The Interview: Adding Titles, Transitions, & Editing Music in Premiere Pro

Topics covered in this Premiere Pro tutorial:

Importing the Title Sequence, The Dip to Black Transition, Adjusting Audio, Adding Background Music

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, we’ll continue working on creating the Shanarra interview video. We will learn how to import a title sequence, add transitions between clips, as well as add and edit music.

Re-Previewing the Final Video

1. You should still have yourname-TheInterview open in Premiere Pro. If you closed it, re-open it now by going to File > Open Project then Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Multicam Interview. We recommend you finish the previous exercise (5C) before starting this one. If you haven’t finished it, do the following sidebar.

   If You Did Not Do the Previous Exercise (5C)

   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 Class > Multicam Interview > Finished Projects.
   3. Double–click on Interview-Ready for Title Sequence.prproj.
   4. Go to File > Save As. Name the file yourname-TheInterview.prproj and save it back into the Multicam Interview folder.

2. If you don’t already have the final video (Shanarra Interview.mp4) open in QuickTime, re-open it from the Multicam Interview > Final Movie folder.

3. Play through the video and take note of the following sections we have not completed yet:

   • It opens with a title sequence fading in over an image of a sunset. We’ll be importing this pre-made title sequence into our timeline.
   • At 0:07, it fades to black and then to a wide shot of two women sitting on a couch doing an interview. We will use a dissolve transition to get this effect.

4. Keep the video open so you can refer back to it as needed.

Importing the Title Sequence

To save time, we’ve provided a finished title sequence that we’ll import into this project. If you want to learn how to create the title sequence, refer to Exercise B1.

1. From the Project panel, open the Interview-Multicam-edit sequence (if it’s not already open).

2. Hit the \ key to zoom the Timeline so you can see all the clips. (If it makes the clips small, hit \ again to zoom back in.)

3. We want to move everything over to make room for the title sequence. Click anywhere in the Timeline panel to make sure it has focus.

4. Press Cmd–A (Mac) or Ctrl–A (Windows) to select all the clips.

5. Choose the Selection tool .

6. Drag the clips in the Timeline to the right about 15 seconds (you do not have to be precise) to give ourselves some space to work with. (You’ll see a tooltip showing how far you’ve dragged.)

7. Go to File > Import.

8. Navigate to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > Multicam Interview > Projects to Import.

9. Select Title Card.prproj and click Import (Mac) or Open (Windows).

10. In the dialog that opens:

    • Under Project Import Type, choose Import Entire Project
    • Check on Create folder for imported items.

11. Click OK.

12. If you get an dialog about missing media, you’ll need to relink them. In the window that opens up, the first missing file (one with no check on the left) should already be selected which is most likely the first layer Shanarra_title.psd.

    • Click the Locate button at the bottom right.

    • Navigate on the left to Desktop > Class Files > Premiere Pro Class > MultiCam Interview > Capture. Locate the missing file in appropriate subfolder (Shanarra_title.psd is located in the graphics folder) and double-click the file.

      Once you’ve located one file/layer, the rest should re-link automatically.

    • If you get a message about missing preview files, just click Skip All.

    NOTE: In case you accidentally close the link window or any files remain offline, in the Project panel or Timeline, select the missing files, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) and choose Link Media.

13. In the Project panel, open the Title Card bin.

14. Drag the TitleCard sequence to the beginning of the Timeline on V1.

15. Whoops! This sequence actually comes with audio, which is not what we want so undo.

16. Instead, in the Project panel, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) the TitleCard sequence and choose Open in Source Monitor.

17. From the bottom of the Source Monitor, drag from the Video Only button , dropping it at the beginning of the Timeline.

    This turns the Titlecard into a nested sequence within the Interview edit.

18. In the Timeline, double–click TitleCard to open its Timeline and see all of its clips, animation, and transitions. We just wanted to show you this, so close the little x next to this Timeline to go back to our main edit.

19. Back in our Timeline for Interview-Multicam-edit, let’s shorten the duration of the TitleCard clip. Move the playhead to 10;23.

20. Drag the right side of the TitleCard clip to end at the playhead.

21. We want the title to fade in at the start. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the left edge of the TitleCard clip and choose Apply Default Transitions. This adds a nice cross dissolve.

22. Go to the beginning of the Timeline and preview the opening fade in.

23. Let’s make the opening fade in a bit longer. Double–click on the Cross Dissolve and type 200 to set the duration to two seconds, then click OK.

24. While we’re at it, let’s add a fade-out at the end of the entire interview.

    Go to the last interview clip and Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the right end (of the last clip) and choose Apply Default Transitions.

25. Once again, set the Cross Dissolve transition to 2 seconds.

26. Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the empty space between the title and the interview clips (on V1) and choose Ripple Delete.

The Dip to Black Transition

Between the titles and the beginning of the interview, we want to add a “Dip to Black” transition.

1. Go to Window > Effects.

2. Expand into Video Transitions > Dissolve and locate Dip to Black.

3. Drag Dip to Black and drop it between the TitleCard and the first interview clip on V1.

4. If it doesn’t center itself between the 2 clips, in the Effect Controls window, change the Alignment to Center at Cut.

5. Play through the transition to check it out… It should look pretty seamless.

6. The transition would be even smoother if we had the audio fade in. The audio is linked to the video, and we don’t want to add a transition to both (we already have one on the video), so at the top left of the Timeline, make sure Linked Selection is white (which means it’s off).

