Shanarra Title Card: Free Premiere Pro Tutorial

Topics covered in this Premiere Pro tutorial:

Adjusting Audio Volume, Importing a Layered PSD File, Staggering Layers in Time, Adding Zoom-Out Animation, The Linear Wipe Effect, Adding Text with the Type tool

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this short exercise, we’ll create an animated title card for a web series. We’ll do this by importing a layered Photoshop file and making all of its elements move in Premiere. We’ll also add and edit some audio and add text.

Previewing the Final Video

1. Let’s see a preview of what you’ll be making. It has sound, so make sure your speakers are turned on, or your headphones are plugged in.

2. On the Desktop, navigate to Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Shanarra Title Card > Finished Movie and double–click Shanarra-Title-Card.mp4.

3. Notice the following:

   • Throughout the title card, there’s a zoom-out on the sunset background.
   • Each of the text lines fade in one at a time.
   • The Shanarra text comes in with a wipe animation.
   • The episode text fades in near the end.
   • The audio fades out at the end of the title sequence.

4. Watch the video as many times as you need—we’ll be reproducing it in this exercise.

Getting Started

1. In Premiere Pro, go to File > Close All Projects to close any open projects.

2. Create a new project by going to File > New > Project.

3. In the New Project window, next to Name, type yourname-Title Card.

4. To the right of Location, click the Browse button.

5. Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Shanarra Title Card and click Choose (Mac) or Select Folder (Windows).

6. Still in the New Project window, you should be in the General tab.

7. Under Video, next to Display Format, choose Timecode.

8. Under Audio, next to Display Format, choose Audio Samples.

9. When done, click OK.

10. Make sure we’re all using the same workspace by going to Window > Workspaces > Editing.

11. Make sure it’s reset to the original settings by going to Window > Workspaces > Reset to Saved Layout.

12. Expand the Premiere window so it fills your screen.

Creating a New Sequence & Adding Audio

1. Let’s import the audio we need by going to File > Import.

2. Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Shanarra Title Card > Capture.

3. Select the audio folder and click Import (Mac) or Import Folder (Windows).

4. In the Project panel, deselect the audio folder.

5. To create a new sequence, at the bottom of the Project panel, click on the New Item button and choose Sequence.

6. On the left side of the New Sequence window, under Sequence Presets, expand into Digital SLR > 1080p and click DSLR 1080p30 so that it’s highlighted.

7. At the bottom of the window, next to Sequence Name, type Title-seq.

8. Click OK.

9. Make sure the sequence wasn’t added to the audio folder. If it was, drag it outside to an empty space in the Project panel.

10. Expand the audio folder to see that it contains a file called Waterfall.mp3.

11. Drag the Waterfall.mp3 to the Timeline and drop it at the beginning of track A1.

    NOTE: If you’re given the choice between using an AIFF or MP3 audio file of the same song, use the higher quality AIFF. MP3 is a compressed audio format for the web, much like a JPG is for images. We only have one option this time, so we have to use the MP3.

12. At the bottom of the Timeline, move the right circle of the zoom slider to the left to zoom in on the audio clip.

13. Hit the Spacebar to play the audio.

14. Double–click the audio clip to open it in the Source Monitor.

15. At the bottom of the Source Monitor, zoom in on the clip.

16. Move the Source Monitor playhead to 12;29. This is where we want the audio to end.

17. At the bottom of the panel, click on the Mark Out icon to set the out point here.

Adjusting Audio Volume

1. Our audio is pretty much ready to go but let’s just check our audio levels. At the top of Premiere, click the Audio tab to switch to the Audio workspace.

2. Next to the Audio Tab, click the hamburger icon and choose Reset to Saved Layout.

3. Make sure you’re in the Audio Clip Mixer tab (the first tab in the middle panel). We can use the Clip Mixer (instead of the Track Mixer) as we only have one audio clip.

4. Move your Timeline’s playhead to the beginning of your Timeline.

5. Hit Spacebar to play the audio, keeping an eye on the Audio Clip Mixer levels while it plays.

6. You’ll notice that it’s a little loud. Ideally, we want the topmost audio level to bounce around the –9 mark, and it’s currently very close to it.

7. Move the playhead back to the beginning.

8. To lower the volume, drag the volume slider down to the –2 level.

   

9. Play through again and notice that the audio is sending better but it ends quite abruptly which doesn’t sound great.

10. Let’s fade out the audio at the end. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the rightmost edge of the audio clip and choose Apply Default Transitions.

11. The default transition duration of 1 second isn’t quite long enough here. To change this, double–click on the Constant Power transition you just added.

12. In the window that pops up, next to Duration, type 110 (for 1;10) and click OK.

    Great, our audio is done!

Importing a Layered PSD File

1. At the top of Premiere, switch back to the Editing workspace.

2. Move the playhead back to 0;00.

3. Let’s import our art. Go to File > Import.

4. Navigate into the Shanarra Title Card > Capture > graphics folder, select Shanarra- title.psd and click Import (Mac) or Open (Windows).

