync.

Mind the tracks! Track targeting affects Match Frame functionality. When all tracks are targeted, video tracks are dominant over audio tracks and higher-numbered tracks are dominant over lower-numbered tracks. For example, if you Shift-click to highlight all video track targets, and there is layered video on V1 and V2, the V2 master clip will load into the Source panel. Deselect the V2 track target and press F again, and the V1 master clip will load into the Source panel.

Clicking to select a clip under the playhead in the Timeline will give it priority for Match Frame regardless of track target settings. For example, when there is audio under the Timeline playhead that is not linked to video above it and you want to Match Frame on that audio track, click on that specific audio clip to select it before pressing F so the master audio clip will load into the Source Monitor. Clicking the clip is the quickest way to indicate my preference for Match Frame when I want to match anything other than the topmost video track.

1. Edit the first line of dialogue from character number one into the sequence. Very likely, this is an over the shoulder (OTS) shot.

2. Edit the first response, either the first line of dialogue or a reaction, from the second character into the sequence as you normally would by performing an overwrite or an insert edit to put the two lines of dialogue together in sequence.

3. Place the Timeline playhead on the last frame of character number one’s clip, and press F (Match Frame) to quickly reload the clip for the first character back into the Source Monitor.

The source clip is now ready for you to play forward and quickly mark an In-to-Out range in real time for character number one’s next line.

4. Press Shift+3 to toggle focus on the Timeline, press the down arrow key to move the playhead into position for the edit, and then press insert (,).

5. Press the up arrow key and then the left arrow key once to put the Timeline playhead on the last frame of character number two’s clip.

6. Press F. Character number two’s master clip is now loaded into the Source panel and ready for you to play forward and mark the next line of dialogue.

7. Continue using Match Frame to quickly build a rough cut of the entire dialogue, alternating between the two actors.

For extra credit, remember to map keyboard shortcuts for frequently used features! Right-clicking on a clip and hunting through the pop-up menu for Reveal in Project annoyed me because I was looking for this feature several times in an hour. I recommend setting the same keyboard shortcut to access Reveal in Project for both the Source and Timeline panels. Then, one keyboard shortcut will open the bin that contains the highlighted clip whether you select the clip inside the Timeline or in the Source panel. Don’t forget to save, and type the same name to replace your current keyboard preferences with the newly added shortcuts (Figure 3.26).

1. Right-click the footage you want to update inside the Project panel and choose Replace Footage.

2. Navigate to the new file, and select Rename Clip to File Name.

The new file is now updated “live” inside all sequences too!

Choosing Replace Footage at the project level is my go-to choice for updating in-sequence motion graphics, because the new graphics are immediately ready to be screened inside all sequences. I also use this method to replace older temporary audio files with final narration and music tracks. The Replace Footage command automatically updates the audio files, so I’m confident that the final recordings have been replaced in every sequence.

This feature saves so much time, especially when the placement of clips inside a sequence won’t change at all, and the updated versions of the files make the older versions obsolete. In other words, when you don’t need to keep the temporary clips inside the project and you want all sequences updated at once, use this method to replace clips. It’s fast and easy.

To play along, open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Time Alone_Replace. From the SE_Video bin, double-click to open clip SE_04 into the Source panel.

Let’s replace the second shot in this Sequence with a wide shot of the tents at Camp 1 to give the viewer a sense of place at the beginning of the climbing day. Set an In Point at about 30:20 in the source clip where the text is fully visible.

The trick is to hold down the Option (Alt) key as you drag the replacement clip from the Source panel into the Timeline. Drop the replacement clip right on top of the existing clip in the sequence by releasing the mouse when you see the green plus symbol over the clip you want to replace. Using this method, the In point of the source clip will be used to define the starting point for the edit (Figure 3.27).

If you want to use the In point of the original clip (not the In-point from the replacement clip), hold down Shift+Option (Shift+Alt) when you drag. The only time I use this method is when I’m editing with multi-cam footage that was shot with matching timecode.

If you want to use the Out point from the source clip and back-time, you can select the clip you want to replace inside the Timeline and press the forward slash (/) key to mark that clip. Then perform a standard four-point overwrite edit and select Ignore Source In Point from the Fit Clip panel.

A Sync Replace is the most accurate method for performing a replace edit, because it allows you to precisely sync the exact frame you want to replace in the original clip with a specific frame from the replacement clip. This method uses the playhead in both the Source and Timeline panels to achieve frame-accurate results.

Let’s sample this feature in action.

1. Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Peak Scene_Sync Replace.

2. If needed, clear any In and Out marks from both the Timeline and Source panels by pressing Option+X (Ctrl+Shift+X).

3. Put the Timeline playhead at 05;17 where the skier is turning to his right and has just pulled his poles away from the snow—about six to eight frames past where his poles have touched the ice.

4. Load SE_01 into the Source panel. Put the Source panel playhead at 08;23 where the skier in red is also turning to his right—about six to eight frames past where his poles have touched the ice.

5. Now that you’ve selected matching action frames using the Source and Timeline playheads, right-click on the clip in the sequence and choose Replace With Clip > From Source Monitor, Match Frame to replace the shot in the sequence with the shot in the Source panel (Figure 3.28).

Once you master this technique, you’ll use it constantly in your own work. Simply put the playhead over a clip you want to replace inside a sequence at a specific frame of action or even at the start of a specific word or phrase. Open the replacement clip into the Source Monitor and park the playhead over the precise frame of action (or sound bite) that will replace the original frame under the sequence playhead. Right-click on the original clip in the sequence and choose Replace With Clip > From Source Monitor, Match Frame.

This precision style of replacing a clip is super useful when you’re trying out multiple takes of action shots, especially while cutting sports sequences, because it allows you to audition different camera angles at critical points in the sequence. I often use this technique for trying out repeated takes of dialogue, and find it most useful when an actor delivers multiple reads at roughly the same speed but with varying emotion and I want to see how each take plays with the surrounding shots.

I highly recommend creating a keyboard shortcut for Replace Clip with Match Frame. The keyboard shortcut will allow you to quickly test different deliveries of a performance with the touch of key while maintaining visual sync on the action inside the cut. Place Timeline and Source playheads over desired frames, click to select the sequence clip you want to replace, and press the keyboard shortcut. It’s that easy!

Typically, the Lift command is used when a gap in the sequence is desired, because you want to fill that gap with B-roll imagery or sound. I often clean up unnecessary audio from sound bites using Lift to leave gaps that will later be filled with room tone or “background air.” A big advantage of using Lift is that you can select just a portion of a clip, or portions of multiple clips, by selecting an In-to-Out range in the sequence. You aren’t limited to simply deleting or lifting out whole clips. Let’s see how it works.

1. In the Timeline, mark In and Out points to set a range for the media to be lifted.

2. Toggle track targets to specify which tracks should be affected by the Lift command.

3. Click the Lift button in the Program Monitor or use the default keyboard shortcut (press ;).

The media is lifted from selected tracks, leaving a gap in the Timeline.

Removed frames are copied to the clipboard and can be pasted back into the sequence elsewhere using the Paste (Command+V [Ctrl+V]) or Paste Insert (Command+Shift+V [Ctrl+Shift+V]) commands to overwrite or insert the media to a new location.

1. Check track targets to select the tracks from which media should be removed.

2. Click the Sync Lock boxes next to all Timeline tracks that you want to be shifted when the Extract button is clicked. Gaps will be closed for all sync locked tracks.

3. Lock tracks that you don’t want rippled (like music tracks).

Sequence runtime is reduced when using Extract. This command is perfect for quickly tightening the cut, whittling down sequences full of interview selects, or trimming out the end of one shot and the beginning of the next shot at the same time.

To quickly see the difference between Lift and Extract, open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Lift & Extract. I’ve already placed a few interview clips on the A1 track and set markers to indicate portions of clips for lifting an extracting (Figure 3.29).

