Quick question about Editing in Premier Pro (is everything in a sequence or there doesn’t need to b

[audio90]

Please consider me a newbie, although I have been using Adobe Premier since around the year 2000, I have been using other software and am coming back to premier Pro now. I was an Adobe Premiere power user before CC and also use Adobe Premiere elements.

Question about starting to edit a project; when I create a project and import a collection of media into it, the media is imported at whatever resolution it is natively in.

And if I were to drag a media (image or video clip) onto the timeline window, it would automatically start a new sequence every time, with the sequence using  file resolution that I dragged in right?

Is it possible to start putting media on a timeline without there being a sequence created first?

I AM ASKING BECAUSE I recently made a music video using medium resolution still photos and a wav file, no video clips. When I dragged the photos onto the timeline I think it made a sequence or something, and when I exported it, the video file was very low resolution and even the titles I put on (captions) looked very blurry.

When I made a new sequence and specified my actual HD output resolution and copied and pasted the entire timeline from the first timeline and pasted it into the second sequence/timeline, it outputed as super sharp and clear with smooth captions text.

This makes me wonder about what happened the first time I dragged the images to the timeline, either there was no sequence and PP was just spitting out something low resolution, or it somehow guesstimated the low resolution of the photos and I’ll put that as the resolution (which was 720x480).

Does anyone have an explanation of what happened to make the first output so low resolution?

This is a long question for simple response, thank you for reading down to this part.

[Steve Griffiths]

As you suggest, it sounds like the first image you dragged to create a sequence was (relatively) low resolution and the sequence conformed to that resolution.

We have various sequence presets created and setup within Premiere Pro - so we always start a project by creating a sequence with the settings we want before dragging any material to it. For Mac I have a Prores HQ HD sequence preset and on Windows we have presets for AVC-Intra HD and DNxHD presets and all of these presets are set up to preview render in the sequence codec - which makes for faster exporting if preview rendering as we go.

[audio90]

Thanks, I'm shooting mostly with mirrorless or DSLR cameras, can I use the AVC-Intra HD and DNxHD presets as well at my project settings? With all those different options, I wonder if they only work properly with the native camera footage.

[Steve Griffiths]

You don't have to use a preset - though one advantage is you know exactly what sequence you are starting with.

The preset you decide to use is not affected by the codec of your camera - just because you have chosen a preset - this does not stop you dropping in footage froms a different codec (or native camera format). I mix and match formats all the time.*

The thing you (generally) want to match in your sequence settings is the image size - if you are shooting at 1920x1080 then you want your sequence resolution at 1920x1080.

And your sequence settings should (again generally) match the frame rate of the majority of your footage. So if shooting at 25fps then sequence should be 25fps.

There are good reasons for the organisations I freelance for to have sequence presets. I don't think there are any advantages in 'you' using any particular preset BUT if you set up your own preset,  that might be worthwhile.

*the above is very general advice. Many things can affect the choices of codecs/formats etc. Ask more questions as you go.

As long as we have solved your size and export resolution issue that's a good first step!

[Richard M Knight]

Have a look in the sequence settings of your original project and see what the resolution was set to.

[audio90]

Yes, the original sequence seemed to have set itself to 720x480.

I ended up making a sequence at 1440x1080 (or something like that, more or less a 4 x 3 SD resolution at 1080) and this was exported the right size and very crisp and sharp.

The footage of the original sequence was exported really low quality look like crap. The source files were exactly the same.

I wonder why it would export but worse at the smaller resolution.

[Christian.Z]

Question about starting to edit a project; when I create a project and import a collection of media into it, the media is imported at whatever resolution it is natively in.

Correct

And if I were to drag a media (image or video clip) onto the timeline window, it would automatically start a new sequence every time, with the sequence using  file resolution that I dragged in right?

No. It will create a new sequence with the same settings of the file only if there is no sequences open. Otherwise,  you will just be dragging a file to an existing sequence.

Is it possible to start putting media on a timeline without there being a sequence created first?

No. Premiere will automatically create a sequence based on the preferences of the file you are dragging

I AM ASKING BECAUSE I recently made a music video using medium resolution still photos and a wav file, no video clips. When I dragged the photos onto the timeline I think it made a sequence or something, and when I exported it, the video file was very low resolution and even the titles I put on (captions) looked very blurry.

Your suspecion is correct.

When I made a new sequence and specified my actual HD output resolution and copied and pasted the entire timeline from the first timeline and pasted it into the second sequence/timeline, it outputed as super sharp and clear with smooth captions text.

That's how it supposed to be

This makes me wonder about what happened the first time I dragged the images to the timeline, either there was no sequence and PP was just spitting out something low resolution, or it somehow guesstimated the low resolution of the photos and I’ll put that as the resolution (which was 720x480).

Does anyone have an explanation of what happened to make the first output so low resolution?

I believe you answered your own question(s) 🙂

This is a long question for simple response, thank you for reading down to this part.