Premiere Pro Guided Workflow: Trimming

Report · Mar 06, 2020

After your rough assembly is in the Timeline using Insert and Overwrite edits, you may want to start refining material in the Timeline. Scrutinize the content and see if the timing of shots needs to be adjusted.

You might need to do some trimming. Trimming is the act of shortening or lengthening clips while they reside in the Timeline. Trimming changes the timing of how clips playback, which probably makes some sense to you when it comes to pacing, timing, and so on. For most trimming where shots are lengthened and shortened, look toward using the Ripple Edit tool. The Rolling Edit tool comes in handy for changing the location of the edit point. Often, you can use the Ripple Edit tool to sync up two shots so that they are matching, then use the Rolling Edit tool to adjust the timing of the edit.

Trimming clips also happens when moving and adjusting the placement of clips. You are not only making clips shorter or longer, but you can also change the order of the clips after they are already in the Timeline. That is called a "rearrange" edit in the user guide. It is also called a swap or shuffle edit.

You can also slightly adjust the position of clips without changing their order (called a slide edit) and alter the content of a clip in place without moving it (called a slip edit). You can also remove clips by using a Lift or Extract edit. These editing functions do the same function as a delete and ripple delete edit but have the added benefit of copying the trimmed frames to the clipboard so that they can be placed elsewhere on the Timeline.

Trim edit mode takes practice to master, but it is time well spent. Dynamic trimming takes place in Trim mode, so you can use the JKL keys to shuttle to new edit points so that you can ripple and roll trim more intuitively and precisely.

Here are some resources to help you understand trimming, moving, adjusting the placement of clips, and trim edit mode.

Going through this material will now have you creating essential video stories. Further steps will help refine those stories, building more compelling content for your audience.

Resources