Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual

Chapter 7. Add Effects and Themes

After you assemble the rough cut of your movie, it’s time to think about effects that enhance it—make it look and sound better and give it a more polished look. Premiere gives you a toolbox full of video and audio effects (Figure 7-1)—in fact, you might be surprised at how many there are (and how useful they are). If you have footage with exposure problems, Premiere can adjust the brightness and increase the contrast. Have a clip with a green hue to it? Premiere’s color-correction effects can fix it. Want to twist, twirl, and distort your image in any of a dozen different ways? Premiere can help you there, too.

Even though different effects perform entirely different tasks, you apply and edit the effects consistently—one of Premiere’s smarter features. This chapter teaches you the basics of adding effects to your movie, and making first-level edits. Chapter 8 takes you to the next level, telling you how to control the timing of effects on a frame-by-frame basis.

In addition to the effects Premiere offers, you can create your own snazzy effects using Premiere’s timeline tools. This chapter explains how to speed up or slow down your clips and how to play an entire clip in reverse. You’ll also learn a few video magic tricks, such as picture-in-picture displays and “green screen” keying. So, if you’re ready, roll up your sleeves and dig into effects and themes.

Choose an Effect

When it comes to video, an effect can be as subtle as a minor color adjustment ...