Getting acquainted with the Timeline

Once you’ve adjusted a bit to working with Premiere, you will more than likely have to switch to the timeline to compile your project.
The Timeline also has a lot more to offer than the Sceneline.
I already have a number of basic needs that are to be explained in this part of the lesson, and the rest we’ll see when we actually use them.

When we open the timeline we see a graphical representation of our project.
The Timeline has a Time Ruler, which indicates the duration of each clip.
When you zoom in on the timeline by dragging the zoom button, the timeline increases around the current-time indicator and you can combine different media into smaller parts.
The Timeline will always be spaced according to the “Zoom” button and the location of the time indicator is based on this.
So if you have a long video clip and you wish to zoom into a specific location in it, first click and drag the time indicator to the place where you want to zoom around.

As you notice, the Timeline divided into various video and audio tracks.
The number of these tracks depends on the computer on which Premiere is installed. If you have a “high-end” computer, you will have more tracks. By “high-end”, I mean the processor.
When the media type of the added clip is ‘Film’, the audio is posted in the audio track.
To also add a clip to the Timeline click and drag it from the project window in the timeline. Unlike Sceneline you can place it where you want.
You even have the option of an empty space between two clips.

What I say is that a movie clip in the Timeline has a gray title bar, a still picture has a purple title bar, and a video clip has a light blue title bar.
You can manually adjust colors.
To do this, first select the clip in the Timeline, click the “Edit” button in the menu bar, select “Label” in the drop-down menu and select a color from the list.
This is purely informational and only makes it easy to make a distinction between different media types.

 

Viewing Clips in the Timeline:

We have several options to view our clips in the Timeline.
The first is by dragging the “Time Indicator”.
A second way is by pressing the Spacebar on your keyboard.
A third way is to double click a clip in the Timeline. This will open the Preview window.

 

Rendering of clips

Premiere Elements will automatically add your clips to the Timeline or Scene line with the right speed and quality required. This is called “Rendering”.
However, if you are creating complex films, you can render some of these clips that Premiere does not automatically render.
Images that have not been rendered  are indicated with a red line by the time ruler.
When you publish the project, Premiere will still not render certain parts, but when you do not want to see rendered area in the Preview window, you will have to render it first hand.

To do this we first place the area bar over the rendering part in the Timeline.
Click and drag the center of the work area on the rendering section in the timeline (this is the red line under the ruler).
Resize the Stage by clicking and dragging the ends of the stage.
It’s not a disaster if this area is spread over a large number of frames but the more the frames to be rendered, the longer it will take for Premiere to be ready.

Ok, once the field is set, click the “Timeline” button in the menu bar and select “Render work area” in the drop-down menu.
As soon as Premiere has finished rendering you will see that the line under the ruler now is colored in green.

 

Background removal

When your movie clip contains a disturbing background noise that you want to delete, right click the clip in the Timeline and select “Delete empty tracks” in the pop-up menu.

 

Audio Hide Tracks:

If you do not want to work with audio tracks, and you want more space in the “project” pane, then you can hide them.
Right click above a gray area in the Timeline, and uncheck the option “Show Audio Tracks”.
Repeat this if you want it back again.
The other options in this pop-up seem quite clear to me.

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats