Easy Adobe Premiere Elements 2

Carl Plumer is the Desktop Video Guide for About.com, a division of the New York Times. He writes regularly about desktop video editing in general and Adobe Premiere Elements in particular. His site is consistently ranked among the top sites for desktop video and is one of the few websites where you can view video clips on the subject of video editing. Carl's website can be found at http://desktopvideo.about.com.

1. Introducing Premiere Elements 2.

    Starting Premiere Elements

    Starting a New Project

    Opening an Existing Project

    Two Superstars: The Monitor and Timeline

    The Premiere Elements Workspaces

    Changing Panel Sizes

    Customizing the Premiere Elements Interface

    Setting Preferences

    Modifying Project Settings

    Saving Your Work

    Archiving Your Project

2. The Capture Panel.

    Connecting Your Camcorder to Premiere Elements

    Selecting Capture Options from the More Menu

    Capturing Video Clips

    Reviewing the Default Capture Settings

    Capture Preferences

3. The Media Panel.

    Adding Media from Your Hard Drive

    Adding Media from Removable Media or a Removable Drive

    Switching Views

    Viewing Media Information

    Adding Comments and Descriptions to Media

    Cleaning Up the Media Panel in Icon View

    Using the Preview Area for a Quick Look at a Clip

    Setting the Clip's Poster Frame

    Organizing Clips on the Media Panel

    Creating Folders and Subfolders in the Media Panel

    Adding Standard TV Media to the Media Panel

    Searching for a Media File

    Assembling Clips on the Timeline for a Rough Cut Edit

4. The Monitor Panel.

    Playing a Clip in the Monitor Panel

    Working with Clips

    Navigating a Clip Using the Current Timeline Indicator (CTI)

    Navigating a Clip Using the Timecode

    Zooming on a Video Clip

    Changing the Clip's Start Point

    Changing the Clip's End Point

    Adjusting the Clip's Trim Points

    Saving Your Place with Clip Markers

    Changing When the Clip's Audio Starts or Stops

    Reversing a Clip's Direction

    Changing a Clip's Speed (Slow Motion/Fast Motion)

    Saving an Image from a Video Clip As a Picture

5. Working in the Timeline.

    Changing the Track Size

    Adding Another Track to the Timeline

    Inserting or Overlaying a Clip

    Splitting Clips

    Trimming Clips

    Speeding Up or Slowing Down a Clip

    Adding Timeline Markers

    Adding DVD Markers

6. Working with Transitions.

    Adding a Transition to a Clip or Between Two Clips

    Previewing How a Transition Will Look

    Rendering a Transition

    Modifying a Transition

    Creating the Classic Fade to Black Transition

    Creating a Dissolve

    Creating a Wipe

    Creating an Iris-Style Transition

    Creating a Page-Peel Transition

    Creating Slide and Stretch Transitions

    Creating a Zoom Transition

    Creating a 3D Motion Transition

    Creating a Special Effect Transition

    Adding a Color Border to a Transition

7. Adding Titles and Text to Your Movies.

    Selecting a Title Template

    Starting Without a Template

    Adding Text

    Entering Vertical Text

    Rotating Text

    Choosing a Type Style

    Manually Choosing a Font

    Changing the Color of Text or an Object

    Changing Text Size

    Creating a Drop Shadow

    Adjusting Character Spacing (Kerning)

    Adjusting Paragraph Spacing (Leading)

    Creating Scrolling or Crawling Text

    Adding a Picture to the Title

    Adding Shapes As Graphic Elements

    Arranging Text and Graphics

    Adding a Title to the Timeline

8. The Basics of Special Effects.

    Applying a Preset Effect

    Saving Your Settings As a Preset

    Rendering an Effect

    Copying the Effects from One Clip to Another

    Searching for an Effect

    Using Transparency with Clips

    Changing a Clip's Size

    Transforming a Clip's Shape

    Sharpening or Blurring a Clip

    Creating a Watercolor Look

    Stylizing Your Clips

    Creating Perspective Effects

    Using the Distort Effects

    Making a Clip Look Like a Black-and-White Movie

9. Advanced Effects Techniques.

    Stacking Multiple Effects

    Reordering Effects

    Creating a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) Effect

    Panning Across a Clip

    Zooming In and Out on a Clip

    Adding a Lens Flare to a Clip

    Adding Lightning to a Clip

    Advanced Video Tricks Using the GPU Effects

    Chroma Keys and Green Screens

    Motion Effects and Keyframes

10. Premiere Elements's Built-in Video Repair Tools.

    Applying a Video Effect to a Clip

    Correcting Video Problems Using the Auto Color, Auto Contrast, and Auto Level Effects

    Adjusting a Clip's Brightness and Contrast Levels

    Adjusting the Hue, Lightness, or Saturation (HLS) in a Clip

    Adjusting a Clip's Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) Levels

    Creating Dramatic Color Changes with the Channel Mixer

    Adjusting Shadows and Highlights

11. Working with the Soundtrack.

    Setting a New Audio-In (Start) Point

    Setting a New Audio-Out (Stop) Point

    Adjusting the Audio-In and Audio-Out Points

    Adjusting a Clip's Volume

    Setting Audio Gain

    Using the Audio Meters to Monitor Audio Levels

    Removing Audio from a Video Clip

    Using Only the Audio Portion of a Video Clip

    Adding an Audio Track As Background Music

    Adding a Narration Track

    Adding a Sound Effect

    Replacing a Clip's Audio Track

    Using Audio Special Effects

    Using Audio Transitions

12. Sharing Your Movie with Friends and Family.

    Creating DVD Menus

    Using DVD Scene Markers

    Customizing the DVD Background

    Customize DVD Menus

    Burning Your Movie to a DVD

    Saving Your Movie to a Video File

    Creating a VCD Disc

    Saving Your Movie to Tape

Glossary.

Index.