1. Mark an In point (I) at the begging of the sequence.

2. Press Shift+M to jump to the first marker.

3. Set an Out point (O).

4. Click the Extract button in the Program Monitor or use the keyboard shortcut for Extract (’) to remove the portion of the first clip where the narrator says “The thing is, is...”.

The sound is removed from the first portion of that clip and the gap is closed, so the narrator now begins his line cleaning by saying, “When you’re out there on those peaks...” Farther down the Timeline, let’s use a Lift edit to remove a portion of a sound bite and leave a gap in the dialogue.

5. Press Shift+M to jump to the second marker in the Timeline.

6. Press I to set an In point.

7. Press the down arrow key to jump the end of that sound bite, and then press O to set an Out point.

8. Click the Lift button in the Program Monitor or use the default keyboard shortcut (;) to remove the sound where the narrator says “Like they say, as you know...”

The unnecessary dialogue is removed, and a gap remains in the sequence.

This method of removing footage is super fast, especially when you want to clean up many pieces of footage at once. I use this feature when editing documentaries, because it’s faster to put an entire interview into a sequence and then splice and quickly remove the sections I don’t intend to use rather than setting In and Out marks in source clips and overwriting individual sound bites into the Timeline.

Try this: Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Ripple Delete. I’ve spliced the track using Command+K (Ctrl+K) to perform an Add Edit and isolated portions of the clips I want to ripple out of the sequence. Alternately, you can use the Razor tool (C) to add edits. I’ve placed markers that indicate multiple sections of sound bites that can quickly be cleaned up all at once using Ripple Delete. Markers aren’t necessary; I simply placed them to make this example clear.

Press Shift and click to select every portion you want to delete from the sequence (Figure 3.30). To perform a Ripple Delete, press Shift+Forward Delete (Shift+Delete). All selected portions of clips are removed from the sequence and remaining clips are rippled to close the gaps.

Rippling out the top of a clip is similar to marking an In-to-Out range around the beginning portion of a clip and then pressing Extract (’) except that it happens in one keystroke! It’s often called a “top” trim because you’re removing the portion from the top of a clip to the playhead. You don’t need to select any cut points. When you press Q, which is the shortcut for Ripple Trim Previous Edit to Playhead, the beginning portion of the clip is removed from the previous cut point to the playhead location.

In the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Tops & Tails, let’s remove the extra shot at the beginning of the final clip along with the sound bite where the narrator says, “So your mind just wanders wherever it’s going to wander to.” Performing a Top Trim is the slickest way to remove these frames. This is so slick, you’ve got to try it.

1. Play the Skiing Everest_Tops & Tails sequence in real time.

2. While playing the sequence, press Q after the narrator says, “...it’s going to wander to,” right after the picture cuts to the image where the clouds are moving through the peak (there is a marker at this location) (Figure 3.31).

The top portion of both picture and sound clips are removed, and footage farther down the Timeline ripples to the playhead location to fill the gap.

Notice in this example sequence that the music track (A7) has been locked. Mind the tracks! When clips are rippled in this way, a splice will be created through all tracks to extract frames. When clips farther down the Timeline are rippled, the entire sequence gets shorter. That fact should alert you to look for potential audio sync issues before performing the edit.

Rippling away the tail is similar to marking an In-to-Out range around the end portion of a clip in the Timeline and then pressing Extract (’) except that all steps happen in one keystroke. When you press W, which is the keyboard shortcut for Ripple Trim Next Edit to Playhead, the end or “tail” portion of the clip is removed from the playhead location all the way to the next cut point in the Timeline.

Tail Trimming can feel trickier to master than Top Trimming, especially during real-time playback. It essentially works the same way as Top Trimming but in reverse. To ease the learning curve, begin practicing this technique by parking the playhead in the middle of a clip in the Timeline and then pressing W to get the feel of removing the tail portion of a clip, as described in the following steps.

1. In the Skiing Everest_Tops & Tails sequence, park the Timeline playhead at 25;11, just before the narrator says, “We get a lot of time just sitting in the tent reading and relaxing” (Figure 3.32 on the next page).

2. Press W.

The tail portion of the clip called SE_03 is extracted, and clips farther down the Timeline are rippled to the playhead to fill the gap where frames were removed.

For extra credit, practice removing footage from the tail portion of clips using the keyboard shortcut (W) while playing the sequence live (in real time).

Adding modifier keys to Q and W will activate different trimming features, which I’ll cover in more detail later in this chapter.

This command is similar to both an extract and insert edit in that clips are rippled while being repositioned, or “swapped,” in the Timeline. This technique is easier to perform on clips that have not been L or J cut, so if this is new to you, it’s best to practice on clips in the Timeline that have straight cuts. In other words, if clips have linked audio and video, practice on shots where the audio portion of the clip cuts at the same time as the video. Try this exercise.

1. Open the provided sequence called Skiing Everest_Peak Scene_Swap Edit.

2. Make sure Snapping (S) is on.

3. Click to select the second video shot.

4. Press and hold Command+Option (Ctrl+Alt) while dragging the second clip to the left, and snap it the very beginning of the sequence.

5. Look for the Swap icon (this is sometimes referred to as the Rearrange icon) (Figure 3.33).

6. Watch for Snapping symbols and insert arrows as you drag, indicating you have reached the cut point where the first shot is currently located.

7. Release the mouse.

The two shots have swapped position! This worked quite easily in the example because these two video clips are not linked to audio. Don’t forget: When linked audio is longer or shorter than the corresponding picture, swapping clips may result in gaps in the Timeline, which preserves audio sync. It’s cleaner to swap clips before creating split edits (L and J cuts). I also find it easier to swap clips by dragging to the left, so I’m moving them earlier in the Timeline. Practice this technique on all types of clips so you’ll know what to expect when you perform a Swap Edit in different situations.

For extra credit, try swapping the clip that is now at the beginning of the sequence with the second clip in the Timeline. While holding down Command+Option (Ctrl+Alt) you’ll need to drag the first clip far to the right to the end of the second clip, and then snap it to the Out point of the second shot in the sequence before releasing the mouse. Next, try selecting several sequential clips and swap them as a unit.

Master the Paste Insert and you’ll rarely need to move clips just to reposition shots. In cases where a Swap Edit just won’t work correctly, usually because of audio sync concerns or split edits, try a Paste Insert.

1. Open the sequence called Skiing Everest_Paste Insert.

2. Click and drag to select the last two clips of video at the end of the sequence and the corresponding audio (the last sound bite that begins, “You really don’t have a lot to think about”).

3. Press Command+X (Ctrl+X) to cut those three clips from the sequence.

4. Snap the playhead to the beginning of the clip called SE_04 at the cut point just before the narrator says, “It’s hours out there by yourself,” at 31;07 in the Timeline.

5. Lock the A7 music track (Figure 3.34).

6. Target the V1 track.

7. Press Command+Shift+V (Ctrl+Shift+V) to perform a Paste Insert (Figure 3.35).

If you listen to this scene in the sequence after performing the Paste Insert and then press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to undo and listen again, you’ll hear the difference in shot sequencing and understand how great this technique is for rearranging story ideas in the Timeline. This is my go-to method for repositioning groups of clips when I’m moving toward the fine-cut stage, especially when there are complicated split edits or layered picture and dialogue tracks.

When performing a Paste Insert, it’s important to remember the following:

Target Timeline tracks where you want Audio and video tracks to be pasted as an insert edit.

Lock Tracks to prevent accidental adjustments. A splice will be made through all tracks when the playhead is not positioned on a cut point, so lock any music or narration tracks that shouldn’t be altered by the insert.

Clips are rippled down the Timeline to make room for the insert edit, so keep an eye on audio sync.

For extra credit, open the Skiing Everest_Peak Scene sequence. Press Shift while selecting several skiing sound effects and then group them with a matching video clip by pressing Command+G (Ctrl+G). Cut and Paste Insert the group to a new location in the Timeline (Figure 3.36).

