Video editing is complicated. There is so much to learn in the beginning, but the best part is that a lot of the things we learn build on each other. And you can always apply what you have learned previously to new skills and techniques that you pick up later on.
In this month’s blog post, I’m going to be going over 10 video editing tips & tricks that I believe every editor should know inside Adobe Premiere Pro. Some are basic and some are more nuanced. But feel free to keep reading, and hey, you never know… you may just end up learning something new!
*** I may receive commissions from the links provided in this blog post. This is at no additional cost to you, the reader. ***
Black Videos
One tool no one really talks about in the editing tutorial world is the use of black videos. Black videos are essentially black full screen graphics that you can use inside your Premiere Pro timeline. You can use these in several different ways. Here are just a few listed below.
- Fade Out A Sequence
- Dim A Video Clip
- Add A Vignette
- Create A Strobe / Flicker Effect
- Remove Parts Of Video
If you want to see how to accomplish these tasks by using black video inside Premiere Pro, check out my tutorial below that goes over each one of these techniques!
Copy Any Color Grade
One of the most time consuming processes to video editing is color correcting and color grading your footage. If you are looking for a shortcut, then you are in luck!
You can easily copy any color grade with just one click inside Premiere Pro. This option is located inside the Lumetri Color panel under the Color Wheels & Match tab. There is the Comparison View & Apply Match buttons where you can find and apply a color grade match from a reference clip in your sequence. To see how this works, check out my video below!
This technique is not only great for copying color grades, but it is also great to color match clips that may have been shot on different cameras or in different color profiles.
Auto Color Correct
Similar to the previous tip, you can also let Premiere Pro color correct clips for you! At the top of the Lumetri Color panel in the Basic Correction tab, there is an Auto button.
Once you click on it, Premiere Pro will use AI technology to automatically color correct your footage for you. You then will see an intensity slider underneath so that you can adjust the intensity of the color correction. You can of course make manual adjustments as well, but this tool allows you to get a good head start for color correcting your clips.
Auto Convert Log Footage
Okay, one last color related tip is that you can now auto convert Log footage to Rec. 709 inside Premiere Pro 2024. To set this up, just go up to the Lumetri Color panel and head over to the new Settings tab located next to Edit.
Underneath the Project tab, there is a check box next to Auto Detect Log Video Color Space. When checked, Premiere Pro will automatically convert Log footage to a Rec. 709 colorspace.
Adding Bokehs & Color Leaks
One of the things I do all the time as a video editor is add color leaks and bokeh overlays to my video. This is pretty easy to do, but you will need to find stock footage of bokeh or color leaks first. You can subscribe to a stock footage website such as Motion Array or Envato Elements to get these type of assets, or you could also create them on your own. Just shoot points of light out of focus and you too can get your very own bokeh overlay video clips!
I’ve linked an example of bokeh and color leaks below for you to see. If you would like to use these clips specifically, you can download these original assets by joining my Patreon page. By becoming a member of my Patreon community you can get exclusive access to my stock footage and templates for Premiere Pro & After Effects while also supporting me in my journey as a content creator.
This is just one example, but there are several types of bokeh and color leaks out there. So how do you add these to your Premiere Pro project? Well after importing them into your project, what you can do is add them to the video track above your layers. Then change the blending mode of these bokeh clips to either Screen or Linear Dodge (add) to blend them into your underneath video clips. To see how I do this step by step, check out my tutorial below!
Auto Delete Audio Gaps
One of the most tedious parts of video editing is getting rid of audio gaps in between pauses from interview clips and voice overs. This requires a lot of manual editing, but fortunately in the latest version of Premiere Pro 2024, there is a new improvement to the Text panel that allows you to automatically delete pauses in spoken language.
When you head over to the Text panel, you’ll notice a new filters button in the top left corner. When you click on this you can filter pauses. Then by clicking the delete button, you can automatically ripple delete all the audio pauses from your Premiere Pro sequence. Pretty cool, right?!?!
There have been a lot of improvements to Premiere Pro 2024. If you’d like to see all the new updates, I highly encourage reading Adobe’s article linked here or by watching my recap video below of all the new features inside Premiere Pro 2024.
The Remix Tool
As video editors one thing we might not be as strong in is music. So when we have to take a music track that is 3 minutes long and make it 60 seconds long, we tend to struggle trying to make this happen by manually making cuts and making sure it sounds correct, musically…
If you don’t have a strong background in music this can be quite frustrating, but fortunately there is a tool that can help with this. Underneath the Ripple Edit tool, if you click and long hold you’ll notice at the very bottom is the Remix Tool. This tool allows you to retime the music track to be either longer or shorter. See how to use this tool in more detail by watching my video below.
In addition to making a long song shorter, I also use this tool to make music tracks loop for a long period of time. This is a very nice tool to keep in mind if you are working with music tracks inside Premiere Pro.
Show Audio Time Units
One other thing you may want to consider if you are working with either music or audio is turning on audio time units. This changes the timeline display from frames to samples. This allows you to zoom in and make more precise cuts and transitions to audio clips in your timeline.
To change the sequence to display in audio time units, click in the hamburger menu in the Timeline panel. Then select Show Audio Time Units. You’ll notice that the timecode in the Timeline panel will switch from frames to samples.
You can always switch this off, by going back into the hamburger menu and checking it off. If you are looking for more audio related tips and tricks, I do recommend checking out my video below where I go over more audio related tools and effects.
Keyboard Shortcuts
One of the best ways to improve as a video editor is to learn and master keyboard shortcuts. But not only learn the defaults. I also recommend taking the time to understand which video editing tasks you do most often and then setup custom keyboard shortcuts to suite your unique editing style. To see the 10 most important shortcuts I use, check out my video below!
You can also setup your own custom keyboard shortcuts by going up to Premiere Pro > Keyboard Shortcuts.
Export Settings In Premiere Pro
Another thing I would take time to learn is export settings inside Premiere Pro 2024. There are a lot of different ways you can export a video inside Premiere Pro. Whether you are editing long form content for YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook. Or maybe you are creating short form content for Instagram reels or TikTok. Understanding the importance of sequence settings and export settings is fundamental.
To see my guide for Premiere Pro export settings, be sure to watch my latest video below on all the different ways you can export out of Premiere Pro 2024.
So there you have it! Those are 10 tips and tricks for editing inside Premiere Pro that I believe every editor should know. Did you learn something new in this blog post? Leave your comments down below. Thank you so much for reading!
Looking for more resources as a video editor? Check out this blog post next!