Making adjustments in your timeline, while preserving other edits

Report · Feb 18, 2021

Hi, please can anyone tell me how to fine tune my timeline in Premiere Elements?

My project already has many different tracks of video and sound layered, I want to make adjustmets without disturbing all the other edits that I have created. Do you know if this is possible in Elements?

I have searched through numerous tutorials, but have only found out how to move the entire block of edited tracks to the right, for adding material at the start, but not how to split the block and move sections of it without dislodging the layers.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks, Kate

Report · Feb 18, 2021

If you're asking how to remove and add media clips without affecting the placement with any other clips, try holding down the Alt key or the Ctrl key (the Cmd key on a Mac) to override the ripple function while adding or removing clips.

You can also remove clips by right-clicking on a clip and selecting Delete. This will remove the clip without filling the gap.

Report · Feb 19, 2021

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your reply. I can remove clips OK, but I don't know how to close up that gap, by moving my multi track timeline along in one peice, so that I don't dislodge the positioning of my tracks relative to eachother and lose my previous edits.

For example if I was happy with my multi track edit, but just wanted to trim a second off a clip on one of the tracks in the middle. I'd expect to make adjustments to other tracks in the vacinity of this edit, e.g. shorten the audio by a second too, but I wouldn't want to re-edit the entire project. How do I get around that?

Thanks, Kate

Report · Feb 19, 2021

If you've got a true gap in your timeline -- a gap across every video and audio track -- you can double-click to select it, right-click and select Delete and Fill Gap. But that will not work if you have some clips on some tracks filling part of the gap.

You can temporarily lock all of the clips in your movie together and move them by grouping them. Drag to select the clips, right-click and select Group. They will remain as a block until you right-click and select Ungroup.

Report · Feb 20, 2021

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your reply. The action in your first paragraph is working very well.

The action in your second paragraph isn't happening for me. I did call a friend who uses Premiere Pro and she told me that I can select a section by clicking just above my clips, then dragging that square, with the thin black outline, around a section and that does glue it together. The you can then drag it around in one peice. This is working in Elements very well.

Are there any tutorials you can recommend that describe the timeline features, so that we don't have to search online or experiment for hours to find out this sort of thing? I have done the guided tutorials, but they don't go into much detail.

Best wishes, Kate

Report · Feb 20, 2021

Well, my 8 part Basic Training series is free and it's a good place to start.

I've also got more specific tuts available on YouTube and a complete course on LinkedInLearning and lynda.com -- in addition to my book on Amazon that covers pretty much every feature in the program.

Report · Feb 26, 2021

Thanks Steve,

I am watching your part 2 now and it mentions the thin orange line being an indicator of a problem, but it seem as though this would not be addressed in your series. My current project has mostly a green line, but at the start there are a couple of short sections of orange in a clip that is otherwise green. The playback is always juddery in this section, even if I select medium PB quality. What would you recommend?

Kate

Report · Feb 26, 2021

.....PS I have rendered the project many times, but that bit of line still stays orange.

Report · Feb 26, 2021

...PPS I didn't think the problem could be that the programme settings are not matching the video specs, because the rest of the timeline is green and all the clips come from the same source, my samsung S10 mobile phone.

Report · Mar 07, 2021

Thanks Steve,

Your tutorials were really helpful and clearly described the features. I watched all 8 videos, but still can't solve a stuttering at the start of my project. When I exported it, the video played smoothly, but it is hard to edit with a stuttering timeline when I am adding other tracks e.g. sound FX.

I even re-built that section of the project, using source material that played smoothly on another track and checking that it had enough overlap for the transitions, as one of your tutorials mentioned as a possible cause of jerky P/B.

Kate

Report · Mar 07, 2021

If we want to dig deeper, we should probably take a look at the deep specs of your Samsung video.

Open one of those Samsung clips in the free download MediaInfo. In MediaInfo, set View to Text and the copy the text of this report and paste it to this forum.

Meantime, try starting a new project and add a dozen photos to the timeline. Does this place smoothly? If it does, then it's more than likely an issue with your original footage.

Report · Mar 12, 2021

Thank you Steve,

I managed to work with the stuttering timeline and the clips played smoothly when I'd exported them, so I won't go into the deep specs of my source material, but it is good to know what to do if I have similar problems in the future.

All the best, Kate