You may have heard the phrase, “There are three ways to do everything.” When it comes to editing, that’s true. It’s possible to achieve identical results from three different methods of trimming, but one technique may be faster and easier to use in a given situation.

The trimming tools you’ll use most often are partly a matter of preference and partly chosen to fit specific needs. You might choose to use the Trim Monitor, while syncing action for a wide shot that cuts to a close-up. The Trim Monitor allows you to view and choose the exact frames on both sides of the cut. A similar trim might be made more rapidly on the Timeline when syncing the visual action isn’t a big concern. For example, while working on the radio edit it’s often preferable to expand the sequence audio tracks and trim directly in the Timeline while viewing large waveforms to see the space between lines of dialogue.

Learning how all trimming techniques work, and how each trimming tool differs, will help you understand when to choose one method over another when refining a cut sequence. More important, mastering the basic use of these tools will allow you to advance to performing these types of edits using keyboard shortcuts that really speed up the trimming process. The primary trimming tools include:

Selection tool

Ripple Edit tool

Rolling Edit tool

Slip tool

Slide tool

If you’ve been using Premiere Pro or another editing application for a while, you might skim this section as a quick review, then move on to the more advanced trimming techniques. If you’re yet not making full use of the basic trimming tools, heed the detailed instructions below.

Press the Selection Tool keyboard shortcut (V) and place the arrow over a cut point of a clip in a Sequence. When you do, you’ll notice that the pointer changes to the Trim Tool. Move the mouse back and forth across the cut, and the Trim Tool arrow will change from left to right, so you can click to create an Incoming or an Outgoing trim.

If you’ve been performing a trim on both sides of a cut by first trimming to make one clip shorter and then dragging the edge of the next clip to fill the gap, read on!

A Roll is a called a two-sided edit because both points (the In and the Out) on either side of the cut are adjusted simultaneously. The length of one clip adjusts to accommodate the changing length of the other. As one clip gets shorter the other gets longer, provided that there is enough “handle” content available to allow the trim. Handles refer to unused footage surrounding the selected portion of a shot inside the sequence.

When using the Rolling Edit tool in the Timeline, you don’t have to worry about throwing tracks out of sync (unless you’ve locked dialogue tracks that are synced to an unlocked picture).

Rolling an edit point changes the location of the cut inside the sequence. The Rolling Edit tool is often used to create split edits, so that a clip’s audio plays for a longer or shorter time than the matching video.

When you ripple a clip, footage beyond that selected cut point in the sequence will “ripple” (move to the right or left) depending on whether the selected clip is getting longer or shorter. As you trim a clip with the Ripple Edit tool, the entire sequence gets longer or shorter to accommodate the trim.

The point is this: When you use the Ripple Edit tool, mind the tracks!

After using the Ripple tool to add and remove frames, editors frequently use the Roll tool to create split edits, which are known as L or J cuts. Here’s an example of how to use both tools to smooth action across a cut:

Ripple to place the cut anywhere the action is easiest to sync. Begin by using the Ripple Edit tool (B) to trim the shots on each side of the cut, so you end up putting the cut exactly where the ball hits the bat in both shots or where someone’s footstep hits the ground from both camera angles.

Roll to create a split edit. Once the visual action is in sync at the cut point, the Roll tool comes into play. Hold down the Option (Alt) key and click to select only the video portion of the clip with the Rolling Edit tool (N). Offset the video cut point so that action begins in the first shot and completes in the second shot.

In summary, sync the shots on action using the Ripple Edit tool, and then switch to the Rolling Edit tool to move the video cut point earlier, so the bat begins to swing in the first shot and then connects with the ball and completes the swing in the second shot.

The technique of beginning action in the first clip and continuing or completing the action in the next clip makes the cuts between shots go unnoticed by viewers, because their eyes are literally “on the ball,” not on the cut between shots. By rolling only the video portion of the clip, you also offset the picture cut from the sound cut. This helps smooth the change from one shot to the next, making a more elegant transition between shots that will likely go unnoticed by the audience. Quickly achieving frame accurate, invisible cuts is the point of mastering the Ripple and Roll Edit tools.

Let’s practice performing Ripple and Roll Edits in tandem. I’ll throw in a few bonus techniques and some review in the process.

1. Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Trimming.

2. Look at the track configuration. Synced dialogue has been placed on the A1 track, and narration that is not linked to video clips has been placed on A2. Notice that all audio tracks except A1 are locked. This configuration allows an editor to easily perform ripple trims while keeping linked audio in sync with the picture.

3. While holding down the Shift key, click on the track target for A1. This will turn off all audio track targets, so you can use keyboard shortcuts to jump to cut points only on the video tracks and ignore the audio cuts.

4. Use the up and down arrow keys to place the playhead at the cut point between the first two video clips in the sequence.

5. Zoom into the Timeline using the plus (+) key.

6. Press B to activate the Ripple Edit tool.

7. Click and drag on the left side of the playhead, and drag to ripple the outgoing shot so that it’s shorter.

8. Look at the Program Monitor while dragging the Ripple tool. Release the mouse when you visually see the skier in blue dig his skis and poles into the snow, so he is facing perpendicular to the camera with his skis pointing to the left side of the screen. The timecode overlay on the outgoing shot in the Program Monitor should read 04:20. The overlay in the Timeline should indicate that you’ve shortened the shot (Figure 3.39).

9. Click with the Ripple Edit tool on the incoming shot, just to the right of the same cut point, and drag to the left again, lengthening the second shot.

10. Release the mouse when the timecode overlay on the incoming shot in the Program Monitor reads about 06:20. The skier in red should be in roughly the same position as the skier in blue from the previous shot. Snow should be flying off the skis toward the right of the frame in both shots (Figure 3.40).

11. The cut point is now positioned on matching action in both clips. Play through the edit.

12. Press N to activate the Rolling Edit tool, and select the same cut point as a Roll (red I-bar).

13. Drag to roll the cut point to the right, later in time. Release the mouse when both athletes are in mid turn, with poles and skis released from the snow as though they’re floating above the earth (Figure 3.41).

14. Play through the edit. The action of the turn is initiated by the first skier and completed by the second. The cut across matching action should feel smooth, not jarring. This works even better using two camera angles of the same skier.

To trim in the Program panel, start by activating the two-up display (Trim mode). Using the Selection tool, double-click on a cut in the Timeline (or select the edit and press T) to load the edit into the Program Monitor.

Here are some guidelines about using the Trim mode:

Roll the edit. If you want to trim visually while dragging, you can click in between the two images in the Program panel to select the edit point as a roll, and then drag the Rolling Edit tool left or right to move the cut point earlier or later in the Timeline.

Ripple the edit. Move the mouse across the cut in the Program Monitor and look for the yellow ripple indicators. Click to select either the incoming or outgoing shot. Drag with the Ripple tool, or use the trim buttons to add or remove frames.

Perform a single or multi-frame trim. Use the Trim Forward and Trim Backward buttons to add and remove frames.

Loop playback. Pressing the spacebar will loop playback in the Program panel and keep Trim Mode active.

Improve functionality. Use the JKL keys while trimming in the Program Monitor.

Use keyboard shortcuts. Press Option+left arrow (Alt+left arrow) and Option+right arrow (Alt+right arrow) to perform “live” trimming during looped playback. Keep an eye on the Timeline as it dynamically updates.

We’ll look at more advanced keyboard shortcuts that you can use in conjunction with Program Monitor trimming in the “Advanced Trimming” section later in this chapter.

1. Open the example sequence you previously used called Skiing Everest_Tops & Tails.

2. Press N to select the second video cut point as a rolling edit.

3. Zoom into the Timeline (+) if needed.

4. Play backward (J) and then forward (L), and press pause (K) to stop the playhead after the narrator says “The North Ridge.”