7. In the Timeline, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the left edge of the audio clip on A1 and choose Apply Default Transitions.

8. Double–click on the transition that was just added on A1.

9. For Duration, type 8 and click OK.

Adjusting the Audio

While previewing, you may have noticed that the audio’s volume is too low at the beginning. Let’s fix that.

1. If audio keyframes are not visible in the Timeline, click the Wrench  near the top left of the Timeline and choose Show Audio Keyframes.
2. If you don’t see the line indicating audio keyframes in the Timeline for A1, drag its lower lip down to view the track taller.
3. Move the playhead to 15;09 which where we switch from one view to another. The audio before this point is too low, and the audio after this point is OK.
4. Select the audio clip on A1.

5. In Effect Controls, to the right of Level click the Add/Remove Keyframe button .

   This adds a keyframe which locks in the current volume which is good (from this point in time and later).

6. Now we want to increase the volume in the first part of this clip. Move the playhead to 10;23 which is the start of the audio.

7. In Effect Controls, next to Level, change the value to 15 dB, and hit Return/Enter.

   Boosting Audio Levels

   Premiere Pro 2020 and later can increase the audio level by 15dB (previously it was limited to 6dB). If you need to go even louder, in the Effect Controls panel, under Channel Volume you can increase both Left and Right for even more gain.

   What else can you do to make it even louder if that’s not enough? Another trick is duplicating the clip’s audio to add an additional layer of audio.

8. By default, the value will gradually change from one keyframe to another, meaning this clip will start at a 15dB boost, and slowly go back down to 0 dB (which is regular volume). You can see this in the Timeline as the audio keyframe white line starts high and ramps down diagonally to the second keyframe.

   We want to stay on the first keyframe’s value for the entire time until it hits the next keyframe, so we must change it to a Hold keyframe.

   • In the Effect Controls panel, to the right of Level notice there are 2 keyframes . The first one is hard to see because you only see the right half of the diamond.

     

   • Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the first keyframe and choose Hold.

     NOTE: The hold keyframe is a square instead of the usual diamond shape.

9. Play through the section of audio and notice the interviewer’s volume is louder.

Adding Background Music

1. In the Project panel expand the Title Card folder and then the music folder within it.

2. From the Project panel, drag the music folder to the left or down, in order to release it from the Title Card folder.

3. In the Project panel, expand into the music folder and double–click Waterfall.mp3.

4. Choose Markers > Clear In and Out, to remove any existing edit points.

5. Zoom into the beginning of the audio file in the Source Monitor.

6. In the Source Monitor, move the playhead to 12;29, after the second musical phrase.

7. This is where we want the audio to end. Hit o to set the out point.

8. From the bottom of the Source Monitor, drag the Drag Audio Only icon and drop it at the beginning of A2.

9. Play the beginning of the video. The music is a bit too loud right now.

Adjusting Music Volume

1. In the Timeline, select the music clip so that we can adjust the volume.

2. In Effect Controls, under Volume, next to Level, click the stopwatch to turn it off because we don’t want keyframes here.

3. Next to Level, type –2, and hit Return/Enter.

4. We also want to further lower the volume of the music as the interview starts. Move the playhead to 9;20.

5. If you don’t see the line indicating Audio Keyframes in the Timeline for A2, drag its lower lip down to view the track taller.

6. Hit P to get the Pen tool .

7. Click on track A2 at 9;20 to make a keyframe on the clip. You should also see a keyframe show up in your Effect Controls window under Level.

8. Move your Playhead to 10;26.

9. In the Effect Controls panel, under Volume, set Level to –8 dB to create a second keyframe, fading out from the first to the second keyframe. You’ll also see the keyframe appear in the Timeline.

10. Switch back to the Selection Tool .

11. Play the beginning of the interview. Sounds better.

Adding the Closing Music

1. We need to add closing music to the end of the video. In the Project panel, in the music folder, double-click the Waterfall.mp3 again.
2. Go to Markers > Clear In and Out.
3. Set the in-point to 2;08;08 (go to this timecode and then press i)
4. Set the out-point to 2;26;09 (go to this timecode and then press o).

5. From the bottom of the Source Monitor, drag from the Audio Only button , dropping it onto A2 aligning its right end with the end of the last interview clip.

6. This closing music track should align with the previous music track. Play through the transition to hear what it sounds like. It sounds OK but we do need to lower the closing track’s volume.

7. In the Timeline, select the closing music clip.

8. In the Effect Controls panel:

   • Under Volume, next to Level click the stopwatch to turn it off because we don’t want keyframes.
   • Set Level to -8 dB.

9. Lastly, let’s fade out the end of the music. In the Timeline, Ctrl–click (Mac) or Right–click (Windows) on the right edge of the ending music clip, and choose Apply Default Transitions.

10. Double–click on the Constant Power you just added.

11. Set the Duration to 200 (2 seconds) and click OK.

12. Let’s render to preview our work so far. Go to Sequence > Render In to Out.

13. When it finishes rendering, move the playhead to the beginning of the Timeline and hit Spacebar to preview. Looks and sounds good so far!

14. Hit Cmd–S (Mac) or Ctrl–S (Windows) to save and leave the project open.