Create an Adobe Premiere Elements movie
1. Start an Adobe Premiere Elements project.
Start Adobe Premiere Elements. In the Welcome screen, click New Project. In the New Project dialog box, type a name for your project. By default, project files are saved to My Documents\Adobe\Premiere Elements\4.0\. If you want to change the location where your project file is stored, click Browse and specify a new location.
Click OK to open the new project.
2. Understand the workspace.
You use different panels in Adobe Premiere Elements to create a project. To see the names of panels, choose Window > Show Docking Headers.
-
Use the Tasks panel to access media; apply effects, transitions, and themes; create menus for DVDs and Blu-ray discs; and share your projects for viewing.
-
Use the Monitor panel for previewing and trimming your projects, and creating titles and menus.
-
Use the Sceneline or Timeline to arrange your clips.
3. Import video and audio clips to your project.
In the Tasks panel, click Edit
(at the top of the panel) to open the Edit workspace. Click the
Media button 
,
click Get Media, and then click Files And Folders from the list
that appears in the panel. In the Add Media dialog box, navigate
to the sample files: Program Files\Adobe\ Adobe Premiere Elements\4.0\Sample Files.
Select the sample files folder and click Add Folder to add all the
files in that folder to your project.
- A.
- Click Edit to open the Edit workspace.
- B.
- Click Media to add and manage media files for your project.
- C.
- Click Get Media to add media to your project.
- D.
- Click Files And Folders to add files from your hard disk.
- E.
- Click Add Folder to add all the content from the selected folder.
4. Add video and audio clips to the Sceneline.
The Organizer opens automatically after you import files, displaying the clips you just imported. Reverse the order of the clips in the Organizer by clicking the Media Arrangement menu (currently set to Newest First) and choose Oldest First. To add all the clips to the Sceneline in the order they appear in the Organizer, click the first clip in the Organizer, and then Shift-click the last clip (selected clips have a blue outline) and drag them to the area marked “Drag Next Clip Here” in the Sceneline. All the clips appear sequentially in the Sceneline.
By default, the audio associated with each clip is embedded in the clip. (You can see embedded audio in a separate track when you view the clips in the Timeline.)
To add background music to your
movie, select the audio clip in the Organizer and drag it to the
beginning of the Soundtrack 
in
the Sceneline. You can add one soundtrack and one narration track
to a project. These tracks play in addition to the audio in your
video clips.
5. Reorder clips in the Sceneline.
You can reorganize clips by dragging them within the Sceneline. To move the last two clips to the middle of the project, click the second to last clip in the Sceneline, Shift-click the last clip, and then drag them to the left side of the third clip in the Sceneline. When you see a blue line to the left of the third clip, release the clips. All clips to the right of the third clip shift to the right.
6. Adjust the volume of your soundtrack.
You can adjust audio volume using the Audio
Mixer or by simply adjusting the volume control in the Sceneline.
To adjust the volume control in the Sceneline, click the music notes
icon 
next
to the Soundtrack, and drag the volume slider up to increase the
volume.
7. Preview your project in the Monitor panel.
Click the first clip in the Sceneline to move the current-time indicator to the beginning of the movie (the mini-timeline in the Monitor panel moves to the first clip in your movie). Click the Play button at the bottom of the Monitor panel to preview your edits so far.
Choose File > Save.
8. Trim a clip.
When
you preview your movie, you’ll notice the second clip has black
frames at the end. You can remove these black frames by changing
the Out point (ending point) of the clip. To adjust the Outpoint
in the Monitor panel, select the second clip in the Sceneline, and
then in the Monitor panel, click the name of the clip in the mini-timeline
(the purple bar) under the clip preview. An In point handle 
and
an Out point handle 
appear
at either end of the clip’s purple bar in the mini-timeline. Drag
the Out point handle to the left until the black frames are no longer
visible.
9. Apply a theme.
Themes apply effects, titles, and transitions to an entire movie with just a few clicks, providing you with a quick and easy way to create a polished, professional-looking movie.
Before you apply a theme, choose File > Save to save your project. Click the Themes button in the Edit view of the Tasks panel. Select Memories from the first theme menu, select the Family Memories theme, and then click Apply.
Preview your new movie.
Themes may not be right for every project. There will be times when you want to create your own look and feel for a movie by adding your own title, transitions, and effects. Now, choose Edit > Undo to remove the theme. Then continue with the tutorial to learn how to add your own title, transition, and effect.
10. Add a title.
Click the Titles button in the Edit view of the Tasks panel to view the title templates that come preloaded with Adobe Premiere Elements. Select General from the first title template menu, and then select the Aquarium_title menu template. Drag the Aquarium_title to the beginning of the Sceneline.
11. Change and animate the text.
When you first add or create a title, the Type tool 
is
selected by default. Using the Type tool, drag to select the placeholder
text in the Monitor panel and type your title text. Don’t worry
about making it perfect; you can come back and edit the title any
time.
To animate the text in the title, select the text using
either the Type tool or the Selection tool 
.
Expand the Text Animation area in the Tasks panel, if necessary.
Select an animation preset in the Text Animations area, and click Apply.
Click Preview to preview the animation. To remove an animation and
try another, click Remove in the Tasks panel, and then apply a different
animation preset. When you are happy with your title, click Done.
12. Add a transition between clips.
Click the Transitions button in the Edit view of the Tasks panel. To preview a transition, hold the pointer over the transition thumbnail. Select one you like and drag it to the arrow between two video clips in the Sceneline. Click the Play button in the Monitor window to preview the transition. If you don’t like it, drag a different transition between the two clips to replace it, and preview it. Experiment by repeating this step until you are satisfied.
13. Apply an effect to the last clip of the movie.
In the Sceneline, click the last clip in the movie to select it. In the Tasks panel, click the Effects button. In Effects view of the Tasks panel, select Video Effects from the first effect menu and select Transform from the second menu. Click the Camera View effect, and then click Apply.
Click Play in the Monitor panel to preview the effect on the clip.
14. Save your file for sharing and playing on a personal computer.
Click Share at the top of the Tasks panel, and then click Personal Computer in the list that appears. Choose Windows Media from the list at the top of the panel. Type a name for your movie in the File Name box, and then click Browse to specify a location for saving the file. All other settings are taken care of by the preset to ensure you get the best quality video. Click Save and you’re finished!
If you have Windows Media Player installed, you can view your finished movie by double-clicking the saved file on your hard disk.
