Although I've been interested in shooting and editing home video films for many years, it's only since the development of digital video that I've been able to produce what I consider to be acceptable results. That's because unlike analogue video, with digital you have the facility to edit, make lots of changes to the original footage and write it out (practically unchanged) to DVD. At the same time the software to create these semi-professional productions is becoming more sophisticated by the year. Which brings me to the seventh incarnation of Adobe's Premiere now bearing the name of Premiere Pro.
This is very much a product for the professional and the price reflects that, although it has the added attraction of being able to interface directly with many other Adobe products. So you can integrate artwork and effects from Photoshop or Illustrator, together with animations and motion graphics from After Effects and Encore.
When I start a review the interface is normally one of the first things I'd comment on, but Adobe has given you something of a choice. Here, the interface is fully configurable, both in terms of where the various windows sit on your desktop and in the editing style you choose to adopt. These settings can also be saved and reused depending on the project you're working on.
Among the new features in this version is the ability to have multiple video tracks for editing in the timeline, rather than the single track that was available before. You also have a new method of collating clips called sequences, where sections are grouped together or nested, so you can manipulate them and get a better overall picture of your project.
Although Premiere provides many methods of achieving the same result, once you start to edit you'll find that the new ripple editing tool is brilliant. To start with it's available directly from the mouse pointer, so cuts and edits can be made quite simply without moving from the timeline. In addition the effects and transitions are easily dropped into the position they're needed. Some editing software will create gaps in the video stream when a cut is made, so you have to effectively join the two sections back together again. With ripple editing the sections either side of the cut automatically closes up to fill the gap.
I'm pleased to see that Premiere now incorporates scene change detection between individual clips, or from the whole tape as well. And in order to save time and processing resources, you can edit using low resolution clips and then later batch capture the full resolution version of only the footage you need. If you have a DVD burner it will also write the finished project to DVD in a number of different formats.
I'm sure that Adobe are aware that Premiere is not the most intuitive product to use. But they effectively combat that by providing the newcomer with a wealth of tutorials and examples, both within the program and directly accessed from their website. The package also includes a DVD containing 50 minutes of absolutely brilliant video training taken from the Total Training series. This is presented in a format where you can see exactly what the tutor is doing, while he talks you through each operation.
The clear downside here is the price. Pinnacle's Studio 8 will suit the more casual user just fine, and cost a fraction of what Adobe are asking. But this is the professional's choice, and it's a case of if you want the best...
2nd January 2004
