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Video Editing for Designers

A beginner Premiere Pro course built for graphic designers who already think in type, colour, and layout. You will learn to assemble, grade, caption, and export real deliverables without rebuilding your design instincts from scratch.

Graphic and brand designers who are comfortable in Adobe tools but new to editing video in Premiere Pro.

Course content

How Premiere Thinks Compared to Illustrator and InDesign45m
Bins, Proxies, and a Folder Structure That Scales50m
Sequence Settings, Frame Rates, and Resolution for Deliverables45m
The Core Toolset: Trim, Ripple, Roll, and Razor50m
Pacing, J-Cuts, and L-Cuts for Invisible Editing50m
Adjustment Layers, Nesting, and Non-Destructive Editing45m
Reading the Lumetri Scopes: Waveform, Vectorscope, and Histogram50m
Primary and Secondary Grading with Lumetri Color55m
Mixing Audio to Loudness Standards with Essential Sound50m

Workbook & downloads

Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.

Download workbook (PDF)14 KBDownload (XLSX)8 KBDownload (CSV)1 KBDownload (DOCX)8 KB
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into hands-on practice with one real footage set of your choosing. Work through each section after the matching module, filling in the worksheets and ticking the checklists as you go. By the end you will have a finished, graded, captioned, correctly-exported deliverable plus reusable templates for your studio.

From Layout to Timeline: Setting Up Premiere Pro

Stand up a clean, deliverable-driven project so the rest of your edit runs without media or sequence problems.
Worksheet: Deliverable Spec Sheet
Before opening Premiere, define the final deliverable the way you would set up a print document. Fill one row per deliverable you owe the client.
  • Deliverable name (e.g. Instagram Reel)
  • Platform
  • Aspect ratio (9:16 / 16:9 / 1:1)
  • Frame size in pixels
  • Frame rate (fps)
  • Maximum duration
  • Caption requirement (burned-in / sidecar / none)
  • Export codec (H.264 / ProRes)
Exercise: Build Your Folder and Bin Structure
Create the five on-disk folders and the matching Premiere bins from the lesson, then import a real footage set into them.
  1. Create folders 01_Footage, 02_Audio, 03_Graphics, 04_Exports, 05_Project on a fast drive and note the path here.
  2. Create matching bins plus a Selects bin, then drag your five best takes into Selects.
  3. Generate ProRes 422 Proxy files for any 4K clips and confirm the proxy indicator toggles on and off.
  4. Create your sequence by dragging a primary clip onto the New Item button, then record the resulting settings.
Checklist: Project Setup Done-Right Check
  • Project file (.prproj) is saved inside 05_Project on a fast drive
  • All media imported with no Offline (red) clips in the Project panel
  • Bins mirror the on-disk folder structure
  • Selects bin contains the edit-worthy takes
  • Sequence frame size and frame rate match the deliverable spec sheet
  • Proxies created and Toggle Proxies button added to the Program monitor

The Edit: Cutting a Story That Holds Attention

Assemble a rough cut with the core toolset, then tighten it with split edits and intentional pacing.
Exercise: Three-Point Rough Cut
Assemble a 30 to 60 second rough cut using only In and Out points and overwrite or insert edits, with no dragging of clips from the bin.
  1. Set In (I) and Out (O) in the Source panel for each shot, then overwrite (period) it into the timeline.
  2. Use J, K, and L to scrub and find the exact frame for each cut.
  3. Place at least one beat marker (M) on the music and align one hard cut to it.
  4. Time the result and note whether any single shot runs longer than four seconds without internal change.
Worksheet: Cut Log and Pacing Notes
Log each edit in your rough cut and decide whether it needs an audio lead-in to feel motivated.
  • Cut number
  • Timecode
  • Outgoing shot
  • Incoming shot
  • Cut type (hard / J-cut / L-cut / on-action)
  • Motivated? (yes / needs fix)
  • Shot duration (seconds)
  • Pacing note
Exercise: Convert Three Cuts to Split Edits
Pick three abrupt cuts from your cut log and rebuild them as J-cuts or L-cuts to smooth the transitions.
  1. Hold Alt and drag the audio of the incoming clip earlier to create a J-cut.
  2. Extend an outgoing clip's audio under the next shot to create an L-cut.
  3. Play each before and after and write one sentence on which felt smoother and why.
Checklist: Locked-Edit Checklist
  • Heads and tails trimmed of dead air on every clip
  • At least three split edits (J or L cuts) in the sequence
  • Snapping used so no accidental gaps remain between clips
  • Global look applied on an adjustment layer, not baked into clips
  • Any complex montage nested for tidiness
  • Sequence plays back without unintended gaps or flash frames

