how to get profesional-video look with premiere?

[Aanarav Sareen]

Define “professional look”. I have been editing with Premiere Pro since day 001 and I have NEVER had any problems with the way the video looks.

Aanarav Sareen
Adobe Certfied Expert, Premiere Pro
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/video

[Redgum]

Premiere Pro and FCP are only tools. It’s the person behind the keyboard that makes the difference.

Redgum Television Productions
Broadcast & Corporate Documentaries
Brisbane, Australia

[Mike Velte]

Are you viewing on a TV? If not, your problem may be with your graphics card, Windows or a Media Player setting that will display at 1/4 or 1/2 resolution.

[Tim Kolb]

[bayu prihantoro f] “i have serious and permanent problem about control the quality of the final video. i’ve been using adobe premiere for all of my postprod. process. but, i’ve never been met any satisfying result. the final video never look like a video edited by profesional editor. i don’t know where the problems are. my assumption: those were caused by the quality of the editing-software itself. maybe adobe premiere (i’m using premiere 6.5) can’t produce a profesional-look final video. isn’t true?
i’ve ever watched a final video produced by final cut pro. it’s so profesional-look video. can i produce the same quality like final cut pro final video with premiere? or i should change my editing-software?thanks.”

Without trying to be derogatory…if it doesn’t look like a professional editor edited it…I think the editor would be the bulk of the problem, no?

I’ve seen plenty of garbage created with FCP, Avid, you name it. The software has absolutely nothing to do with how the “editing” looks. If there is some issue with image quality, that may have something to do with your equipment or software, or if the images look bad you may have a videographer that doesn’t understand how to create quality images, but FCP won’t help your editing technique any more than Premiere will…

…it’s like me buying a restaurant-quality stove and wondering why I still can’t cook…

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Bill Buchanan]

Perhaps Bayu’s query is indicative of expectations engendered by many if not all software manufacturers’ marketing aimed at folks new to the game. It should come as no surprise to any of us, when an editing app sooner or later appears that will handle ALL the decisions required in the creative editing process. In addition to choices related to the juxtaposition of shots and their lengths, it will determine the appropriate pace of the project.

The human “editor” need only input (using Notepad) the storyline and theme of the project and choose the photographic look or style from a list not unlike those already available from outfits like Red Giant. The app will analyze all the footage in the library, determine which shots/takes or portions thereof are right, design titling layouts, font styles, determine and execute any correction/compositing/sfx necessary and the hundreds of other decisions that the “editor” was once burdened with. Imagine clicking “OK,” then sitting back (or going to lunch) while the ultimate app generates another network TV series or car commercial.

Bill Buchanan
Buchanan Film Co.

[Tim Kolb]

[Bill Buchanan] “It should come as no surprise to any of us, when an editing app sooner or later appears that will handle ALL the decisions required in the creative editing process. In addition to choices related to the juxtaposition of shots and their lengths, it will determine the appropriate pace of the project.”

He, he…yep. The same piece of software could edit “Titanic” in the morning and “The Blair Witch Project” in the afternoon. Obviously editing is a consistent, repeatable style across all projects and directors…easy to teach a computer to do it as the decisions are all standard, the color correction goals are common, “fast” pacing and “slow” pacing means the same thing to everybody and even subtle actor’s facial expressions and voice inflection are obviously translatable into ones and zeros…

…like running a spreadsheet.

(Now I need to clean up the milk that came out of my nose when I burst out laughing reading your post Bill…he, he…)

On a serious note, I take your point that some marketing messages seem to indicate that results are tool-based, but I think the intended message is the power of the tools each piece of software puts at the user’s disposal.

I think that to a point, the impression that people seem to have that the tools do the work is a combination of a lack of knowledge of the craft and some rationalizing based on the relative affordability and availability of high quality hardware and software.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Martin Tiller]

Back to the original post.

The term “professional video” needs a clear definition.

(And as a side note, that is a term I absolutly hate. Shooting 35mm with a multi-million dollar budget doesn’t mean it looks good. Go to your local mutiplex and see what I mean…or look at local car commericals shot on BetaSp…I could go on…)

Because the problem could be in the camera footage or video format that the original poster is refering to.

So to the person who first posted, give a specific definition of the look you are going for and we can help from there.

Martin

http://www.mctimages.com

[Tim Kolb]

[mctiller] “The term “professional video” needs a clear definition”

I guess that when the original post said “edited by a professional editor”, it kind of leads us down the road of post technique…

Inadequate footage is one thing, but it seemed to be a comparison of editing software…and while different NLE software has different peculiarities and workflow issues, the final product that a viewer sees is still basically the result of the editor…

…it would be nice to have more information on what the poster is refering to, however.

TimK,

Kolb Syverson Communications,
Creative Cow Host,
2004-2005 NAB Post Production Conference
Premiere Pro Technical Chair,
Author, “The Easy Guide to Premiere Pro” http://www.focalpress.com
“Premiere Pro Fast Track DVD Series” http://www.classondemand.net

[Anand]

Gentleman,

I get you what you are trying to say. Even as a novice I felt the same way in Photoshop. The only way that you can also get a professional look is by editing films practising over and over again. As you told that you have watched films done FCP done in a professional way, watch what really makes you think that it is professional. While watching a film, always notice the technical aspects such as lighting – how it is placed from where the light comes, the time frame of the shot – is it too short to convey the message in that shot or is it too long – the background score – does it match the mood of the movie – does it add to the emotion that is conveyed in that particular shot, what are the expressions of the actors – how they convey it. I would summarize video editing is much similar to cooking. When you have all good ingredients – like a good cook, a nice shot footage can bring up the essence of the film. To continue, you cannot expect a nice cuisine with all rotten ingredients – however good the cook may be. But again, even with all good ingredients, a bad cook may mess up the whole dish. Hope you get what I am say !! All the very best.

S. Anand
aka Andy
Adobe Certified Expert, Photoshop CS

[Derek Antonio serra]

I see the original poster has not bothered to respond. Maybe he’s just a FCP fan who’s stirring here in the PP forum. If anybody needs assurances that software does not maketh the man (or woman) just think back to the days when there was no editing software and we edited on linear systems, or on flatbeds. Give a real editor a box of well-shot tapes and two Betacam video machines and you’ll get a “professional looking” edited programme at the end, albeit with no effects and titles! Give the same editor a box of absolute crappy footage and any modern NLE software available for $ 50 up, and you’ll get an effects-laden MTV-style work of art. A bad editor would achieve neither result.

Derek Antonio Serra
Filmmaker
http://www.controversifilms.co.za
http://www.indv.co.za