What is Premiere Pro?
Premiere Pro is the leading video and film editing application across industries. It provides the tools you need to produce polished video projects.
While Premiere Pro can be acquired through an individual monthly or yearly subscription service, it is most often acquired as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud. This allows users to harness Premiere Pro’s powerful integration abilities with other apps in the Creative Cloud, such as After Effects, Adobe Audition, Adobe Animate, and Premiere Rush.
Since its debut in 2003, Premiere Pro has grown into a formidable, feature-packed piece of editing software. It uses a timeline-based interface with tools for cutting, adjusting, and moving clips within a larger project. You can easily import audio and compositions from your other Adobe applications, creating an intuitive workflow.
Premiere Pro is a staple in Hollywood and the TV industry, but that’s not the only place where it’s used. You’ll find advertisers, educators, and YouTube creators who use Premiere Pro to produce high-quality videos. Designers across industries may have basic experience with Premiere Pro along with the rest of the Adobe Creative Cloud. Some professionals in digital marketing use Premiere Pro on a basic level to make video content for social media platforms like Instagram, Vimeo, or TikTok.
Why Learn Premiere Pro?
If you want to make professional-looking videos, Premiere Pro is the software to learn. For one, it’s a sure way to boost your hiring potential as a candidate. While there are other video editing apps out there, jobs in the video and film industry often specifically require Premiere Pro experience.
Another reason to learn Premiere Pro: it’s versatile. Unlike the Mac-only competitor Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro runs on any kind of computer. It lets you import and edit footage in all formats. Besides its compatibility with other Adobe applications, it supports numerous third-party extensions. Whether you’re completely new to video editing or you have some experience, it’s easy to make Premiere Pro part of your process.
What Careers Use Premiere Pro?
Premiere Pro is most important for video editors. They depend on it to organize and edit their hours of footage into a cohesive narrative. When working with a major studio or media corporation, video editors may use Premiere Pro’s collaboration features to work on their project as part of a team of industry professionals. There are also opportunities for video editors to work individually on smaller-scale projects. Making wedding videos or content for a marketing campaign as a freelancer are two examples.
Once you build experience as a video editor, you may be able to move into a role as a video manager. Video managers should know how to use Premiere Pro and other industry-standard software to edit video projects. However, as the people who oversee video projects from start to finish, they need additional skills too. It’s safe to say that if you want to be a video manager, you’ll need to be familiar with every step of the process—from pre-production to post-production and everything in between.
While the most important Adobe software for motion graphics designers to know is After Effects, there are many reasons why they benefit from a solid grounding in Premiere Pro. It’s common to use Premiere Pro to organize large-scale motion graphics projects. Some basic motion graphics work can be completed in Premiere Pro, such as title sequences. Also, small businesses will sometimes hire one professional to do motion graphics design and video editing. You open yourself up to a greater range of job possibilities when you can use both applications.
What Premiere Pro Classes Are Available?
The best way to gain professional skills in Premiere Pro is to attend a class. You can take courses in Premiere Pro through Noble Desktop, our design school. Our Premiere Pro classes are available in-person at our offices in NYC or live online anywhere.
The Premiere Pro Bootcamp offers 18 hours of instruction in basic through advanced features of Premiere Pro. Content covered in this class includes multi-cam editing, working with transitions, removing green screens, importing and adjusting audio, and chroma keying. If you want to use Premiere Pro like a professional to edit videos for social media or some longer projects, this class can give you a solid foundation.
Looking for a quick review of Premiere Pro? You can take Premiere Pro in a Day to pick up basic use of the software. This course introduces you to the Premiere Pro workspace, teaches simple editing tools, and provides training in how to import and export footage. If you’re a light Premiere Pro user or you want to learn the essentials before moving onto advanced training, you may benefit from taking this class.
Certificate Programs for Premiere Pro
A background in Premiere Pro can serve you well, but you’ll need additional skills and experience to make a career in video design. Learning Premiere Pro as part of a certificate program gives you the benefits of professional training in using the software alongside other lessons designed to prepare you for entry into the video and film industry. At Noble Desktop, there are several options for certificates that include training in Premiere Pro and the Adobe apps commonly used with it.
The Video Editing Certificate is a deep dive into Premiere Pro. Besides teaching a wide range of Premiere Pro, this program covers audio editing, some motion graphics design with After Effects, and portfolio development. By the end of this course, you’ll have a mastery of Premiere Pro and a demo reel to show to potential employers.
Another option is the Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate, which provides all the coursework included in the Video Editing Certificate along with motion graphics training. After becoming proficient in Premiere Pro, you’ll receive detailed instruction in After Effects and complete portfolio projects to showcase your new abilities in animation, motion graphics design, and compositing.
Motion artists typically use After Effects as their primary design software. However, After Effects is easier to learn if you have a solid foundation in Premiere Pro, and sometimes you may want to import a project from After Effects into Premiere Pro to edit it. The Motion Graphics Certificate is ideal for people who want to learn Premiere Pro as a jumping-off point for an intensive curriculum in motion graphics.
Video Editing v. Motion Graphics
You may be wondering about what separates motion graphics from video editing and where Premiere Pro fits in. While video editing and motion graphics both using moving images to convey an idea or message, they are distinct fields. Video editors are storytellers. They piece together video footage to create a narrative, whether for a feature film, commercial, or training video. Motion graphics design deals with enhancing graphics by animating still images and adding visual effects to video.
Premiere Pro is an important application for both of these industries—especially video editing, where it’s the industry-standard software. Motion artists may use Premiere Pro for basic animations and title sequences. Many people working in video editing and motion design have access to both Premiere Pro and After Effects through an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, and learning how they work together can be helpful in either of those fields.
Premiere Pro v. After Effects
Since After Effects is often lumped into the same category as Premiere Pro in discussions about video editing and film production, you may be curious about whether it’s better or equally important to learn for these industries. Is it worthwhile to learn Premiere Pro on its own? If you already have experience with After Effects, do you really need in-depth training in Premiere Pro? Or should you plan to learn both applications?
At the end of the day, the answer will depend on your interests, your industry, and your specialization. If you’re firmly invested in video editing and only use motion graphics in the occasional title sequence, Premiere Pro should fully meet your needs. However, if you’re open to motion graphics and animation work or you want to do post-production work on your videos, it’s worth it to learn both Premiere Pro and After Effects. While After Effects is no substitute for Premiere Pro when it comes to video editing, knowing how to use it will expand your job opportunities. This is especially true if you want to be competitive for video editing jobs at small companies since they often hire one person to fill multiple roles.