Music Video: Adding an After Effects Composition in Premiere Pro

Topics covered in this Premiere Pro tutorial:

Adding an After Effects Composition, Animating Motion Effects

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

While Premiere Pro can perform some basic animation tasks, for a more powerful animation tool you will want to use Adobe After Effects. Luckily, Premiere Pro can import native, un–rendered After Effects compositions and add them right to Premiere’s Timeline.

Previewing the Final Video

1. Let’s see a preview of what you’ll be making.

2. On the Desktop, navigate to Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > Multicam - Music Video > Preview Movie and double–click Before You Accuse Me.mp4.

3. Notice the following:

   • The opening title is animated with a moving background.
   • The text animation is made up of several parts including a “write-on” effect.
   • There is a moving image that scrolls up as the title animated on.

4. Replay the video if you need to. We’ll be reproducing it in a series of exercises.

5. Close the video when done.

Getting Started

1. You should still have Before You Accuse Me - Your Name open in Premiere Pro.
   If you closed it, re-open it now by going to File > Open Project then Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > Multicam - Music Video.
   If you skipped the previous exercise, do the following sidebar.

   If You Did Not Do the Previous Exercise

   1. If a project is open in Premiere Pro, go to File > Save, then File > Close Project.
   2. Go to File > Open Project and navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > Multicam - Music Video > Finished Projects.

   3. Double–click on Before You Accuse Me - After Effects.prproj.

   4. Go to File > Save As. Name the file Before You Accuse Me - Your Name and save it to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > Multicam - Music Video.

Adding An After Effects Composition to a Premiere Pro Sequence

Now that the edits in the music video have been polished and refined, it’s time to add an opening title. In this case the title was created in Adobe After Effects and you will import the native After Effects composition into the project.

1. Choose Window > Workspaces > Editing.
2. Choose Window > Workspaces > Reset to Saved Layout.

3. In the Project panel, click the New Bin button .

4. Rename the new bin 05 - AE

5. With the new bin selected, choose File > Import or Cmd–I (Mac) or Ctrl–I (Windows).

6. Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Intermediate > Multicam - Music Video > Media > AE.

7. Double–click on Before You Accuse Me_Logo.aep to import it.

8. In the Import After Effects Composition dialog, click on Logo - BYAM to select it.

9. Click OK to finalize the import.

10. In the Project panel, double–click the composition clip (Logo - BYAM… inside the 05 - AE bin) you just imported to preview it in the Source panel.

11. In the Source panel, move the Playhead until you can see the text “BEFORE YOU Accuse Me”. Notice that it appears as white text on a black background.

12. At the bottom right of the Source panel, click on the Wrench button and choose Transparency Grid.

    NOTE: In Premiere Pro a black background in your video preview usually indicates a transparent area.

13. Clip on the Wrench again and choose Transparency Grid again to return to the default display.

14. On the Timeline, move the Playhead to 2:00

15. Drag the Logo - BYAM clip from the Project panel onto Video 3 track in the the Timeline, snapping it so it starts at the Playhead.

16. Preview the beginning of your Timeline to see the animated logo.

17. Choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or Ctrl–S (Windows).

Creating a Nested Sequence

You can’t actually edit an After Effects composition in Premiere Pro. However, you can use it as the basis for building more complex graphics.

1. On the Timeline, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the After Effects composition clip and choose Nest.

2. Name it BYAM - Opening Title and click OK.

3. In the Project panel, locate BYAM - Opening Title and drag it into the 04 - Nested Sequences bin.

4. Double–click on the BYAM - Opening Title sequence to open its Timeline.

5. Still in the Project panel, click on the arrow next to the 03 - Images bin to expand it.

6. Drag the old city.jpg onto the start of the Video 1 track in the BYAM - Opening Title sequence.

7. Using the Selection tool , drag the end of the old city.jpg until it matches the length of the Logo - BYAM clip.

8. Drag the Logo - BYAM clip down to the Video 2 track.

9. Click on the old city.jpg clip on the Timeline to select it.

10. In the Effect Controls panel, click on the arrow next to the Motion category to expand it.

11. Change the second value of the Position (which is the vertical position) to 1420. Position should now be 960 and 1420.

    NOTE: The first value of the Position is x (horizontal position), while the second value is y (vertical position).

12. Move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline.

13. To the left of Position click on the Toggle Animation button to enable animation and set the first keyframe.

14. Move the playhead to 5:00

15. Change the vertical Position (the second value) to -350. This automatically creates the second keyframe.

16. Move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline and press the Spacebar to preview the animation.

17. If necessary, click on the old city.jpg clip to select it.

18. In the Effect Controls panel, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the first Position keyframe and choose Temporal Interpolation > Ease Out.

19. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the second Position keyframe and choose Temporal Interpolation > Ease In.

20. Preview the animation on the Timeline again. This time notice that the old city image seems to start slow, then speeds up, and slows down again at the end.

21. In the Timeline, click on the x next to the BYAM - Opening Title tab to close it and return to the Before You Accuse Me - Main sequence.

22. In the Timeline click on the BYAM - Opening Title to select it.

23. Press Cmd–D (Mac) or Ctrl–D (Windows) or choose Sequence > Apply Video Transition to apply the default video transition (cross dissolve), to the beginning and end of the clip.

24. Play the first part of the timeline to see your finished title.

25. Choose File > Save or hit Cmd–S (Mac) or Ctrl–S (Windows).

26. We’re done with this project, so choose File > Close Project.