Adobe Premier Pro Guru?

[PimpinD]

anyone here really good with premier?
im having alot of trouble with the transitions ... heres an example of my problem... i have 5 clips ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and woud like to make a dissolve transition between clip 3 and 4, when i put the transition in, it takes clip 1 and uses it slightly in the dissolve so say it suppose to be a dissolve between a dock start and a 360, ill have the dock start, then the transition starts, but in the middle clip 1 will appear and then it will dissolve out to clip 4 ...
how can i fix this
thanks
Alex

[BillJ]

do a screen print of your timeline and then post it here. Sounds like you have the clips overlapping. The two clips you want to transition between should overlap a little, say 1/2 second or 1 second with the transition lasting the same length. If the first clip is longer then what you want to use then you need to trim it.

You might want to check out the tutorials on http://www.wrigleyvideo.com. They're free and they will probably teach you the correct way to do transitions - that won't matter if it's Premiere 6.5 or Pro.

[Jim M]

Make sure you are using Video 1a and Video 1b as your video sources, I wouldnt use the Video 2 field if you are just doing clip to clip transitions.

Also, your transition itself may be backwards. Say it is supposed to dissolve from A>B, it may be set to B>A so as soon as the transition kicks in on the timeline, it starts with B then dissolves to A. If you double-click the transition, it will open up the transition settings and you can check to make sure the direction is set to A>B.

[Jim M]

One last thing- try to delete the transition and create a new one, sometimes if you drag/drop a transition it picks up sections of other clips and carries them along, like a glitch.

[PimpinD]

i figured it out, thanks guys, i think BillJ was right, i needed to double click on the transition and line up the two clips and set the transition. But everything is working now. What are some good plug-ins for adobe to get some professional transitions and effects, i know most professional would be to do good cuts and just dissolves which is all i mess with, also most moves have very cool intro screens for the producers ... like DPC prodcutions, how do peopel make though ...
Thanks

[BillJ]

There are plenty of transitions that come with Premiere, I wouldn't worry about plug-ins until you have figured out which ones you like and will use. And besides, using too many transitions and effects can ruin a video.

The Wrigley tutorials will show you how to make intros and cool titles with effects. Check them out and I guarantee you'll learn a lot about Premiere. I've been using it for a year and I still learn a lot from his tutorials.

[scott a]

is there such thing as a professional transition? i mean if you carefully watch any professional film you will rarely see any transition other than a straight cut or a dissolve. i know this is a bit off topic, but if you want to make your video look more professional, put more effort into holding the camera still or getting good lighting conditions.

titles are made in adobe photoshop then they are tinkered with a bit more in either premiere or after effects.

[numbfoot]

Is Premeir hard to use? I''m current on Pinacle studio 8 and i want to get something better so i'm thinking about getting it.
thanx

[Jensen]

premier took me about a full day to learn EVERYTHING. not too bad considering that was the first time using an adobe product. I usually use macromedia fireworks for imaging.

[Josh R]

Trust me when I say you haven't come close to learning EVERYTHING...

[Jensen]

ok, your probably right, but i learned enough to make my first wakeboard dvd with cool effects and transitions. Took me about 4 days to actually make the dvd with after effects, encore, and premier though.

[DC]

PimpinD - ScottA brings up two really good points:
1) You don't want to get carried away with silly transitions (like rotating stars or flying blocks...)
2) Steady camera work with good lighting is very important to having a good looking video. Garbage in, garbage Out!

Majority of the cuts you should use is either straight-cuts or cross fades. Sometime you can add an effect like “film burn” on top of the straight-cut to help it along. Personally I don’t like to use it (film burn), but it ended up in the Justin Butinsky video as more of a joke… It turned out OK, so I left it in there..

If you are talking about the opening of the Shaun Murray video.
1) Flash was used to animate the letters which was then exported to an .avi.
2) After Effects Pro was used to pin the video to the refrigerator door and to put the animated letters on top of the fridge video.
3) Everything was rendered
4) And then put into Premiere...


Anatomy of a Wakeboard Video / The Justin Butinsky Video

1 sec – Animated letters done in After Effects
3 sec – Used film burn overlay
13-14 secs – Used the water coming over the water housing to transition to the next clip
14-16 secs – This is video of the water (with sun sparkles) with the opacity set to 67 and overlaid on top of regular video.

Anyway, this should give a good idea of one of the many ways to do it. It really comes down to playing around and trying different things.

So when do we get to see your video?

[Jensen]

wow, someone could have made a pixar movie with that kind of time