5. When importing a layered file, you’ll see another dialog before the asset imports. In the Import Layered File window that opens do the following:

   • Set Import As to Sequence.
   • Keep all the layers checked on.
   • Set Footage Dimensions to Document Size.

6. Click OK.

7. In the Project panel, expand the Shanarra-title folder to view its contents. You’ll see each layer listed in alphabetical order, and a sequence file named Shanarra-title.

8. Double–click the Shanarra-title sequence to load it into the Timeline and Program Panels.

   In the Timeline, notice that this sequence contains all of the individual PSD layers.

9. Still in the Timeline, (not the Project window), draw a selection box around all the layers in the Timeline. Alternatively, use Cmd–A (Mac) or Ctrl–A (Windows).

10. Go to Edit > Copy to copy all the layers.

11. At the top of the Timeline, click on the Title-seq tab to switch to the main sequence.

12. Move your playhead to the beginning of the sequence if it’s not already.

13. Go to Edit > Paste. This not only brought the layers in but also added new tracks to accommodate them all. Nice!

14. With all the layers still selected, click and drag on the layers’ right edge so that their duration matches the audio clip.

Staggering Layers in Time

Next, we’ll work on getting each of the layers to appear at the point in time that we want them.

1. Deselect all the layers by clicking in any empty area of the Timeline.

   The background layer will come in first at the beginning of the Timeline so it can be left as is.

2. Move the timeline’s playhead to 1;00 by clicking into the timecode and typing 1. (including the period, which indicates we want 1 second and 0 frames).

3. This is where we want the Spiritual layer to appear (V5).

4. Click and drag on the left end of the layer and snap it to the playhead.

5. Move the playhead to 1;15.

6. Drag the left end of the Healing clip so it begins at the playhead.

7. Move the playhead to 2;00 and drag the left end of the with clip to begin there.

8. Move the playhead to 2;15 and drag the left end of the Shanarra clip to begin there.

9. Play through what we have so far. All the clips are now coming in when we want, but the text lacks the softness of both the design of the title card and the music that’s accompanying it. To fix this, we’ll add some transitions and animation.

Adding Zoom-Out Animation

We’ll add animation to some of the elements to create the smooth and sensitive feel that we want. The background layer will zoom out, mimicking the psychological effect of Shanarra’s wisdom – providing perspective for all those who follow her. Most of the text layers fade on, and then her name wipes on in a dramatic yet sensitive linear wipe reveal.

1. We’ll start with the background, so in the Timeline, select sunset-BG.

2. Make sure your playhead is at the beginning of the Timeline.

3. To create a feeling of pulling back from this image, we’ll add a zoom-out. This means we need to start bigger and end smaller.

4. Double–click the sunset-BG clip so that it opens up in the Source Monitor.

5. To add animation, switch over to the Effect Controls panel.

6. To the left of Scale, click the stopwatch icon so it turns blue.

7. We want the image to begin larger/zoomed in, so to the right of Scale, change the value to 115, well within our limit of 135% maximum scaling (to maintain image clarity).

8. Press the End key (or Fn-Right Arrow) to move the playhead to the end of the clips at 10;23.

9. Move one frame back by pressing the Left Arrow so that the playhead is at 10;22.

10. Change the Scale value back to 100 by clicking 115, typing 100, and hitting Return/Enter to lock it in. Do not click the stopwatch again, or all your keyframes will go away!

11. Rewind your playhead back to the beginning of the timeline by hitting Home (or Fn-Up Arrow)

12. Hit Spacebar to preview, and notice how the scaling we used gives a nice added feeling of pulling back from the sunset.

    To recap, we wanted the sunset-BG to appear to recede into the distance/zoom out, which meant that the scale of the image needed to reduce over time. So setting a scale keyframe of a 115 value at time 0;00 specified that we want that clip to be 115% of its original size at the start. Then we moved the playhead to the end of the clip (10 seconds and 23 frames), and changed the Scale value back to 100%. The result is that the layer will appear to shrink in scale over the course of about 11 seconds.

Adding Cross Dissolves

Next, we’ll add cross dissolve transitions to fade in each of our lines of text.

1. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the left starting edge of the Spiritual layer and select Apply Default Transitions.

2. Play through and notice that the default 1 second cross dissolve is too slow for the text.

3. Double–click on the transition and set the Duration to 15 and click OK.

4. Let’s do the same thing for the next two clips: Healing and with. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the left edge of the Healing layer and select Apply Default Transitions.

5. Repeat the process to add a default transition to the with layer.

6. Click on the Cross Dissolve transition on the Healing layer, and Shift–click on the Cross Dissolve on with to select them both.

7. Double–click either transition and set the Duration to 15 before clicking OK. This changes the duration of both cross-dissolves. Nice and easy!

8. Play through again from the beginning to admire the smoothness.

The Linear Wipe Effect

1. We think it might be nice if “Shanarra” wiped on. For that kind of animation, we can use a Linear Wipe effect. Move the playhead to 2;15.