5. Press E to move the cut to the playhead location.

6. Move the next edit point by pressing the down arrow key; then Extend the third shot in the sequence so it covers the line, “The way that it is more often than not....”

This is so easy and effective that I thought about sharing this information earlier. But here is the coolest part: This trick also works when the cut is selected as a Ripple Edit! It works with the basic Trim tool (selection arrow) too. If the cut point is selected as a ripple incoming or a ripple outgoing (yellow brackets), mind your tracks for sync.

For extra credit, the Extend Edit can be employed to quickly create L and J cuts (split edits). Option-click (Alt-click) on a video cut point when selecting with a Trim tool, which will temporarily unlink the audio, to trim only the video edit point.

To fully grasp how fast and easy it is to slip a shot, try this exercise.

1. Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Trimming.

2. In the Tools panel select the Slip tool (Y).

3. With the Slip tool active, place it over the clip called SE_02 (about 12 seconds into the sequence). This clip contains two shots with lower-third text that reads Mustagh Ata and Everest.

4. Click and drag to the right with the Slip tool. In the Program Monitor you’ll see the new In and Out frames for the clip displayed and updating as you perform the slip (Figure 3.43 on the next page).

5. When you see the Mustagh Ata shot displaying frames without text for both the In point (left image in a two-up display) and Out point (right image in a two-up display), release the mouse.

6. Play through the edit to ensure that the Mustagh Ata text fades up and out on the shot. Adjust the trim as needed.

When you like the content and duration of a clip in the Timeline but want to reposition that clip to a new location that’s just a bit earlier or bit later in the sequence, use the Slide tool. When you click and drag on a clip in the Timeline with the Slide tool, the Out frame of the clip to the left and the In frame of the clip to the right update.

Using the Slide tool does not result in a change to the duration of your sequence, because the clips on either side of the shot you’re sliding are adjusted to accommodate the clip you’re moving.

Let’s slide a clip to fit with a line of narration.

1. Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Trimming.

2. In the Tools panel select the Slide tool (U).

3. Play the clip called SE_01 (about 11 seconds into the sequence), and stop the playhead just after the narrator says, “...accomplishing a goal” and before he says, “It’s like nothing else.”

4. Make sure Snapping is on (S).

5. With the Slide tool active, click and drag the clip so the Out point snaps to the playhead and release the mouse.

6. In the Program Monitor you’ll see new In and Out frames updating for the clips on either side of the shot you’re sliding. The mini-frames above the two-up display show you the In and Out points of the clip you’re sliding (Figure 3.44).

7. Play through the edit to ensure that the shot ends after the narrator says, “...goal” and that both the outgoing and incoming shots on either side had enough handle to accommodate the trim.

I typically work with Linked Selection active, but when editing movie trailers or promos it’s helpful to deactivate this feature. During this style of editing, I’m more interested in using compelling imagery over narration like, “In a world...full of renegade cops who don’t play by the rules...one man will be tested.” Because I’m not working with a lot of synced dialogue while making a promo, I prefer to turn off Linked Selection so I can quickly place short, dramatic sound bites under the most intriguing action shots (Figure 3.45).

Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Trimming. The last clip in the Timeline is Jim speaking about climbers. Let’s clean up his audio by trimming off the beginning portion where he says, “Like they say, as you know....”

With the audio waveform visible on the A1 track, it’s easy to see exactly where Jim begins his next line, “Climbers have short memories.” Place the playhead just before Jim says the word “Climbers.” Press V for the Selection tool and drag to trim the audio portion of the clip. Because Linked Selection is active, the linked picture is trimmed too, leaving a gap on the video track. Whoops. Undo. I want to see Jim onscreen at the end of the scene. I don’t want to permanently unlink Jim’s audio from his picture because I intend to Ripple Trim other clips in this sequence, and I want Jim’s onscreen clip to maintain sync!

Do the following to trim Jim’s linked audio clip: Press the Option (Alt) key while dragging the edge of the sound clip to trim out the unwanted audio. The picture track will be ignored. After you release the mouse to complete the trim, the clip will behave as a typical linked clip, so it will maintain the split edit (L or J cut) and stay in sync when other clips are trimmed (Figure 3.46).

This temporary unlink feature is also handy to delete unwanted tracks from linked clips. Use this technique to clean up the Timeline when you’ve unintentionally brought in audio tracks that you don’t need. If you wanted only A1 and A2, but A3 and A4 are still linked to the picture because you didn’t modify the clip before editing it into the Timeline, hold down Option (Alt) when you select the unneeded audio and press Delete.

You can select the clip and either choose Clip > Unlink or right-click on the clip and choose Unlink. To relink clips that are unlinked, Shift-click to select both audio and video portions, and then choose Clip > Link or right-click on the clip and choose Link.

The best way to quickly Link and Unlink individual clips is to use keyboard shortcuts. Try this exercise.

1. Open the Skiing Everest_Trimming sequence.

2. Put the playhead at the beginning of Jim’s on camera video clip.

3. Press Command+K (Ctrl+K) to add an edit through the linked audio track.

4. Click to select the video portion of Jim’s clip.

Darn it! The portion of the clip that should stay linked to Jim—where he is on-camera speaking—was unlinked as a result of adding a splice, but the earlier portion of the clip that is hidden by B-roll is still linked to the picture. This situation will happen often, I promise (Figure 3.47).

5. Select Jim’s video clip and press Command+L (Ctrl+L) to unlink it from the audio that’s under B-roll.

6. To preserve lip-sync, hold down Shift to select both the picture and audio clips at the end, where Jim is on-camera, and press Command+L (Ctrl+L) to relink that portion.

1. Return to the Skiing Everest_Trimming sequence in Adobe Premiere Pro.

2. Unlock the A4 track that contains natural skiing sound effects, which were recorded on location.

3. Select the third video clip in the sequence, the shot with the skier in black wearing a white helmet. Beneath this shot is a sound effect that is in sync with the action.

4. Press Shift to select the sound effect on V4 below the video clip.

5. Press Command+G (Ctrl+G), or right-click on either the selected video or audio clip and choose Group (Figure 3.48).

6. Lock track A4 and notice that the video portion of this grouped clip will behave as an independent clip again if you try to Slip, Slide, move, or perform any other edit function when you select it, because the audio is locked down.

Once grouped, these clips will move, copy, and trim as though linked, even though they originated from separate source footage. The real advantage of grouping is that you can link not only several synced sound effect clips to a single video clip, but you can group multiple video and audio clips together, and then Cut and Paste Insert, reposition, and quickly Swap Edit the grouped clips using keyboard commands. It allows you to keep an entire scene, or a portion of a scene, together and behaving as a single, grouped clip. It’s an invaluable technique for taking a portion of a scene that is working well, including video, several layers of dialogue, background sound, and graphics, and moving the entire scene to a new location in the film.

For extra credit, return to the Skiing Everest_Trimming sequence. Zoom (+) into the first three video clips at the beginning of the sequence. Reposition, Slip, or, Slide the matching sound effects on A4, so they sync with picture. View audio waveforms if needed. Group the first three video clips with the four sound clips beneath them. Click to select the group, and move, or Cut and Paste Insert the group of clips to a new location, or into a new sequence.

Grouping isn’t necessary simply to keep separate sound effects in sync while trimming other clips in the sequence. There is no need to group clips if you don’t plan to move them as a single unit. Sync Lock will help you maintain sync while inserting shots and trimming without grouping clips.

If a Timeline track does not have a Source Track Patch connected and activated but has Sync Lock enabled, an insert edit will affect that track. Media on tracks that have Sync Lock enabled will ripple when the insert is performed, and in some cases empty track background will be inserted on the track for the duration that matches the inserted source clip.

In other words, if you have Sync Lock on, gaps may appear to preserve sync.

To clarify this concept, let’s experiment with Sync Lock in the Skiing Everest_Trimming sequence.

