Unit 2 | Editing in Premiere

Introduction

Your first formal look at Adobe Premiere Pro. Setting up a project and sequence correctly, navigating and assembling a timeline, applying continuity-editing techniques, and understanding the video standards and formats behind every clip you import. Building toward editing a real scene from a television show.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Set up a Premiere project with correct settings and an organized bin structure
Navigate a timeline and assemble a rough cut using Insert, Overwrite, Lift, and Extract
Apply continuity-editing techniques (L/J cuts, match cuts, cutaways) to smooth a sequence
Identify a clip’s frame rate, resolution, and codec, and explain why they matter

Calendar of Events for This Unit

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9/21	9/22	9/23	9/24	9/25
PD	S \| 1	S \| 1	F \| 2.1	F \| 2.1
9/24: Unit 2 - should include ungraded Pre-Test; 9/25: Interim grades open in Infinite Campus (MP1)
9/28	9/29	9/30	10/1	10/2
F \| 2.2	F \| 2.2	F \| 2.3	F \| 2.3	F \| 2.4
10/1: Back to School Night; 10/2: Interim grades close 4:00pm (MP1)
10/5	10/6	10/7	10/8	10/9
F \| 2.4	S \| 2	S \| 2	S \| 2	S \| 2
10/6: Interim Reports Available
10/12	10/13	10/14	10/15	10/16
S \| 2	F \| 3.1	F \| 3.1	F \| 3.2	PD
10/15: Choice Open House; 10/15: By 10/15: PreTest; 10/15: Fall Leadership - 10/15 (unconfirmed -- Delaware DECA hasn't posted 2026-27 date)

Lessons

2.1 – GMetrix Setup & ACP Pre-Test. Create your account, join the class, take the pre-assessment
2.2 – Projects, Sequences & Bins. Guided notes: project setup, sequences, bins
2.3 – Editing Basics & Continuity Conventions. Guided notes: JKL navigation, In/Out points, Insert/Overwrite/Lift/Extract, L/J cuts, match cuts, cutaways
2.4 – Standards, Formats & Frame Rates. Guided notes: frame rates, SD/HD/4K, codecs
S2 – Television Scene Edit. Summative project

Unit Vocabulary

Project Settings: The technical specs chosen when a Premiere project is first created. Video/audio format, frame rate, and where render files are stored. Set once and rarely changed mid-project.
Scratch Disks: The storage location(s) Premiere uses to save captured media, previews, and cache files while you work. Should point to a fast drive with enough free space, not the same drive as your OS.
Sequence Presets: A pre-built set of sequence settings (frame size, frame rate, codec) matching common camera formats. Picking the preset that matches your footage avoids unnecessary rendering.
Timecode: The frame-accurate address of any point in a clip or sequence, shown as hours:minutes:seconds:frames (for example, 00:01:23:12), used to reference exact moments precisely.
Project Panel: The panel listing every asset (clips, sequences, graphics) imported into a project, organized into bins, like a project’s file cabinet.
Source/Program Monitor: Two side-by-side preview windows. The Source Monitor shows a raw clip before it’s edited in, the Program Monitor shows the sequence as it will actually play back.
Properties Panel: A panel showing the technical metadata (frame rate, resolution, codec, duration) of whatever clip is currently selected.
Playhead: The vertical line marking the current position in a sequence or clip, showing where playback starts and where edits are applied.
JKL Navigation: The standard editing shuttle: J plays backward, K pauses, L plays forward. Pressing J or L multiple times increases playback speed in that direction.
Markers: Small flags placed on a clip or sequence at a specific point in time, used to note something worth returning to (a beat, a sound cue, a note to fix later).
In and Out Points: The In point marks where a clip should start playing; the Out point marks where it should stop. Together they define exactly what portion of a clip gets used.
Insert: Adding a clip into a sequence at the playhead, pushing everything after it later in time (like inserting a word into a sentence).
Overwrite: Adding a clip into a sequence at the playhead by recording over whatever’s already there, without shifting anything else in time.
Lift: Removing a clip from a sequence and leaving a gap behind. Everything else stays in place.
Extract: Removing a clip from a sequence and closing the gap. Everything after it shifts earlier to fill the space (also called a ripple delete).
Bins: Folders inside the Project panel used to organize footage, audio, and graphics. Named after the physical trim bins used to organize film reels during analog editing.
Relinking: Manually pointing Premiere back to a clip’s file after it’s been moved, renamed, or is missing. Without it, a moved clip shows as an offline/red placeholder.
Labeling Clips: Assigning a color label to clips in the Project panel or timeline to organize by type (for example, all B-roll one color, all interviews another) for faster visual scanning.
L Cut: A transition where a clip’s audio continues to play after its video has already cut to the next shot. Named for the shape it makes on the timeline.
J Cut: A transition where the next clip’s audio starts playing before its video appears. The mirror image of an L cut.
Cross Cutting: Alternating between two or more scenes happening in different locations, often to suggest they’re happening at the same time or to build tension between them.
Match Cut: A cut between two shots that share strong visual or compositional similarity, creating a smooth, often striking transition between very different subjects or times.
Cutting on the Action: Making a cut in the middle of a continuous physical action (a door opening, a hand reaching) so the motion itself hides the edit and keeps it feeling seamless.
Cutaway: A brief shot of something other than the main action, inserted to cover an edit, add context, or control pacing (for example, cutting to a listener’s reaction during an interview).
Montage: A sequence of short shots edited together to condense time, show a process, or build a feeling. Often set to music.
Jump Cut: A cut between two shots of the same subject that are similar enough to create a visible, jarring “jump”. Usually an editing mistake to avoid, unless used deliberately for effect.
Frame Rate: How many individual still frames play per second to create the illusion of motion. 24fps for film, 30fps (29.97) for North American broadcast TV, 60fps for smooth motion/sports.
Interlaced vs. Progressive Scan: Interlaced video transmits a frame as two alternating half-frames (fields) of lines; progressive scan draws every line of a frame at once. Progressive is the modern standard.
Standard Definition (480i): The original U.S. broadcast resolution. 640×480 pixels, interlaced, at 29.97 frames per second.
High Definition (1080p): A 1920×1080 pixel image, progressive scan, at 29.97 frames per second. The U.S. broadcast HD standard.
Codec: Short for coder/decoder. The software that compresses video for storage/transmission and decompresses it again for playback or editing.
H.264: The most common lossy (interframe) codec, used for roughly 90% of video delivered today. Efficient file size, but not ideal for heavy re-editing.
Apple ProRes: A lossless, intraframe professional codec. Larger files than H.264, but every frame is stored independently, which makes it far better suited for editing and color work.