Premiere Pro for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know to Start Editing

You've shot the footage. Now what?

Premiere Pro is where raw clips become stories. It's the industry standard for a reason — it's powerful, flexible, and used by everyone from YouTubers to Hollywood editors.

But it's also intimidating when you first open it. Panels everywhere. Buttons you've never seen. A timeline that makes no sense.

Here's how to make sense of it all.

The Workspace

When you open Premiere Pro, you'll see several panels:

Project Panel — where your imported files live
Source Monitor — preview individual clips before adding them to the timeline
Program Monitor — preview your edited sequence
Timeline — where you build your edit
Effects Panel — transitions, color effects, audio effects

Don't try to learn every panel at once. Focus on the timeline and the program monitor first. Everything else supports those two.

Step 1: Import Your Footage

Go to File → Import (or just drag files into the Project Panel). Premiere Pro accepts virtually every video format — MP4, MOV, MXF, you name it.

Pro tip: Organize your footage into bins (folders) inside the Project Panel. Create bins for: Video, Audio, Music, Graphics, and Exports.

Step 2: Create a Sequence

A sequence is your timeline — the canvas where you build your edit.

Right-click your main footage → "New Sequence from Clip." This automatically matches your sequence settings (resolution, frame rate) to your footage.

Step 3: The Basic Edit

Cutting

Use the Razor Tool (C) to cut clips, or position the playhead and press Ctrl+K to cut at the playhead. This is faster and what most editors use.

Trimming

Hover over the edge of a clip until you see the red bracket, then drag to trim. Hold Ctrl while trimming to do a ripple edit (closes the gap automatically).

Moving

Click and drag clips to rearrange them. Hold Ctrl while dragging to insert a clip without overwriting what's already there.

Step 4: Audio Mixing

Bad audio ruins good video. In Premiere Pro:

Normalize your audio levels to -6dB for dialogue
Use the Audio Track Mixer for overall level adjustments
Add a compressor effect to even out loud and quiet parts
Background music should sit at -18 to -24dB under dialogue

Step 5: Color Grading

Open the Lumetri Color panel (Window → Lumetri Color).

Start with Basic Correction:

Set white balance using the eyedropper on something white/gray in your footage
Adjust exposure and contrast
Bring highlights down and shadows up for a more cinematic look

Then move to Creative for color grading — this is where you give your footage a specific look or mood.

Step 6: Export

Go to File → Export → Media (or Ctrl+M).

For most purposes:

Format: H.264
Preset: Match Source - High Bitrate
Resolution: 1920x1080 (or 3840x2160 for 4K)

Click Export and you're done.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Not organizing footage — you'll waste hours searching for clips
Editing with effects first — get your story right before adding color and effects
Ignoring audio — spend as much time on audio as you do on video
Exporting at the wrong settings — always match your export to your sequence settings
Not saving — Premiere Pro can crash. Save constantly. Use auto-save.

Learn Premiere Pro Hands-On

At Alberta Film School's Intro to Video Editing Workshop [blocked], you'll spend two full days in Premiere Pro — from importing your first clip to exporting a finished project. AFS provides computers with Premiere Pro installed. No software purchase necessary.

Workshop details: 2 days, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM, $499 + GST. Join the waitlist [blocked] to get notified when dates are announced.