Adobe Photoshop CC:

Video Editing Basics

Mario J. Ramirez, Adobe Certified Expert (ACE), Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI)
Email: iorrt@yahoo.com Mobile: 0915-5620689
 PS CC Video Editing Basics! ! !! ! Handout

PHOTOSHOP VIDEO EDITING

PARTS OF TIMELINE

C D

B H
E F G

A. Transport Controls

B. Video tracks (layers)

C. Playhead

D. Time indicator

E. Current time

F. Frame rate

G. Timeline zoom

H. Footage

BASIC EDITING IN PHOTOSHOP

Importing, Trimming & Moving

Set Workspace to Motion / Open a video file

1. Start Photoshop

2. Window > Workspace > Motion

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3. File > Open... edit-1.mp4 (beach)

Achieving Smooth Playback

Playback - Click Play button to play or stop playback

Scrub Playhead to move thru Timeline

Drag Timeline Zoom to expand or compress Timeline

Smooth playback - Green markings on Timeline indicates smoothness of playback / Video

is cached or stored in RAM / If the computer is capable, playback will be smooth / If not,
play it once or more times until green markings are complete

Allow Frame Skipping - If video is jerky, audio may skip / Click panel menu and choose
Allow Frame Skipping / This doesn’t affect quality of final video, it’s only for previewing

Trimming Clips

Slip Edit - Select the clip, hold Alt+Ctrl / Option+Cmd, click & Short Cuts (Enable)
drag clip
Space Play/Stop
4. Trim start @ 2:16 - where water begins to come in Fn ←→ Home/End

5. Trim end @ 8:00 - total length is 8s ←→ 1 frame

Shf ↑↓ 1 second
Add Multiple Clips
↑↓ In/Out point

6. Click “+” button

(or click filmstrip icon and choose Add Media to Timeline)

7. Select edit-2.mp4 & edit-3.mp4

Clips are nicely arranged inside video group

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Change Order of Clips

Every video in the group will appear on same video track w/o gaps

Ripple Edit - When video editors trim & cut video, they use technique called “ripple edit” /
Rippling means when a clip is shortened or removed, all the gaps are closed up /Some
programs like Premiere Pro provide ripple tools / Photoshop doesn’t need ripple tools, all
clips inside video group are automatically rippled

8. Change order of clips - e.g. drag basketball clip to first, then bring back

Order of clips can be changed in Layers panel. Clips are arranged chronologically, bottom
to top in Layers panel

9. Set final clip order as - ocean, basketball, cars

Replacing Clips - In Layers panel, select clip to replace / Right-click, choose Replace
Footage / choose new clip & click Replace

Assemble a Rough Cut

Rough cut (or assembly) - rough trim in & out of clips, & arrange clips in correct order on
Timeline / Cuts don’t have to be exact at this point / It’s to make sure all content is there &
in correct order Delete

10. Trim basketball shot at start at 14:06 / Trim end @15:00 (final length 7.01s) after
player has shot & other player catches rebound

11. Save as shortfilm_bball_beach.psd

Edits are saved in PSD file

Saving & Managing Projects

PSD contains all trims, edits, text, graphics, except video footage & audio files / This avoids
huge file / Video is referenced in Photoshop

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Editing an Interview

Interviews require detailed editing / The audio of an interview plays an important role /
Interviewee may make mistakes that need to be fixed / A lot of times, some other footage
or images are displayed (instead of the interviewee) so that the audience or viewer does
not always see a talking head, which makes it more interesting. In such cases, the role of
the interviewee changes to something more like a commentator

Scissors tool - used to fix slipups / It allows splitting video to remove a segment

12. Open interview.mp4

“Um” @ about 12:07

13. Select clip / Move playhead to 12:07 / Click Scissors tool

14. Move playhead to 13:17 / Click Scissors tool / Delete small in-between clip to
remove “um”

“Pause” @19:03

15. Select clip / Move playhead to 19:03 (mark 19:03 after the “um” part is deleted) /
Click Scissors toolxs

16. Move playhead to 19:20 / Click Scissors tool / Delete small in-between clip to
remove “pause”

End @29:19

17. Select last clip / Drag back the end to 29:19 to remove “Cut”

TIP - When editing an interview, don’t be too concerned about the appearance of the
footage / What matters is what’s being said / Trim & assemble so the dialogue flows /
Storytelling is the key

TIP - When shooting an interview, leave 3s of silence @ beginning & 3s @ end before
stopping recording / This provides headroom for editing

18. Save file as edited_interview.psd

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Using B-Roll Footage

B-roll is any footage that shows interesting action that’s not coming from the
commentator / What’s great about B-roll is, it doesn’t need to be shot at the same time as
the interview

It’s common to create cutaways of B-roll overlays for visual interest while the person is
talking / It keeps the video visually interesting (so it’s not always a talking head) & helps
strengthen the story