Colour and Sound: Making It Look and Feel Finished

Grade to the scopes and mix to a published loudness target so the piece looks and sounds professional.
Worksheet: Scope Reading Worksheet
For three representative shots, read the Lumetri scopes and record values before and after correction.
  • Shot name
  • Blacks level on Waveform (IRE) before / after
  • Whites level on Waveform (IRE) before / after
  • RGB Parade shadow alignment (neutral? cast colour)
  • Skin tones on / off the Vectorscope skin-tone line
  • White-balance correction applied (yes / no)
  • Notes
Exercise: Correct, Match, then Create the Look
Run the full Lumetri order on your sequence: primary correction first, shot matching second, creative grade last.
  1. Set white balance with the eyedropper and spread the image across the full range in Basic Correction.
  2. Use Color Match to bring two adjacent shots into the same neighbourhood, then finish by hand.
  3. Use HSL Secondary to isolate one brand colour and tune it toward its reference.
  4. Apply a creative look on an adjustment layer, then pull its intensity back 20 to 30 percent.
Worksheet: Loudness Target Worksheet
Pick the target for your platform and record your measured loudness and true peak after mixing.
  • Platform
  • Integrated loudness target (LUFS)
  • True peak ceiling (dBTP)
  • Measured integrated loudness after mix (LUFS)
  • Measured true peak (dBTP)
  • Dialogue tagged? (yes / no)
  • Music ducked against dialogue? (yes / no)
Checklist: Colour and Sound Sign-Off
  • Blacks at or above 0 IRE and whites at or below 100 IRE
  • Skin tones sit on the Vectorscope skin-tone line
  • Adjacent shots match in colour and exposure
  • Each clip tagged in Essential Sound (Dialogue / Music / SFX / Ambience)
  • Mix hits the platform LUFS target with true peak at or below negative 1 dBTP
  • Music ducks under speech and audio fades added to heads and tails
  • Checked on phone speaker and earbuds; dialogue stays clear

Captions, Graphics, and Delivering the Final File

Add legible captions and on-brand titles, then export the correct file for every deliverable on the spec sheet.
Exercise: Transcribe, Caption, and Style
Generate captions from your dialogue and style them for silent, on-brand viewing.
  1. Run Transcribe Sequence, then correct names, jargon, and misheard words in the transcript.
  2. Create Captions and set line length to roughly 32 to 42 characters across one or two lines.
  3. Style with a clean sans-serif plus background strip or strong stroke, kept inside the title-safe area.
  4. Decide burned-in versus sidecar .srt per deliverable and note the choice.
Exercise: Build a Reusable Lower-Third Template
Create a name-and-role lower-third in Essential Graphics, animate it cleanly, and save it as a .mogrt.
  1. Build a text layer for the name, a smaller layer for the role, and a shape layer behind them, grouped.
  2. Animate position and opacity with a 12 to 18 frame ease-in using the Graph Editor.
  3. Apply Responsive Design Position so the background bar grows with the text.
  4. Drag the title into the Browse tab to save it as a .mogrt and test editing only the name and role.
Worksheet: Export Recipe Worksheet
Record the exact export recipe you used for each deliverable so it can be repeated or queued.
  • Deliverable name
  • Format (H.264 / ProRes)
  • Frame size and frame rate
  • Bitrate and encoding (e.g. 14 Mbps VBR 2-pass)
  • Audio (AAC 48 kHz, kbps)
  • Captions (burned-in / sidecar / none)
  • Output filename (project_aspect_version)
Checklist: Delivery Pre-Flight
  • Captions legible inside title-safe area and clear of platform UI on 9:16
  • All titles use brand font and colour and sit inside title-safe margins
  • Correct Format and Preset chosen per deliverable (H.264 for viewers, ProRes for masters)
  • VBR 2-pass set and audio exported as AAC 48 kHz at 256 to 320 kbps
  • Each deliverable named with project, aspect ratio, and version
  • Finished file played end to end with no black frames, audio pops, or stray captions
  • Multiple aspect ratios queued in Adobe Media Encoder if required

Your Action Plan

  1. Fill the Deliverable Spec Sheet for every cut the client owes before opening Premiere.
  2. Build the five-folder, matching-bin structure and import your footage with proxies for 4K.
  3. Create the sequence by dragging a primary clip onto the New Item button so settings match the footage.
  4. Assemble a three-point rough cut, then tighten it with split edits and beat-aligned cuts.
  5. Run primary colour correction to the scopes, match adjacent shots, then add a restrained look on an adjustment layer.
  6. Tag every clip in Essential Sound and mix to your platform LUFS target with ducking and fades.
  7. Transcribe and caption the dialogue, styling for legible silent viewing inside the title-safe area.
  8. Build and save an on-brand lower-third as a .mogrt for reuse across the project.
  9. Export each deliverable with the correct Format, preset, and naming, queueing extra aspect ratios in Media Encoder.
  10. Play every finished file end to end against the Delivery Pre-Flight checklist before sending.

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