Session9: Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Elements – tips and techniques

Today will be dedicated to putting the finishing touches on our documentary.

Story Structure

Introduction: You should start by engaging our interest in your story. Hook us with in the first 10 – 15 seconds Pose a provocative question, share an interesting set of facts, or describe why your character is so engaging.
Body: Use your interview of your subject and your narration to glue together an interesting story. Your story will really come alive if you include video of the topic or subject that helps to tell the story. This could be used as Broll over the interview and as a stand alone clip with the natural sound. As you conduct the interview, have the audio and camera operators listening for these opportunities and then have them follow up by getting these shots.
Conclusion: Explain the lesson you learned or the moral of the story.
Example: National Public Radio is a great source for good stories. Listen to a few and concentrate on their story structure.
http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1023

Expectations

Story: A clear interesting story that follows the story structure outlined here.
Visual: The interview should be well framed (rule of thirds/look room) and well lit.
Broll and stand alone clips that add visual interest and help to tell the story.
Use a tripod during the interview and when ever possible.
Audio: Clear interview and narration (recorded later). Include natural sound from the interview location when possible (don’t forget to record a minute of room tone).
If music is used it should be copyright free, help to tell the story and not interfere with the interview/narrators audio.
Titles: Include a lower third and title for each interview. Include rolling credits.
Turn It In: Please provide a DVD that plays all your group DVD’s. Extra credit for creating a custom DVD menu or a DVD label graphic.

Premiere Elements Tutorials

Rough Cut: Assembly and trimming clips (9:56)
Share your rough cut with the instructor or another group
Revise and add transitions, effects (9:55) | sound effects, music (7:19)
Adding Music: Music is not essential but can add an emotional elements to your story.

Additional Tutorials

Publishing

Share .avi, .wmv, H264 or DVD Menu (8:39)

Creating DVD packaging using Adobe Photoshop (5:01)