Adobe Premiere Elements For Movie Making?

[robin42]

Hi, I'm aiming to make a movie at home, as in the ones you watch at the cinema. I'm a beginner so I'm not looking to do anything too advanced to begin with, just something that will allow me to create something in the comfort of my home but I'm wanting to learn things like video editing, special effects, etc. Does anyone know if Adobe Premiere Elements would be fine for me to use?

[Bill Sprague]

About 10 years ago my school age granddauthers and I wanted to learn video editing.  We pick Premiere Elements, then in Version 9.  It worked very well for us.  They are now college students and video editing is one of their many comunication skills.  I've continued with videography and photography as a focus of my retirement.  Premiere Elements continues to work well.  One of my YouTube videos has gradually grown to over 10,000 views.  

So, in my view Premiere Elements is not only a very good program for learning to edit video, but also good for continuing use.  A key advantage is the abundance of learning resources that come from it being so widespread among consumers.

It is hard to be specific regarding "special effects".  There are many built in.  Videographers create them using standard editing tools.  And there are advanced programs that make "special effects" to be included in editing programs.   

[Steve Grisetti]

Meantime, check out my free 8 part Basic Training tutorial series. It will give you an introduction to video editing and using Premiere Elements so you can see if it's the program for you. (Though much really depends on what camcorder or device you're shooting your video with.)

[robin42]

Hi Steve, thanks for that. I have an iPhone and a Canon camera that I can use. Will either of these be okay? I assume you can make your videos as long as you want?

[HOTELECHOMIKE]

I assume you can make your videos as long as you want?

The prime limitation is that of retaining your viewer's attention.

My first HD video (US vacation from Seattle to San Francisco) was 35 minutes long.

Then I learnt that videos over 10 minutes can bore viewers so I generally limit to that length.

[robin42]

Thanks for that. I want to recreate a film/movie so that's why I'm asking about the length availability.

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm with Hotelechomike. Unless your last name is Spielberg, I'd highly recommend you do not try to shoot a 90 minute video and expect people to sit through it. It's so much harder than it looks.

If you've got a fascinating, fast-moving story, you can maybe hold your audience's attention for 30-40 minutes.

You'd be much wiser to shoot a 10-15 minute movie. You can fit a lot of story in that amount of time, and you won't have to worry about your audience checking their phones a dozen times or getting up to go to the bathroom halfway through.

Shorter is always better.

[robin42]

I appreciate the advice guys and I will take it on board for future videos but for now I want to make a 90 minute video (or however long it'll be) and all I'm simply asking is can it be done using this software or not.

[Bill Sprague]

There is a great book called "How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck"  by Steve Stockman.  In it, the author makes the point that decades of watching TV commercial have our brains to expect about a 3 minute duration.   A series of 3 minute videos is more practical than a long video!