1. Hold down the Shift key and click on an audio track lock icon to unlock all audio tracks.

2. Make sure Sync Lock is enabled for all audio tracks by Shift-clicking on the Sync Lock icon for one of the audio tracks until all are active (no slash mark through the sync icons).

3. Press B to activate the Ripple Edit tool.

4. Drag with the Ripple Edit tool on the incoming edge of the second video shot in the sequence to make it longer.

A gap appears in the sound effects tracks, A4 and A5, to preserve sync (Figure 3.49).

5. Press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to undo.

6. Drag with the Ripple Edit tool on the incoming edge of the second video shot in the sequence to make it shorter. You won’t able to trim the video shorter because with Sync Lock active the clip is blocked by the clip on A4. The Timeline overlay indicates that the natural sound effect track is blocking the trim.

7. Click to deactivate the Sync Lock icons next to tracks A4 and A5.

8. Drag with the Ripple Edit tool on the incoming edge of the second video shot in the sequence to make it shorter. With Sync Lock deactivated for the sound effects tracks, frames can be removed from the video clip to make it shorter (Figure 3.50).

Notice that the audio linked to Jim’s onscreen interview (the last shot in the sequence) has maintained sync during the trim.

9. Click to deactivate Sync Lock on A1.

10. Again, drag with the Ripple Edit tool on the incoming edge of the second video shot in the sequence, toward the left, to make the shot longer again.

Out of sync markers may appear for linked clips, like Jim’s onscreen interview, when Sync Lock is deactivated.

11. Press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to undo.

When Sync Lock is active for corresponding linked tracks, clips on those tracks will all shift when a Ripple Trim is performed and sync will be preserved. Turn off Sync Lock for linked audio tracks, and those tracks will stay put when you perform the Ripple Trim. I recommend leaving Sync Lock active for all linked dialogue tracks to preserve sync when insert and ripple edits are performed anywhere in the Timeline.

Move clips into sync. If you choose Move into Sync, Adobe Premiere Pro just moves the out of sync portion back into sync with the other part of the clip. The video or audio (depending on which sync flag you right-clicked) is repositioned in the Timeline to achieve sync.

Slip clips into sync. If you choose Slip into Sync, Adobe Premiere Pro slips the out of sync audio or video back into sync. Slipping the clip won’t change the location of the out of sync clip in the Timeline. The clip will remain where it is in the sequence, and Adobe Premiere Pro will slip the part of the clip you selected back into sync. This is a great way to create a split edit! If you intentionally want the audio to lead the viewer into the upcoming picture shot, move the sound portion of the clip so it begins before the video, and then slip it back into sync with the picture (Figure 3.51).

And when sync really goes wrong, use Match Frame and Replace. It’s possible to use a Match Frame and then perform a Replace edit to bring audio and picture back into sync in the Timeline.

Replacing and reordering shots in the Timeline is critical, but when it comes time to join ideas and match cuts so they work invisibly to tell a story, you’ll want to master the more advanced Timeline trimming features. Trimming really is the heart of editing, so let’s get you up to speed with the most elegant techniques for finessing the cut.

Let’s take your skills up a notch.

1. Instead of using the Trim tools to select the cut point, press T, the keyboard shortcut for trim. The edit point nearest to the playhead will be selected as a rolling edit (red I-bar). The clips on each side of the selected edit point will be loaded into the two-up display in the Program Monitor.

2. Toggle through Trim types by pressing Command+T (Ctrl+T). Incoming and Outgoing shots are selected and update in the Program monitor as you toggle.

3. Turn on Looping by pressing Command+L (Ctrl+L) (Figure 3.52).

4. Press Shift+K to Play Around the current edit (Figure 3.53).

5. With playback looping live, press E to make the trim.

6. Let looping continue to play and watch the cut.

7. Press E again as playback continues to refine the trim as needed.

The most elegant way to perform a top or tail trim is to become so proficient at understanding it’s operation in the Timeline that you can perform the trim during real-time playback. You’ll be trimming clips faster than you can think I want to trim off this bit here.

There is no need to select the edit as a ripple or a roll! There is no need to mark an In or Out point and use Lift or Extract! There is no need to press a keyboard shortcut to toggle the trim type! The start or end (In or Out point) of a clip in the sequence works with the location of the playhead to designate the frames that will be trimmed from the sequence. The keyboard shortcut you press determines the trim type. It’s so easy!

Let’s practice this technique with real-time playback.

1. Open the example sequence called Skiing Everest_Advanced Trimming.

2. Select the clip called SE_02 Jim and press the forward slash (/) key to mark the clip. This is not necessary to perform the trim; I’m just lending you training wheels to help you develop real-time trimming chops.

3. Lock all audio tracks except A1 (the track linked to the onscreen interview).

4. With Looping active, press Option+K (Alt+K) to play the clip from In to Out points.

This clip contains two shots. The goal is to make the trim after the Mustagh Ata text fades but just before the Everest shot begins.

5. When the clip changes from the Mustagh Ata shot to the Everest shot, press W to ripple away the tail portion of the clip (Figure 3.54).

6. Press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to Undo the previous trim.

7. While playback continues to loop, repeat the trim but add the Option (Alt) modifier key when you press W to perform a Lift edit.

8. With playback looping, press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to Undo.

9. Repeat this trim again, but add the Shift modifier key when you press W to perform a Rolling Edit. Allow playback to continue looping, so you can evaluate the result of the trim.

10. While playback continues to loop, press Command+Z (Ctrl+Z) to Undo.

Let’s take this trick to 11! Now that you’ve got the hang of trimming tops and tails in real time, prepare to perform a one-two punch. In Skiing Everest_Advanced Trimming try the following exercise.

1. Press Option+K (Alt+K) to loop playback of the clip from In to Out points.

2. Place your fingers on the Q and W keys. Watch and listen to the clip once or twice.

3. With playback looping, press W to trim out the Everest shot and then quickly press Q to trim the top half of the next shot, after the Shisha Pangma text appears (Figure 3.56).

Dramatically increase your speed while trimming by following these simple rules:

Always press T instead of clicking cut points with the Selection arrow or the Ripple or Roll tools to select the edit points as a trim.

Always press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle the trim type.

Always use the up and down arrow keys (or your preferred keyboard shortcuts for Go to Next and Go to Previous Edit Point) to move the trim selection to another cut point.

Mind track targeting to control where the playhead stops when using Go to Next and Previous Edit shortcuts.

Practice dynamic trimming in the sequence called Skiing Everest_Advanced Trimming. Some of the following steps should feel like review but will help you build on your existing skills while adding new techniques.

1. Put your Timeline playhead at the first video cut in the sequence.

2. Make sure nothing is selected in the Timeline by pressing Command+Shift+A (Ctrl+Shift+A).

3. Press T to select the first cut point and automatically open the shots on either side of the selected cut into the Program panel.

4. Press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle the Trim mode to a Ripple Outgoing (yellow bracket facing left).

5. Before you trim, always glance over at your Timeline track targets. Linked and selected video and audio tracks will trim together. Selected audio tracks containing unlinked audio may prevent certain types of trims.

6. Put your fingers in the home position (three fingers on JKL keys).

7. Press J to play in reverse until the skier is up at the top of the hill, and then without stopping playback press L to play forward.

8. Watch the Program Monitor and press K to make the trim when the image of the skier in blue matches the action of the skier in red and the narrator begins to say, “...and moving around” (Figure 3.57).

The cut should now be somewhere between 04:12 and 04:20 in the Timeline.

If you want to try again, there’s no need to undo. The cut should remain selected as a Ripple Trim. If you’ve lost the two-up display in the Program Monitor, press T again and press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle the cut back to a Ripple Outgoing selection. Press J and K, and the trim updates. Press L and K, and the trim updates again, in real time. Watch the two-up display and practice this until you achieve the best cut between the shots.

Work those home keys! Now try this trick.

