Adobe Premiere Elements has been quietly pushing into the entry level non-linear editing market for some time now, but it seems to have taken a giant leap with version 8 now available.  It seems that once a function is introduced into Adobe's major NLE, Premiere Pro, has been picked up by its competitors, Adobe passes that feature down to Premiere Elements and lets the amateur reap the benefits while it seeks to lift the bar higher for its lead product.

To underline this, think back to when multi-track non-linear editors became available as entry level software, that keyframing was restricted to the leading products of major players and that Chromakeying was an arcane mystery not permitted to your average punter. It ain't that long ago! Some of these features are a bit like power steering - if you've never had it, you don't miss it. However once you have experienced the benefits of using more sophisticated features, you would be hard pressed to go back to earlier times - or less advanced tools.

So when I had the chance to have a look not only at Premiere Elements 8 but also the associated Classroom in a Book by Jan Ozer on this program, I took it in a heartbeat. 

First the program:

Premiere Elements 8 (PE8) comes as a 2-DVD pack, with Disk 1 containing the program, as well as Adobe Photoshop Elements, the light version of its flagship photo editing and paint program, Photoshop. Disk 2 holds more content in terms of themed templates that can be used for movie and DVD production. Installation takes a surprisingly long time especially if you add in the additional contents of Disk 2 but it is worth the wait. There is no printed User's Manual, but from within the program pressing F1 will take you to help on the web, or, if offline, it will open up a variety of help documents, not least of which is a full PDF file which can be printed at will.

Having followed the bouncing ball, entered in the required key and opened the program, the Welcome screen appears, with a invitation to go for a tour of the product, to choose how the program opens (that option is tucked quietly behind a small icon in the top right of the Welcome Screen) or to start a New Project, open an existing project or go to the Organizer (USA spelling).

This new Organizer reminded me of Adobe Bridge, a component of the Adobe Creative Suite among other suites of that company's software, which enables the organisation, access, classification and tagging of media assets for your project. It also holds the 'Instant Movie' button which makes it all very simple from media selection to final output by following the simple work flow and the series of short instructions and 'Next' buttons. There is a number of features in this section where you can as well automatically analyse and 'fix' videos in terms of colour correction, sharpness, contrast and brightness, so that correcting minor imperfections in either still or moving images is made that much easier. You can also link directly from the Organizer to the editing section of either Premiere Elements or Photoshop Elements which is handy all round. In fact the more you delve into the Organizer, the more help to the editing process it becomes and it could be the subject of a review just by itself. However, let's move on to more of the editing and DVD authoring sides of the package.

The Interface

By selecting a New Project option, the program defaults to the USA TV standard of NTSC so local users need to alter the project settings according to the type of video input.  PE8 gives you this option each time you start a new project but suggests the last setting you used. You have the choice of a wide variety of input formats, certain to encompass all consumer-level cameras.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: If you shut down PE8 and then later in the same session wish to reopen it, occasionally, this might fail to happen. Go to the Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL) and delete Adobe Premiere Elements.exe from the Processes and try again.

 

The default view of the general editing interface is uncluttered and intuitive with most of the top two thirds of the screen being taken up with the program monitor. To the right of this there is a line of four tabs which basically are the driving controls of the program - Organize, Edit, Disc Menu and Share. By following the tabs in sequence, you pretty much have it done and dusted.

The bottom one third of the screen is the timeline or sceneline, depending on your viewing selection. Usually, of course, you use the Sceneline (called the Storyboard view in e.g. Corel's Video Studio) to arrange the order of the clips in the movie and the Timeline view for detailed editing, trimming, transition insertion, etc.

In the Timeline view, there are three pairs of Video and Audio tracks shown by default but this can be increased or decreased at will. Additionally, there is also separate Narration and Soundtrack audio tracks displayed. The relative size of tracks on the Timeline can be altered by left clicking on the division between adjacent track headers (far left of the timeline) and moving the divider to suit. This, of course also will make the soundwave more visible.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: Don't forget the power of the right button. Right clicking on a clip in the Timeline will often show a convenient and extensive array of editing controls.

 

It is in the Organizer view that you capture/import and arrange the required media. It is also from here that you can use the Stop Motion/Timelapse function either via real time recording of a subject or performing the same function on a saved file.

If the Analyse function has been selected in the Organizer, then when a clip is imported into the Timeline, the user is asked if PE8 should 'Fix quality problems in clips?' even before you have a look at them.  Classy! It is also in the Organizer view that you can opt for the 'Instant Movie' option which when added to the 'fix quality' option is as close to automatic editing as you can get - but that takes all the fun out of it so let's do it the 'hard' way.

Having got your assets into the project, it is time to move onto the Edit phase. When the Edit tab is selected, the Effects subset is presented automatically and a large number of video effect options appear in place of the asset thumbnails seen in the Organize mode. Other subsets available are Transitions, Titles, Themes and Clip Art each selected by its own button under the main section tabs.  Under each of these headings is a large range of choices, including presets and templates depending on the category. Certainly you will not be constrained by your lack of choices and all these tools and options are included with the program with no push selling or later additional costs. There is a wide variety of automatic and editable effects and corrections that can be applied that will more than satisfy the lover of detail and control.