2. Double–click the Shanarra layer so we can add animation.

3. At the top of the Project panel, click on Effects to view the Effects panel (or go to Window > Effects).

4. In the search bar at the top of the Effects panel, type linear wipe.

5. Under Video Effects > Transition locate Linear Wipe.

6. Drag and drop Linear Wipe onto the Shanarra clip in the Timeline.

7. By default, Linear Wipe doesn’t do anything. We’ll need to adjust settings in the Effect Controls panel to see any changes. Switch to it if you’re not viewing it already.

8. Under Linear Wipe, change Transition Completion to 50%.

   At 50% you can see that it’s wiping on from right to left.

   NOTE: Unlike how the Opacity property works, the layer will be fully invisible at 100% Transition Completion. To make it easier to understand, think of 100% Completion as “100% Wiped Away”. If something is 100% wiped away, you wouldn’t see it at all. If it’s 0% wiped away, you’d see all of it. To see how this works, drag your Transition Completion value from 100 to 0.

9. We want it to wipe on from left to right, starting with the letter “S”. To do so, change the Wipe Angle to 280°. This is a similar angle to the text that we worked out ahead of time.

10. Increase the Feather to 50.

11. Change the Transition Completion to 100% which means it’s totally wiped away.

12. To the left of Transition Completion, click the stopwatch to add a keyframe here.

13. Move the timeline playhead to 3;15, a full second later.

14. Change the Transition Completion to 0%.

    Using a Linear Wipe Effect

    To recap, here’s how to use the Linear Wipe effect to “wipe on” a clip:

    1. Drag the Linear Wipe effect from the Effects window over to the clip that’s wiping on or off.

    2. Set the playhead to where you want the wipe to be 100% “wiped away”.

    3. Figure out the best Wipe Angle by changing the Transition Completion value to 50, then changing the Wipe Angle. Test it by dragging the Transition Completion value from 100 to 0. When you’ve decided on a good Wipe Angle, change Transition Completion back to 100, and turn on its stopwatch .

    4. Move the playhead later in time, where you want the clip to be fully visible and “wiped on.”

    5. Change the Transition Completion value to 0. A second keyframe will automatically appear.

    6. Adjust the Feather amount as needed. No need to turn on the stopwatch unless you want it to change in how soft the edge is, over time.

15. Play through from the beginning. It’s looking pretty good but you may notice that it doesn’t seem to be playing back so clearly.

Rendering for Playback

1. Notice the yellow or red bar (or both) at the top of the Timeline. That means our animation hasn’t been rendered yet and may not play back in real time at full quality.

2. Let’s go ahead and render all of our frames. Go to Sequence > Render In to Out.

3. Once it’s rendered, the bar will become green. Feel free to play the sequence again to watch a smoother preview.

Adding Text with the Type Tool

This will be a title card that is reused from episode to episode. So it would be a good idea to type in to this title card the number of the episode that we’re going to be creating next (episode 47).

1. Move the playhead to 5;18.

2. At the bottom of the Program Monitor, click the Safe Margins icon . If you don’t see this icon, do the following:

   • Click the Button Editor icon .
   • Find the Safe Margins icon and drag it down into the lineup of used buttons below.
   • Click OK.

3. In the Tools panel, select the Type tool .

4. Click between the word Shanarra and the bottom title safe border.

5. Type in: episode 47

6. Use the cursor to select all of the text.

7. In the Effect Controls panel under Source Text, set the following:

   • Font: Adobe Garamond Pro Regular
   • Alignment: Center text
   • Font size: 64
   • Tracking: : –30
   • Fill Color: #F5E190

8. Text also has its own Transform properties. Below the Text settings, set the Position values to 960, 925.

   NOTE: Our title card is using a 1920-wide frame so we’ve set the x-value to 960 (1920/2). With the text also set to Center alignment, this will center the text within the frame horizontally.

9. We’ll add a cross dissolve that should be nice if it coincided with the last phrase (beginning at 5;18). Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the left end of the episode 47 clip and choose Apply Default Transitions.

10. Pull the right end of the episode 47 clip to where the other layers end.

11. Play through from the beginning to admire your finished title card!

Exporting the Final Movie

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

2. Hit the i key to set the in point.

3. Move the playhead to the last frame of the content at 12;29.

4. Hit o to set the out point.

5. File > Save the project.

6. Go to File > Export > Media.

7. In the Export Settings window, towards the top right, expand the Export Settings section if it isn’t already.

8. Click the menu next to Format and set it to H.264.

9. Next to Output Name, click the name.

10. Navigate to Shanarra Title Card > Exports.

11. Name it TitleCard.mp4 and click Save.

12. Under Basic Video Settings click the Match Source button.

13. Scroll down in the Video section and find the Bitrate Settings.

14. Set Bitrate Encoding to VBR, 2 pass.

15. At the bottom of the window, check on Use Maximum Render Quality.

16. Click the Export button.

17. After the export finishes, go into Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Shanarra Title Card > Exports and check out the finished video.