1. Press T to select the first video cut point.

2. Press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle the trim type to Ripple Incoming.

3. Watch the two-up display in the Program Monitor.

4. Fine-tune this edit by holding down the K key while tapping J or L to move one frame at time. When you release K, the trim is complete.

5. Further refine the edit by pressing and holding the K and L keys together to scrub the footage in slow motion. When you release the keys, the trim is made.

6. Use the Go to Next Edit Point (down arrow) and Go to Previous Edit Point (up arrow) shortcuts to jump the playhead to the next edit point.

Cut points will stay selected in Trim mode, so you can continue to quickly adjust additional edit points.

Trimming dynamically (so the K key makes the trim instantly) is one of the best ways to make edit changes because it’s quick and allows you to watch the edit points update in the Program and Timeline panels as you trim. You can adjust the edits while playing based on where the cut change feels right visually.

Consider practicing this technique with the audio tracks deselected at first (Shift-click on one of the audio track targets to deselect all), and toggle the video track cut point so it’s selected as a roll (red I bar). Rolling only the video track cut points is a great way to get good at this technique without breaking sync in your audio tracks. As you get more comfortable with this method of trimming, select linked audio tracks to Ripple Trim dynamically with picture with sound.

If dynamic trimming is new to you, it may take time to get used to the feel of the K key enacting the trim. If you don’t like this method, choose another that suits you! Try all methods of trimming, and work to develop speed using the technique that best fits your style.

The Play Around keyboard shortcut, Shift+K, is imperative for reviewing all trims, but it’s especially helpful when using Extend Edit and Ripple Trimming during live trimming in the Timeline. To trim “live,” follow these steps.

1. Make Looping active. Press Command+L (Ctrl+L) to turn Looping on.

2. Activate Trim mode. Press T to select and open the cut point into the Program panel.

3. Select trim type. Toggle the trim type by pressing Command+T (Ctrl+T).

4. Play Around the edit. Press Shift+K to Play Around. The playhead will back up and play through the edit point.

5. Trim live in the Timeline while playback is looping. Press Option+right arrow (Alt+right arrow) and Option+left arrow (Alt+left arrow) to trim the selected cut point in single frame increments while playback is active and looping in the Program Monitor. The cut location will update in the Timeline. Add the Shift key to the preceding shortcuts to trim in multiframe increments.

6. Use the best trimming shortcuts ever invented. While looping playback around the edit (Shift+K) press the Q and W keys to ripple and the E key to roll the edit.

Make live trimming even better. Remap the keyboard shortcuts for Trim Backward and Trim Forward Many. Place them in easy reach of the home keys (JKL) (Figure 3.58).

Customize Preroll and Postroll duration for the Play Around edit command. When you use the Play Around keyboard shortcut with the playhead positioned on or near an edit point, the playhead will back up a few seconds, play through the cut, and stop a few seconds after the original playhead position. You can customize how far back and how far forward the playhead moves by adjusting Preroll and Postroll settings in the General category of the Preferences panel.

Customize Large Trim Offset. Set Large Trim Offset as a multiple of the sequence timebase. For example, when you’re working in a sequence with a 24 fps timebase, you might choose a multi-trim frame size of 4 or 6. When you’re working at 25 or 30 fps, you might prefer a 5 frame offset (Figure 3.59).

Toggle Snapping while trimming live. Snapping (S) can be toggled on and off anytime, even when you’re dragging a clip or dynamically trimming a cut point.

Asymmetrical trimming is another way of creating split edits, which are also referred to as an L cuts or J cuts. A basic split edit doesn’t require any special, asymmetrical trimming techniques. Creating a simple L cut is easy when you’re trimming only the video or audio portion of one clip, but things can get a bit tricky when you want to select and edit multiple edit points simultaneously.

Selecting cut points across multiple edits, on different tracks, allows me to accomplish two things in one quick step. I can offset the timing for the change in picture and sound while extending or shortening a shot. It takes a bit of practice, but once you know what to expect when performing these types of trims, you’ll use them all over the place.

In the sequence called Skiing Everest_Time Alone, I want to add frames to the close-up shot of the climber to see and hear him breathing heavily as he hauls his ski gear up the mountain. I want the image and sound of the climber’s struggle to lead the viewer into the next line of dialogue where he says, “I think the hardest thing about climbing is....” At the same time I extend this shot, I also want to extend the audio from the preceding clip underneath this one to smooth the cut by overlapping the audio tracks. In other words, I want to add frames to two shots at the same time and soften the cut with a split edit. Here’s how to accomplish this type of trim.

1. Play Around the cut point between the fifth and sixth shot in the Timeline, around 16 seconds into the sequence.

2. Select the cut with the Ripple tool (B) at the start of the close-up shot on the climbing gear when the climber says, “I think the hardest thing to explain....”

3. Be sure to select the cut as a Ripple In trim (yellow bracket facing right). Toggle the trim by pressing Command+T (Ctrl+T) if needed.

4. If the Linked Selection button is active for the Timeline, the linked audio track is also selected as an Incoming Ripple Trim. If audio and picture are not linked, or if Linked Selection is off, Shift-click the audio cut point to add it to the selection as an Incoming Ripple to preserve sync.

5. Press the Shift key, move the mouse to the left, and click to select the previous clip’s audio track as an Outgoing Ripple Trim (Figure 3.60).

6. Drag the Ripple tool to the right to add about one second to the shot (Figure 3.61).

7. Release the mouse when you see that you’ve added a second to both the outgoing audio track and the incoming video and audio tracks.

The resulting asymmetrical trim creates an L cut while adding one second of content—in opposite directions—to multiple shots at the same time (Figure 3.62).

Another great reason to select cut points across multiple cuts is to adjust edits in a way that keeps all tracks in sync without leaving gaps in the audio tracks by pulling sound from an audio clip on another track to fill the gap.

In the sequence called Skiing Everest_Peak Scene, I’ve taken the time to place and sync “nat sound” (natural sound effects of skiing that were recorded on location). I want to ripple the video, maintain sync with previously placed sound effects while I add frames to the Mustagh Ata shot, and extend those natural sound effects to fill in the gaps. If I ripple only the video clip, Adobe Premiere Pro will leave a gap in the sequence to preserve audio sync (Figure 3.63).

Instead, I’ll asymmetrically select the video cut as a Ripple Incoming, and then Shift-click to select the synced natural sounds on Audio Track 3 as a Ripple Incoming too, which will pull out more of the matching natural sound effects to fill the gap. Because I’m selecting cut points, I’ll move the Ripple tool to the left and Shift-click to select the sound effects on Audio Track 4 as a Ripple Outgoing Trim (Figure 3.64).

Now, when I drag to the left with the Ripple tool over the video cut to lengthen the shot, the audio from A3 will fill the gap, and audio on Track 4 will overlap the above cut and smooth the edit.

If I had dragged to the left rather than to the right over the A4 track, which was selected as a Ripple Outgoing Trim, I would have ended up shortening the video clip (and the sequence) instead of adding frames to the shot. Try this on your own so you know what to expect.

Selecting multiple edit points across many tracks allows you to asymmetrically adjust the cuts in complex sequences while maintaining sync. Remember to use the Shift key with any Trim tool to select edit points across multiple tracks, and then drag or use keyboard trimming shortcuts to trim several shots in unison.

1. Park the playhead at the cut point between the shots you want to adjust.

2. Hold down the Command (Ctrl) key while dragging a marquee around all cut points. The resulting asymmetrical selection will automatically favor sync.

The cuts open into the two-up display in the Program panel, ready for trimming.

3. Press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle the trim type.

Next I’ll walk you through an example of how to use marquee-drag for asymmetrical selection. Open Skiing Everest_Peak Scene.

I want to remove frames from the final B-roll shot, just before Jim says, “the stuff you don’t like you forget real quick.” If I select the clip of the two skiers as a Ripple Outgoing to shorten that shot, it could throw Jim’s audio out of sync. Instead, I’ll hold down Command (Ctrl) and drag a marquee around all cut points (Figure 3.65).

