Edit, Edit, Edit
When it comes to assembling your footage, Premiere Elements 3.0 is a feature-packed program that gives you multiple options for editing video: sceneline (or storyboard), timeline, and monitor view. So you can create a rough edit by dragging the clips to the sceneline, switch to timeline to finesse the cuts, or trim clips directly in the video monitor to see the cuts frame by frame.
Unlike many consumer editing programs, Premiere Elements allows users to mark In and Out points before assembling the edit. This means that you can place only the relevant part of a clip in the edited sequence instead of having to drag in the entire clip as a whole. The unused portions of the clip remain in the master copy, so you still have the option of extending the clip and using the frames that were left out.
Premiere Elements’ trim feature is also more advanced than you’ll find in other editing programs in its price range. When you’re trimming frames from a clip, the monitor window displays both the clip that you’re editing and the clip directly before or after. This allows you to more easily create frame-accurate edits and see exactly how two clips will look together.
More Features, More Abilities
Premiere Elements includes many more features that allow users to improve their projects and advance their editing. These include the ability to use up to 99 video and audio tracks; customize keyboard commands for quicker editing; and adjust and preview effects, transitions and titles.
The program includes numerous effects, and each of these can be customized in the handy Properties panel. Besides being able to adjust the specific properties of an effect or transition, users can employ keyframes in order to apply effects only to specific portions of a clip. This liberates you from preset, all-or-nothing effects found in other editing software, and allows you to get much more creative.
Premiere Elements will play these effects in real time, meaning you don’t have to render and can experiment more freely without taking up a lot of time and hard drive space.
DVDs and Beyond
One advantage of Premiere Elements 3.0 is that it integrates the editing program with the DVD creation software. By switching to DVD mode, you can quickly and easily create chapters and scenes for your DVD, and customize menus and titles for easy playback.
It’s extremely handy to have these two programs together, because you can begin to design your DVD, while still being able to go back into edit mode and adjust parts of your movie. This prevents you from having to repeat steps or waste time if you find a mistake in the editing while you’re making the DVD.
Besides standard DVDs, Premiere Elements gives you the ability to export your video in multiple file formats, including Quicktime, Flash, Windows Media, and various MPEG formats. This makes it easy to share your videos on the web, over a cell phone, or on a portable device like an iPod or PSP.
Final Thoughts
Adobe Premiere Elements offers an incredible array of editing and DVD options for a program at this price point. Beginning editors, and those with more experience and higher aspirations, will be more than satisfied with the features and capabilities of this software. The program allows users to create all types of movies from the simplest to the most complex. And while you’d probably appreciate a higher end editing system like Premiere Pro, AVID or Final Cut for editing your feature film, Premiere Elements will let you get it done!
