Compositing & Effects
General Concepts
People that choose to use Premiere over a simpler program such as iMovie do so to take advantage of the effect and compositing tools in the program. Adobe Premiere provides a good level of control from within the program to modify most media you are working with.
Objectives
- Learn how effects and transitions are applied
- Learn how to tweak transitions and effects
- Begin to understand compositing
Simple Video Effects & Transitions
The most basic special effects are simple, predefined video effects and transitions. Video effects change the look of one whole clip, while transitions change how two clips are blended together where they meet in the timeline. Both video effects and transitions are found in the Project window in the Effects tab.
Transitions can be placed by simply selecting the transition you would like and drag and drop it between two clips. The transition has handles on both sides allowing you to control the amount of time it takes to move from one clip to the next. You will then be able to move the playhead to any point in the clip to see what that frame looks like, but you will have to render the clips you have changed in order to see what they look like while playing. Rendering can take a great deal of time, depending on how complex the transition or effect is. To give your projects a professional look, you should primarily focus on dissolves (the cross dissolve is the effect you see more than any other on broadcast television and in most cases it doesn't need to be rendered).
Video effects can be placed by simply selecting the effect you would like and place it on a clip. You should then be able to move the playhead to any point in the clip to see what that frame looks like, but you will have to render the clips you have changed in order to see what they look like while playing. Again, rendering can take a great deal of time
Most effects have many options that can be changed to provide different looks. These can be modified by clicking a clip with an effect in the timeline and then viewing the effect properties in the Effects palatte. The interface can be rather complex, and is intended for the advanced user.
The only "special effect" that most people want to use that is not an effect or transition is to change the speed or direction of a clip. This is done by right-clicking a clip, selecting Speed/Duration, and then modify the values.
Compositing Basics
Compositing is the process of combining multiple clips of video and graphics together to create a visual effect. An example of compositing is the little, almost-transparent, logo you see at the bottom of a TV screen to let you know what channel you are watching. Another example is "blue screening," in witch an actor works in front of a blue screen that can be made transparent later so that you can place the actor in front of any other clip. Photoshop's layers are an example of compositing non-moving material, while Premiere deals with this concept over time.