TUTORIAL ARTICLE

Beginner

18 min

Create a project and import a clip

Learn basic editing skills in Adobe Premiere Pro with the Get Started series. Get familiar with the workspace and how to create new projects.

1

Create a project

You can either create a new project or open an existing one.

What you learned: Create a project

  • Open a Premiere Pro project file by double-clicking it, or click Open Project in the Start screen and select a file.

  • To create a new project file, click New Project in the Start screen. Choose a name, browse to choose a location for the project file, and click OK.

  • To import media files using the Media Browser panel, browse to the files you’d like to import, select the clips you want to work with in Premiere Pro, right-click one of the selected clips, and choose Import. Once the media is imported, you’re ready to edit.

  • As you edit, be sure to save your work (choose File > Save) periodically.

  • To close your project, choose File > Close Project.

2

Workspace overview

Understand the basic user interface to become familiar with Premiere Pro.

What you learned: Panels and workspaces

  • Panels: Each panel has a specific purpose. You can resize or reposition them. All panels are accessible in the Window menu.

  • Workspaces: Preset layouts with panels displayed that are useful for particular tasks, such as editing video or working on audio. To reset a workspace, choose Window > Workspace > Reset to Saved Layout.

  • Blue highlight: Only one panel at a time will have a blue highlight, indicating that it is the active panel.

3

Import media

When you import videos into Premiere Pro, they appear as clips (shortcuts to your media files) in the Project panel.

What you learned: Import media

  • Use the Media Browser panel to locate and import your media files. To preview a video in the Source Monitor, double-click it. To import media files, select them and right-click on them to choose Import.

  • Bins allow you to organize your clips in the same way that you might organize files in folders on your computer. To create a new bin, click the New Bin button in the Project panel.

4

Build a sequence

Most of the creative work in Premiere Pro happens when you build a sequence of clips that play, one after another. You’ll need to create a sequence before you can add clips to it.

What you learned: Build a sequence

  • When you create a sequence, it appears in the Project panel along with your clips. You can create as many sequences as you want in the same project.

  • To create a new sequence, drag one or more clips into the empty Timeline panel, or select one or more clips in the Project panel, right-click on the selection and choose New Sequence from Clip.

  • Add more clips by dragging them into the Timeline panel.

  • To remove a clip from the sequence, select it and press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (macOS). If you select clips and press Shift+Delete (Windows) or Shift+fn+Delete (macOS), they will be removed without leaving a gap in the sequence.


Presenter

Maxim Jago

Filmmaker

Devin Graham

September 20, 2017

Try these tutorials with Premiere Pro

Create and edit films and video.