Vidding Instruction

[alba17.livejournal.com]

I'm looking for up-to-date how-to guides for vidding on a Mac. Everything I'm finding is very old, at least for fan vid-specific instructions. I'm planning to learn Adobe Premiere. I've been using Final Cut Express, but it isn't compatible with the newest Mac OS. I'm not tech savvy, so the more detailed and specific, the better.

Is the current version of iMovie any good for making fan vids? I've never tried to use it.

Comments

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

I am not tech savvy and I am struggling along using iMovie for vids. It's possible but very primitive (ie. you can do a few transitions and have two lines of music and one of pictures).

[alba17.livejournal.com]

Sounds like maybe it's not worth trying to learn how to use it.

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

OTOH, it is incredibly easy to use. Very intuitive.

[anoel.livejournal.com]

So I use Adobe Premiere and I find it to be awesome with making vids. I don't have a detailed list but maybe the basics will help and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

I mostly vid with mp4s which I get d/led or I get mkv's and then I use a program called Subler to turn them into mp4s. Subler is kind of confusing at first but basically you do File->Open (file you're vidding) then click add (you can remove the sound track if you don't need it but I usually keep it so I can remove the mkv to save space) and then click the arrow button in the top right corner (next to the magnifying glass icon). You can add other files or just go to Window->Show Queue. There you click the play button in the upper right corner and that will change the file to an mp4 (Premiere doesnt accept mkvs) without any quality loss. If you need to convert another kind of file to mp4/other format, try using MPEGStreamclip (will also resize/crop files) or Handbrake.

Then import the mp4s into Adobe Premiere and if it has sound, right click the file, Modify->Audio-> uncheck the L and R buttons which will remove the sound unless you need it then keep it. I usually delete the sequence you create at first and just drag the file to the "New Item" icon next to the trash can icon which creates a sequence based on the file's settings. Then you can double click the file and find the parts of the file that you need in the source monitor and click the "select in parts" and "select out parts" buttons to select those parts. Then just drag the file picture in the source monitor down to the timeline sequence and after that you can start vidding using the razor tool (I use the c and v buttons on my keyboard to switch from arrow to razor quickly.

Those are the basics of how I vid with Premiere, let me know if you need more info!

[alba17.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! This is great info. I actually managed to acquire a copy of Final Cut Pro instead of buying Premiere and I found a lot of tutorials online for that. It seems much easier than Final Cut Express, oddly enough.

Just curious, do you mean you put entire episodes or movies into Premiere and then make clips there? I’ve always used MPEG Streamclip to make clips, but I’ve wondered if it would be more efficient to import whole episodes/movies into the editing program - or if that’s even doable.