Best practices in Premiere

Just some thoughts on how to anticipate and avoid issues that may arise and how to live a relatively stress-free life as a video editor

Don’t just visit this forum when you have a problem, visit and scan the posts on a regular basis.  You’ll be prepared when you have a problem that you’ve read about…. And you’ll know when maybe it’s time to update…. Or not.

Think twice before updating your project to the latest and greatest.  One of the great things about adobe creative cloud is that you can have multiple versions of the same program.  I’ve actually got cc2017 – 2024 on various computers I work on.  If you need a new feature or are wrestling with a bug that causes serious difficulties with your workflow, try the update… but test your workflow and if things aren’t better or too buggy for primetime, go back to the version you were using.  Note that Adobe only supports the latest and the previous version of creative cloud.  At this point, it’s CC2024.  If you have earlier versions on your system, no reason not to keep them and although earlier versions are available if you know where to dig, but who knows how long they will be available.   And when you save your project in an updated version of Premiere, you lose the ability to open the updated project in earlier versions of premiere.  There are workarounds that may allow you to “downgrade” but they are not foolproof.

Rather than working up until the last minute, when you’ve got something you have to post for review, even if it's not perfect,  output it.   You’ll get a clear idea of how long it will take to export and if things go south (as they often do) you’ve got something to post.  I’ve been doing this for a long time and I learned to train my clients not to work until the last fedex drop time (we’re talking vhs tapes back in the day)….   At 5 pm, I’d say, let’s output… they’d start arguing and I’d say, trust me, we can keep working but if we have problems, we have something to send….

When you’re working with a new format, test your workflow before digging yourself a very deep hole.   Do a test edit from soup to nuts.  Make sure your source files will play smoothly and test them in a variety of situations, including with effects and AE comps if you anticipate their use.    If you want to work with proxies (which I highly recommend) create your proxies and confirm that they are attached and play smoothly.   But remember that exports by default go back to the source files and can take a lot longer than you anticipate.  For review outputs, you can use proxies or previews.  It’s an option in the export dialog:  General

If you’re working with a variety of frame rates and pixel dimensions and pixel aspect ratios, consider what your ultimate delivery format is and consider transcoding to that format before editing.   This will give you greater control over the quality of your finished piece and will hopefully make for much faster exports…

If you’re having problems exporting, try smart rendering.  Change your sequence settings preview format to a relatively high quaiity all i-frame format like one of the prores flavors  and render your entire sequence.  After rendering, play your sequence and if everything plays OK, export making sure “use previews” is checked.  

And this is another important lesson I’ve learned.  After you export, play your sequence and make sure you haven’t screwed up.  It happens, even to me (as hard as it may be for you to come to terms with that). 

I'm sure there are lots of other things to add...  but these are basic steps to keep your cool...