Under Clip Art are a number of drawings, captions, thought bubbles and frames that can be placed on a higher numbered track to affect those visible below it. Effects and transitions are simply dragged into place. Transitions can be moved in time as well as altered in length, and effects can be edited/adjusted to best fit the need.

At the top right of the computer screen there are some more controls. In particular the full screen viewer is very smooth and takes you automatically to viewing the clip under the play head/timeline indicator. The Escape key takes you back to the editing interface. Note the very effective shuttle at the bottom of the viewer panel with which you can control the speed as you scrub back and forth using the controls under the viewer.

Moving around the program is simple and intuitive. Zooming in and out, trimming of individual clips and in general using the tools arrayed on top of the left hand end of the timeline is straightforward.  As a nice touch, the Time Stretch tool is included here as well as under the right mouse button where its use is more precise, and while nowhere near the sophistication of the Time Remapping effect in Premiere Pro, it does allow for speeding up and slowing down of clips for performance or effects.

 

TIP: Remember, altering the speed of a clip can sometimes minimise camera jerk or panning hesitation and slow motion can be very effective to emphasise an action.

 

Another nice touch is that when the Effects button is selected, one of your clips in the Organizer is chosen by the program, apparently at random, as a palette on which to display the end result of the various effects to that clip.

There is a comfortable range of audio tools, including a multichannel mixer, a Smart Mixer which attempts to balance ambient sounds with narration, soundtrack and any added audio, beat detection (to assist in synchronising movement with music audio) and SmartSound music (26 tracks provided) and found in many editing packages. Note that you can always add to this library by online purchase and while not cheap, this is a great source for royalty free music. Remember everyone with an editing suite is likely to have the same 26 tracks.

 Menus for DVDs are the next step. Again there is a choice of templates supplied, with the main and submenus there for the taking. There is a range of categories for which menu templates are provided, including General, Sports, Travel, Kids Corner and Weddings. After chapter markers are created on the timeline either by the operator or automatically as you like, you just grab the preferred template and drag it onto the viewer. To add text, you double click on the relevant section, and start typing. There is a cascade of submenus displayed that you use as needed and then you Share.

This is probably the simplest of all steps.  You choose your preferred output type - DVD or BluRay (if your burner supports this format), online, PC, mobile device or DV or HDV tape - and press Share. This brings up the relevant interface and for DVD output, gives you control over your output to disc or DVD folder (if you have a preferred burning program), the name of the disc and its preset for aspect ratio (PAL Widescreen 16:9 or Standard 4:3). It also offers to do the 'bit budgeting' for you and select the various parameters to get your masterpiece onto one disc.

Summary

 

Adobe Premiere Elements 8 is a great program and it would be a very rare amateur videographer/editor who could say in truth he/she needed more than it offered. While it doesn't 'do' multicamera editing, how often do most people need that? It does provide hand-holding wizard-type assistance for the true neophyte editor but allows much greater control and multi-track editing for those who are passed this stage. However, in keeping with its ability to edit AVCHD footage, there is a pretty sizable amount of grunt under the bonnet so make sure your computer is up to the mark before purchasing. I know of at least one person who had to upgrade his PC having purchased Premiere Elements 8 when his single chip Pentium 4 could not rise to the occasion.

 

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Vendor:  Adobe Systems Inc
www.adobe.com/au/
Phone 1800 614 863

 

Price:  $137 (basic) to $207 (includes Photoshop Elements)

 

AusCam Ratings

 

Performance:                          8

Documentation:                      7

Features:                               8

Installation:                           7

Value:                                    9

Help:                                      7

 

We liked:  the multiple editing tracks, the Organizer, the Instant Movie, range of effects and transitions, audio mixer and the power of the right mouse button.

 

We didn't like:  It would have been nice to be able to dock the various windows.

 

 

 

 

By Frank McLeod

Dr Frank McLeod is a specialist physician who in his ‘day job' works in the area of Addiction Medicine. Frank reckons he ‘dribbled' into video as a way to get information across to his patients and their families in an accessible way that avoided information overload. From there, the monster just grew. With a long-time interest in things technical and gadgetry of all kinds, he had been writing tech review-type-articles on a casual basis for a medical publication for some time, when an introduction to David Hague led to his continuing this level of activity in the field of video.

Frank says that one of the parts he likes best about his involvement with Australasian Camcorder is the opportunity to play with other people's toys. The downside, he says, is having to give them back at the end of ‘playtime' that precedes publication of the resulting review.

"I suppose I want to present information from the non-professional point of view, which is not difficult, given that I am the only amateur punter in the camp," he says. With a strong commitment to the amateur video club movement, he is the Secretary of his local video club. In part because of this, and with a long time history as an avid DIY-er behind him, Frank has an interest in the do-it-yourself construction of devices for the amateur videographer and strongly wishes to continue this type of contribution as part of his future involvement with auscam

 

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