Now I’ll press Command+T (Ctrl+T) to toggle to Ripple Outgoing (yellow brackets facing left) and drag to the left to remove frames. When I release the edit, the B-roll shot is shorter and lip sync is preserved in the interview.

If I’d also wanted to have the skiing sound effects under the cut as I trimmed, I could have dragged a marquee to select all cuts but then pressed Command+Shift (Ctrl+Shift) to reselect the empty track area to the right of the clip on A4 as an Incoming trim (yellow bracket facing right). As I click and drag with this asymmetrical arrangement, the audio clip on A4 will not be trimmed shorter as I remove frames from the clips above (Figure 3.66).

Use asymmetrical trimming when you want to trim the picture but have several tracks of audio beneath and need to preserve the sync work you’ve already done. In the case of very complex edits, this is the best way to achieve the trim you want and maintain sync.

When Default Scale to Frame Size is selected, imported elements are set to fit sequence dimensions, downsampling video and stills to the size of the sequence. You can edit using the downsampled footage, and when you want to create camera moves or recompose a shot, instantly scale the frame size back to the original dimensions. The image will appear “zoomed in,” and you can then scale and move the image around to create camera moves or recompose a shot using the full resolution of the original file.

It’s important to have a clear understanding of how this process works and what will happen when a clip of any size is downsampled to match the sequence settings:

Default Scale to Frame Size affects images upon import into the project. If you have footage already saved in your project, changing this preference will only affect images you import after the setting has been altered. If you want all images scaled to match sequence settings, select Default Scale to Frame Size in the General category of the Preferences panel before importing, or you’ll need to reimport a folder of clips after changing the setting.

When Default Scale to Frame Size is not selected, imported elements are left alone and not downsampled (Figure 3.67).

When Default Scale to Frame Size is selected, pictures may appear with letterboxing or pillar-boxing (black areas around the image) when image and sequence dimensions don’t match (Figure 3.68).

Default Scale to Frame Size options can be changed for clips already inside a Timeline. Right-click on a clip in the sequence (or on a group of selected clips) and choose Scale to Frame Size.

When Scale to Frame Size is selected, images are downsampled. If you try to zoom into a downsampled image beyond 100%, the image quality will be degraded.

To zoom or recompose a shot, make sure Scale to Frame Size is not selected for the clip you’re altering, so you have access to the full resolution of the image.

Remember that using Scale to Frame size works best with video or stills that are larger than the sequence dimensions, because it results in better quality images. With Scale to Frame Size selected, images that are smaller than the sequence dimensions will be scaled up, and the resulting image could look soft. You can recompose the shot and animate keyframes to create camera moves without degrading image quality by keeping Scale settings below 100%.

Often, I’ll create three separate sequences for Act One, Act Two, and Act Three of a narrative film. At any time I can quickly edit these three sequences together to get an overall feeling of assembly length for the entire program.

Here are some general suggestions for using techniques as sources:

Separate sections, scenes, or acts. Simplify complex or long-form editing by editing in several sequences; then later combine those sequences into one final Timeline without the hassle of nested elements.

Load a sequence into the Source panel and edit it like it’s a clip. Right-click the sequence icon in the Project panel and choose Open in the Source Monitor, or click and drag the sequence into the Source panel. Select segments of the source sequence for insert or overwrite into the Timeline by setting In and Out points in the Source panel for editing into the Timeline.

Target specific tracks. Patch Source buttons to Timeline targets for total control over where video and audio tracks from the source sequence end up in the Timeline sequence.

To activate the toggle to edit clips from a sequence (rather than treating a source sequence as a nest) in the Timeline, click the Nests or Individual Clips button to make source targets active for the source sequence (Figure 3.69).

It’s common to work with owner-operators who bring “a camera” to the shoot. That is, for lower-budget productions you may not have much control over the camera equipment you’ll use. The good news is that I haven’t seen a bad picture from a professional camera for some years. But calibration and codecs can vary enormously depending on the hardware and the preferences of your operator.

Fortunately, Adobe Premiere Pro has powerful multi-format editing features that remove many of the challenges you’ll face when working with multiple cameras. Briefly, you can leave aside worries about mixed format editing, because Adobe Premiere Pro will conform everything on the Timeline to your sequence settings automatically. Of course, this makes careful selection of sequence settings (Figure 3.70) particularly important when you’re working with mixed formats.

1. Acquire your media. Be sure to record sync marks. A clapper board is perfect. Get enough visual variation to avoid apparent jump-cuts when editing, and decide on timings to change storage cards to ensure that only one camera at a time stops recording.

2. Organize your media. Merge external audio with video clips if needed, add metadata if required, and rename clips to avoid confusion.

3. Prepare the multi-camera sequence. Automatically create a sequence with each camera angle synchronized and on separate tracks. Nest this sequence (edit it into another sequence as a clip). You’ll be performing your multi-camera edit on the nested version.

4. Perform the multi-camera edit. You can do this while playing your camera angles in the Multi-Camera Program Monitor view or cut by cut directly on the Timeline.

5. Adjust the multi-camera edit. Change the timing or contents of your cuts.

Let’s deal with each of these steps in turn to discover good habits for creative excellence.

Avoid stops and starts. Avoid stopping and starting recordings, because every time a camera is paused it will have to be re-synced with the other camera angles in post. This is time-consuming and adds to the risk of making mistakes. Anything you can do to simplify the process in post is a good idea!

Get sync marks. Even if you’re not forced to pause during the action, try to get a sync mark at the beginning and end of your recordings, just in case. It’s a small time cost on-set that will make you very happy if you need it.

Use a clapper/slate. Clapper boards are great for recording sync marks. Information on the board is genuinely useful to the editor (don’t bother with shot logs; if you can read it on the board, you can be confident you have the right clip). The audio and visual clap of the clapper board presents an easy-to-find mark for all cameras.

Change Timeline views. Adobe Premiere Pro allows you to view Audio Time Units rather than frames, both in the monitors and on the Timeline. If you switch your Source Monitor to audio waveform display (Figure 3.71) and turn on audio time units (both in the Panel Settings menu), you’ll find it quick and easy to sync source audio and video clips without the playhead jumping between frames that are just slightly out from the clap.

Adobe Premiere Pro will place the mark on one frame or another, but it’s a little more precise to use audio time units (Figure 3.72). Try it and see.

Without external sync timecode, be sure to get at least a clapper board clap or some other kind of sync mark at the beginning of your recording. It doesn’t matter all that much what you use as a sync mark as long as you have one. Many wedding videographers use a flash gun because it’s unnoticed at a wedding but provides a clear visual mark.

It also isn’t all that important where your sync mark is. I once edited the World Judo Championship using media from multiple TV stations. I often found there was just one moment every camera caught—when the losing competitor’s head hit the floor!

Try to get a visual and auditory sync mark to give you more options in the edit. Also, be sure to record audio on every camera, not just the one getting a clean mix from a sound desk. However poor the on-camera audio is, the editor will thank you for it because it makes it so much easier to locate content.

If there’s simply no way to record a sync mark, don’t worry. I’ve synced using speech or even action where someone is reaching for a cup or opening a door. You can use just about any event that is on every camera, but note one important detail: Every camera must capture the same event, or you’ll have no visual references to set your sync mark.

When you get into post, sync marks for all camera angles have to be from the same moment. It’s a challenge to sync different parts of different clips (although it can be done—see the section “Manually creating a multi-camera sequence”).

Decide early on which camera is which number. You should be doing this anyway, but if all the names and notes match, it will make the edit easier.

Make a note of each camera model, format, and codec. Although it’s simpler if you have matching cameras and settings, it’s not as important as it once was thanks to the mixed format editing facilities in Adobe Premiere Pro. Still, the more information known about the production, the easier your job will be when you perform the editorial work, especially if you weren’t involved with the production. Unexpected issues with content from one camera or you need to choose a rendering codec for a mixed format Timeline can complicate the editorial process unnecessarily.

