Premiere Pro: Documentary Editing

Course details

Find out how to highlight a cause, express a point of view, and tell a story with Adobe Premiere Pro and some essential documentary editing techniques. This course breaks down the documentary process into a series of stages that correspond to the milestones of a real client project. Starting with existing footage, you'll discover how to identify the key messaging concepts and log the footage. Then find out how to assemble rough and fine-tuned cuts, and layer in motion graphics and a credit roll. The final phase explores color correction and audio mixing, before exporting your final movie.

This course is part of a series that looks at Documentary Editing from the point of view of 3 different editors in 3 different editing applications. For more insight on editing documentary projects, take a look at Documentary Editing with Avid Media Composer and Documentary Editing with Final Cut Pro X.

Learning objectives
Interpreting a creative brief
Logging interviews and other footage
Pulling selects and presenting ideas
Building sequences and scenes
Creating title graphics
Animating images
Adjusting b-roll shots
Tightening clip timing
Compressing and exporting multiple files

Concepts

Introduction

Welcome
Using the exercise files
Interpreting a creative brief to establish goals
How to use this course

Phase 1 - Producing for Message

Identifying messaging concepts
Tips for working with interviews
Tips on B-roll sequences
Researching background and history

Phase 2 - Preparing to Edit

Organizing the ingest process
Choosing an interview logging method
Adding interview metadata
Logging interviews with markers
Adding notes to B-roll clips
Preparing archival images with Photoshop
Pulling selects and presenting ideas

Phase 3 - Rough Cutting

Structuring the edit
Assembling B-roll shots
Assembling interviews
Building sequences and scenes
Editing interview bites on the Timeline
Adding other media types to the Timeline
Completing the rough cut
Presenting the rough cut and receiving feedback

Phase 4 - Incorporating Still Images and Motion Graphics

Planning moves on photographs
Animating images
Creating a title graphic in Photoshop
Animating a title graphic in Premiere
Presenting graphics work

Phase 5 - Fine-Cutting

Performing an editorial evaluation
Refining scene order
Adjusting interview content
Adjusting B-roll shots
Tightening clip timing
Fine-cutting audio
Reviewing all assets
Adding end credits
Locking the picture and preparing the Timeline for finishing
Presenting the picture lock to the client and receiving approval

Phase 6 - Finishing

Evaluating the piece for finishing goals
Polishing the final audio mix
Correcting color for consistency
Adjusting the title and animations for the best compression
Exporting multiple files

Conclusion

Next steps