Premiere® Elements 8 For Dummies®

Introduction

Back in the Dark Ages — a mere decade or two ago — most video editing was conducted in specialized TV and movie production facilities with equipment that cost millions of dollars. Then in 1993, Adobe released a program called Premiere. Adobe Premiere introduced the ability to edit video on conventional desktop computers, a revolutionary idea at the time. This dropped the cost of video-editing systems from millions of dollars down to mere thousands.

Years went by, and new technologies entered the picture. Prices continued to plummet, and more and more video professionals switched to editing on desktop computers. This switch created a growing market of users — and new competition for software manufacturers to produce programs like Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Xpress, and Pinnacle Edition, all of which cater to professional-consumer (or prosumer) users.

Meanwhile, consumer video hobbyists started editing their own movies too, using low-cost (or even no-cost) programs like Apple iMovie, Pinnacle Studio, and Windows Movie Maker. These programs, combined with high-quality, affordable digital camcorders, turned the rarified moviemaking profession into a hobby enjoyed by millions of people.

Adobe kept updating Premiere over the years, and when the name changed to Adobe Premiere Pro in 2003, it was only a matter of time before they also released a more affordable non-Pro version. Adobe Premiere Elements was that version. Premiere was a pioneer in desktop video editing, ...