Agree on a signal for camera operators to use if recording has to be paused. While one camera is changing cards or batteries, the other cameras can go easy on the movement, tend toward shooting wide, and generally aim for “safe” footage rather than exciting (but potentially unusable) footage. Once the camera in question is up and running again, everyone can resume looking for creative excellence.

It’s important to agree on a pause signal in advance. I’ve worked on shoots where an operator tries to signal something like he has to change a storage card and the other operators all nod in agreement, thinking they’re being told by the operator that he’s getting great shots or some other equally misunderstood communication that could have been avoided.

Although closer angles are often more engaging, there’s nothing quite as disengaging as missing the action. If you shoot a little wider, it’s easier to catch unexpected movements or adjust to include action that enters the shot. You usually can scale up the shot a little if needed (about 20–30%), providing a tighter shot than the original wide shot.

If you can, have one camera on full wide catching the entire event. Your editor may never use this angle, but he’ll be extremely grateful if he needs it to cover a gap in the action the main cameras failed to capture. This camera doesn’t need an operator; it just needs to start and finish with the other cameras, and have a shared sync mark.

Of course, this is not always possible—I know of a production in the UK that sometimes shoots with 60 cameras spread over a large area. The important thing is finding a way to sync.

If you’re working with raw media, such as RED R3D files, consider making source setting adjustments before you do anything else. The results will show in the Source Monitor, on the Timeline, and in the Multi-Camera display. Leveling out strong color differences will help you focus on the action when performing your multi-camera edit.

It can’t hurt to rename your source clips Cam 1, Cam 2 (or C1, C2), and so on (Figure 3.75). It will make it easier to locate the content later and you can view the clip names overlaid on the angles as you perform your edit. You’ll also find it easier to stay organized in the Project panel.

You’ll need to provide Adobe Premiere Pro with one of the following sync point marks on every clip. All clips must have the same kind of mark, and of course, every mark must be in sync with every other mark:

In point or Out point marks

Synchronized timecode

A clip marker

Sync audio recorded on all clips

Once you’ve set the sync points, you’re ready to create a multi-camera sequence.

In the Project panel, select the clips you want to combine into a multi-camera sequence, right-click on any one, and choose Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence (Figure 3.76).

The dialog that appears includes important options that tell Adobe Premiere Pro how to synchronize your source clips and which audio you want to use. When you click OK, Adobe Premiere Pro will create a sequence that is synchronized and ready to nest, with the Multi-Camera mode already enabled. Let’s look at a few of the options:

Name. The box at the top of the dialog simply names the newly created sequence.

Synchronize Point. The Synchronize Point options are used to tell Adobe Premiere Pro what is in sync. If you can, you’ll use the Timecode option. I wouldn’t particularly recommend using In Points or Out Points because these will trim the clips. Instead, add a marker (M) at the sync point on each clip.

Synchronize Point Audio option. If you have source audio on all of the clips, the Audio option will automatically sync your clips (this makes it well worth shooting sync audio on every camera). Depending on your original audio, this option might not work. If this is the case, just revert to adding a marker manually to each clip.

Create single multi-cam source sequence. If you have a group of clips from one time period and another group from another, Adobe Premiere Pro will normally put them in separate multi-camera sequences. If you select this option, they’ll all be included in one long sequence instead. This is perfect if you have camera operators stopping and starting at different times. Be warned: You are likely to have gaps in that sequence (which is fine as long as you know to expect it).

Audio. The Audio options relate to the sequence you are about to create. Remember that this will be a sequence just like any other, with conforming settings. The visual settings (image size, frame rate, and so on) will come from the clips, but you must tell Adobe Premiere Pro which audio mastering option you want to use.

Camera Names. The Camera Names options set the onscreen overlay information you’ll see during the multi-camera edit and the angles you’ll see in the right-click menu when choosing a multi-camera angle. Making the names visible makes it worth prenaming your clips in the bin.

When you select multiple clips in the Project panel, right-click, and choose Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence (Figure 3.77), Adobe Premiere Pro gives you options to combine them in a new sequence (ready to be placed in a different sequence for editing) specially configured for multi-camera editing:

Each clip will be placed on its own track, and the sequence will have a unique icon to indicate that the Multi-Camera option is already enabled.

If you have a single long clip from each camera, building the multi-camera sequence in the Project panel saves a few clicks and offers automatic syncing.

Adobe Premiere Pro displays the results of special effects while performing a multi-camera cut during playback. This might have an impact on playback performance, so consider working with effects after you have applied the cut if you can. You can always open the nested multi-camera sequence later and apply effects to a camera angle (clip) as a whole. You’ll see the result update in each instance of the nest automatically, as you would expect with any nested sequence. If you work with nested effects this way, it’s quick and easy to temporarily disable effects on clips (by using the Effect Controls panel), improving performance while performing your multi-camera cut.

Place each camera angle clip on a separate track, stacked one above the other and synchronized. You can sync manually: Just display the waveforms and move each clip until the clapper board clap is lined up, or use the same automatic syncing options that you find in the Project panel. Select each stack of clips that should be in sync, right-click, and choose Synchronize (Figure 3.78).

If you want to add sync markers, it’s usually easier to do so in the Source Monitor before adding them to the Timeline. Once clips are on the Timeline, you can add markers by double-clicking on each clip to open it in the Source Monitor and adding it there. You’ll be opening the instance of the clip that appears on the Timeline, and the marker will appear on the segment you selected.

If you have lots of media to sync, consider using PluralEyes by Red Giant. The workflow is simple and fast, and automatically syncs all the clips on your Timeline based on in-camera audio.

Then all you need to do is nest that sequence in another, right-click on it in the Timeline, and choose Multi-Camera > Enable (Figure 3.79).

Creating sync in a sequence you have created manually requires exactly the same marks, timecode, or audio as you’d need if you were syncing in the Project panel. The marker can be anywhere in the clips, as long as it is on a frame that truly is meant to be in sync (Figure 3.80, next page). This will be the reference for Adobe Premiere Pro.

Once a sequence is marked as a multi-camera source, double-clicking on it no longer opens the nested sequence in the Timeline. Instead, it’ll open in the Source Monitor (Figure 3.81).

Selecting one or other angle in the Source Monitor will update the selected angle in the current Timeline. Be warned! This is easy to do by accident, and you’ll be changing your sequence.

If you ever want to change the current angle without right-clicking, you can do so by opening the clip in the Source Monitor. Keyboard shortcuts are available for this as well, provided you’ve enabled the correct Timeline track (to tell Adobe Premiere Pro which content you’re working on): Pressing Command+1 (Ctrl+1) adds a cut at the playhead and switches to Camera 1, pressing Command+2 (Ctrl+2) adds a cut at the playhead and switches to Camera 2, and so on.

You can override opening multi-camera sequences in the Source Monitor by holding down Command (Ctrl) when you double-click on the nested sequence. Doing so will open the sequence in a separate Timeline panel, as normal.

Set the Program Monitor to the Multi-Camera display mode (Figure 3.82) and turn on Overlays if you want to see your camera angles displayed on the images. You can configure this in the Overlay settings (both options are on the Program Monitor Settings menu).

Now all you need to do is start playing the video and click on the angle you want. But you won’t be clicking, will you? The number keys along the top of your keyboard can be used to select camera angles, and you should definitely use them. It’s faster than clicking and allows you to focus your attention on your content.

You can also select all of the multi-camera sequence segments, right-click on them, and choose Multi-Camera > Flatten to replace the nested sequence with its selected clips. Use this option with care: There’s little benefit in terms of playback performance, and you will lose the option to open the nested sequence and apply effects to whole camera angles. This may be exactly what you want to do, but think it through before you take this one-way step.

It’s not unheard of to have a completely separate audio recording that you add to the master sequence, ignoring the original in-camera audio completely.