Before you begin editing video in Premiere, you need a basic idea of different techniques that you can use to edit a digital video production. Premiere provides two main areas for editing clips and assembling them: the Timeline window and the Monitor window. The Timeline provides a visual overview of your project. You can begin creating a rough edit by simply dragging clips from the Project window into the Timeline.

Using the selection tools in the Timeline, you begin arranging the clips in a logical order. As you work, you can fine-tune your production by performing edits in the Monitor window. When you edit in the monitor window you can set up the Source view to show you a clip that isn’t in the Timeline, while the Program view shows you a clip that is already in the Timeline.

Using controls in the Monitor window, you can insert the source clip into the clip that’s already in the Timeline, or overlay the source clip so it replaces a portion of the clip that’s in the Timeline. The steps and examples in this chapter lead you to the point where you can create insert and overlay edits. To further fine-tune your editing work, you can use Premiere’s editing tools to perform ripple, slide, and slip edits.

As you work, you undoubtedly develop habits that suit the types of productions you are creating. For instance, many editing commands feature keyboard shortcuts. You may find it more efficient to set the In and Out points of clips by using keyboard shortcut keys. To better understand your project and to conceptualize the edits that you need, you may wish to start the editing process by creating a storyboard.

A storyboard is a visual representation of your project created using still images. The Storyboard feature—new in Premiere 6—helps you visualize your project by showing the basic order in which scenes will appear. This is a good place to start when you first begin to assemble your project, because you can arrange clips in the desired order before you have to worry about other edits. To create a storyboard, choose File»New»Storyboard.

Next, you need to import the items you want to use from the Project window by dragging them to the Storyboard window. On the Storyboard window, you can click and drag the items to arrange them in the order you want them to appear. You can arrange and rearrange them, until you are satisfied with the results.

Once you are satisfied with your storyboard, you can have the items from the Storyboard window placed in the Timeline window. To do so, choose Automate to Timeline in the Project menu. The items in the Timeline window appear in the same order as they do in the Storyboard window.

An important consideration before actually editing a project is to plan how you would like your workspace set up. To pick a predefined workspace, choose Window»Workspace, and then choose from the four choices presented: Single- Track Editing, A/B Editing, Effects, and Audio. Premiere’s Single-Track Editing workspace, sets the Timeline window so that you are working with single-track video tracks.

Single-Track Editing lets you see more of the Timeline onscreen at once and is simple to work with, but it offers less control over transitions. Use Single-Track Editing for projects that consist primarily of cuts, with no transitions, or for rough cuts. In the A/B Editing workspace, Video Track 1 is expanded into two tracks—Video Track 1A and 1B—with a Transition track between them for creating transitions. This is the most efficient workspace for building a production with transitions and effects

The Effects workspace is similar to the Single-Track workspace. It features a Video Track 1 and Video Track 2, and the Effects Controls palette along with the Audio and Video Effects palette are displayed. This workspace is useful if you are applying effects to your clips the Audio Mixer window is displayed.

The Audio workspace is useful when you are working with your project’s audio. At any point in time, you can change the arrangement of palettes onscreen and save your workspace by choosing Window»Workspace»Save Workspace. This adds your workspace to the options in the Windows»Workspace submenu. When you want to reload your workspace, simply choose Window»Workspace and select your workspace from the menu.