Recently, I was teaching Premiere Pro CC to the editorial team of a cable network and they asked me a series of questions about Premiere that I couldn’t immediately answer.
So, rather than just let the matter drop, I rummaged around in my Rolodex (um, kids you can ask your parents to describe this to you) to find the right person at Adobe to answer them.
Kevin Monahan was the perfect choice. He’s the Support Product Manager for Digital Video and Audio at Adobe. With Kevin’s permission, I’m reprinting his answers here.
Q. My clients are recutting existing movies which have embedded Closed Captions. Does Premiere support exporting a QuickTime movie with embedded captions?
A. If they are merely editing video files with embedded closed captions, those captions will still be there on export. If they need to add new captions to an embedded QuickTime, that is also possible. It used to be true with only certain formats, but I’m pretty sure it’s available in all the main formats. I suggest a test beforehand, however.
Q. Can Premiere animate – using keyframes – text elements contained in a Title clip? For example to fly a word around the screen?
A. You can use the intrinsic effects in Premiere Pro’s Effect Controls panel to keyframe position, scale, rotation, etc. However, there are no text animation parameters available as in FCP. For animating tracking, for example, a quick trip to After Effects can accomplish that.
Q. Can Premiere rotate a gradient wipe?
A. I don’t think so. The Gradient Wipe is very primitive in Premiere Pro. I suggest using After Effects.
Q. Can Premiere make a gradient wipe have a soft edge?
A. In the gradient wipe effect, you can use a graphic with a soft edge instead of the default. That would probably work. If they need a soft edge wipe, check out the Linear Wipe (effect not a transition) in the video effects folder. Gradient Wipe also exists as an effect there.
Q. When entering a timecode value, can we type a period in lieu of two zeros (as FCP 7 could do)?
A. Yes, it works that same way.
Q. When you have set an In and Out in a clip in the Source monitor, can you modify the duration, similar to FCP 7 by typing the Control+D shortcut?
A. CMD + D, it’s the Clip Speed/Duration dialog box.
Thanks, Kevin, for your help!
