Premiere Pro: Create Illustrated Lectures Using Video and Keynote or PowerPoint

With the need for educators to originate lectures at home, Lee Byers asks:

I saw the tutorial you did with Final Cut on how to create a lecture video. Can you do the same thing for Adobe Premiere?

Sure. Here you go.

PREP YOUR SLIDES – KEYNOTE

Ideally, when creating a Keynote or PowerPoint slide deck, pick an aspect ratio that works for video. Most templates are 16:9, so you should be all set; horizontal is the best option.

Here, for example, I have a lecture on the Power and Emotion of Fonts.

In Keynote, choose File > Export to > Images. Then, set the Format to PNG (you can also use TIFF; however don’t use JPEG.)

Based on how the slide deck is built, you can export complete slides, or each build of a slide. I generally just export the complete slide.

Keynote exports each slide as a PNG file and stores them in a folder at the location you specify, with each slide named after the original slide deck.

PREP YOUR SLIDES – POWERPOINT

In PowerPoint the process is the same.

Choose File > Export, then choose a file format. Again, I recommend PNG. At this point, you need to set the screen size. Since we will be reducing the slides for the finished video, set them to 1280 x 720, even if they were created at a larger size.

NOTE: You can pick a larger size for your slides if you prefer, but, as you’ll see, you won’t be viewing the slides full-screen. Most of the time, 1280 x 720 will be fully readable.

Whether you start with Keynote or PowerPoint, you now have a folder of PNG images containing all your slides.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER

Next, we need a background to float our images over. You can create one in After Effects, download one from Adobe Stock, or use any other video or image you prefer.

NOTE: The background I’m using for this tutorial came from Pexels.com.

Create a new project in Premiere.

• Create three new bins: Lectures, Sequences, and Slides
• Import the slides you exported from Keynote/PowerPoint into the Slides bin.
• Import the lecture video into the Lectures bin.
• Then, create a new sequence. For the web, you don’t need anything larger than 1080p. Store it in the Sequences bin.

• Here’s what the Project panel looks like, so far.
• Edit the background image/video into Track V1.

• Edit the Lecture video into Track 2.
• Clean up the lecture video so the content is correct and any errors are removed.
• Click the Wrench icon and turn on Safe Zones from the Wrench menu.

• Select the first lecture clip
• Go to Effect Controls and click the word “Motion” to put a selection box around the selected clip
• Drag the instructor’s image into the lower left corner of Action Safe (the outer rectangle). Resize and reposition the image as necessary.

Don’t adjust any other lecture clips, yet.

ADD THE SLIDES

• Add the first slide to the track above the lecture. Again, using the Motion settings in Effect Controls, position the lecture notes so they fit into the top right corner of Action Safe.

NOTE: The slides should slightly overlap the lecturer. This allows the slides to be as big as possible, without blocking the lecturer’s face most of the time.

• Once the first slide is added, adjust the size and position of  the lecturer and slide until everything fits properly and looks good to you.

• Make SURE no clips are selected in the timeline, then play the sequence, typing M (for Marker) to place a timeline marker wherever you want the slides to change.

When the entire program is marked:

• Move the blue V1 marker on the left side of the track header up to the track that contains the slides.
• Position the playhead on the next marker.
• Select the next slide in the Slide bin in the Project panel.
• Type “.” [period] to edit the selected clip to the position of the playhead.
• Trim the end of the slide to match the next marker. Repeat until done. Don’t adjust any of the slides (other than the first one) for size or position.

By using markers, you can edit slides much faster than real time. Trim the slides to correct any timing errors.

RESIZE ALL IMAGES

Select first lecturer clip and choose Edit > Copy (shortcut: Cmd + C).

Select all remaining lecturer clips and choose Edit > Paste Attributes. In the dialog:

• Uncheck Scale Attribute Times
• Uncheck everything except Motion

Click OK to resize and reposition all lecturer clips to match the first clip.

Do the same thing for the slides:

• Select the first slide and choose Edit > Copy.
• Select all remaining slides and choose Edit > Paste Attributes. All remaining slides now match for size and position.

Done.

SUMMARY

Here’s the finished result. You can get fancy, depending upon your lecturer and slides by adding titles below the slides, or a border to the slides – whatever strikes your fancy. But, in terms of creating a lecture video, these are the basics.

NOTE: For the record, Dr. Cerf was not speaking about fonts. He was talking about the importance of high school students staying in school and studying the sciences.

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