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ADVANCED EDITING TECHNIQUES

Advanced Features & Techniques

Transitions

Transition helps create a smooth change between different clips of footage / There are 5
different types of transitions in Photoshop

• Fade - Fades footage to transparency over time / Ideal to use if clip is stacked on top of
another

• Cross Fade - Creates a smooth blending fade w/ adjacent clip

• Fade w/ Black - Fades clip to or from black color

• Fade w/ White - Fades clip to or from white color

• Fade w/ Color - Fades clip to or from customized color

Duration determines length of time transition will appear

Applying Transition Effects

19. File > Open... shortfilm_bball_beach.psd

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20. Click Transition button at left of Timeline to open Transitions panel / List of
transition types

21. Click Cross Fade option / Change Duration to 2s

22. Drag Cross Fade between 1st & 2nd clips / Add one between 2nd & 3rd clips

23. Add Fade w/ Black to end of Timeline

This is a common way to end a video / It’s elegant & gives viewers impression of closure

Modifying Transition Effects

24. Click transition between 2nd & 3rd clips, rectangle w/ 2 triangles

25. Drag edge of transition to increase or decrease duration

To change duration more precisely, right-click on transition / Transition type & duration
can be changed / Transition can also be deleted

Adjusting Video Speed and Duration

Slow Motion creates a dramatic effect, e.g. slowing the video of a bride & groom coming
out of the church w/ confetti, clapping hands, smiles while soft music plays

In sports, the action can be more clearly seen

Slowing video creates an emotional connection w/ viewers

Suggested: Shoot @ higher frame rate - Ideally, set camera to higher frame rate, then
slow down to normal 24 or 30fps in Photoshop

Interpolate w/ Photoshop - If camera can’t shoot higher frame rate, great slow motion
can still be created / Photoshop interpolates frames & plays well @ different speeds w/
good quality

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26. Click basketball clip

27. Right-click on basketball clip / Change Speed 1st to 50%, then Duration to 14s

If speed is halved, duration must be doubled / Otherwise, only half of the clip will show

When duration is changed, there is a loss of audio / This can be masked with other audio
clips

28. Right-click transitions if changed, set them back to 2s

Working with Multiple Video Tracks

For most editing purposes, a single video track is sufficient / For more flexibility &
creativity, multiple video tracks become useful

29. Click filmstrip icon, / Click New Video Group to create a new video group

30. Drag beach clip up into new Video Group 2

Using Blend Modes

Layer opacity & blending modes are some things that can be done w/ multiple tracks

31. In Layers panel, select beach layer

32. Change blend mode to Soft Light

33. Try changing the Opacity, e.g. set it to 90%

Adding Polish to the Video

Add transitions

34. Click Transition button

35. Add Fade to end of beach track

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The clip seems to end too soon, so extend the “beach” clip to match the “bball” clip / This
will bring back the hidden part of the “beach” clip

36. Click end of beach track/clip & drag until it matches end of bball clip

All clips now blend nicely / Smooth, good-looking effect

37. Add Fade w/ Black at start of both video tracks / Transition must be added to both
tracks

Combining Two Video Documents

What’s been done - 1) Created a series of stacked videos w/ transitions 2) Cut up basic
interview

Here, the two tracks will be combined - to tell story & refine timing & sequence

38. File > Open... edited interview.psd

39. In Layers panel, rename Video Group 1 to Interview

Video group name must be unique to be able to copy it to another document

40. Select short_bball_beach.psd

41. Click filmstrip icon, / Click New Video Group to create a Video Group 3

42. Window > Arrange > 2-up Vertical to show the two documents side-by-side

43. Click edited interview.psd window

44. In Layers panel, select all interview layers, drag & drop it into
shortfilm_bball_beach.psd

45. Close edited interview.psd

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Editing an Interview with Footage

There are several things (a few tricks, workarounds) that can be done to make a decent
interview cut

A photograph will be added as a slide to add visual interest to presentation

46. Click filmstrip icon, / Click New Video Group to create a new video group,
Video Group 4

47. Click “+” button on right of Video Group 4 / Select pic-beach-sunset2.jpg &
Open

Image is added to Video Group 4

Arrange & adjust clips

Move clips around, adjust durations, add transitions, set clip opacities to 0 & animate
image clip

48. In Layers panel, drag Video Group 4 below Video Group 3 / make sure you don’t
merge pic-beach-sunset2 clip w/ interview Video Group 3

49. Move clips around as shown -

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Add transitions to clips

50. Add Fade w/ Black to start of interview clip 1 & Fade to end

51. Add Fade to end of pic-beach-sunset2 clip

Set Opacity of interview clips 2 & 3 to 0% (Invisible)

To be able to change the opacity of a clip, playhead must be positioned over the clip / In
Layers panel, change opacity

Setting opacity to 0% hides the video but plays audio

52. Drag playhead onto interview clip 2 / Click clip to select it / In Layers panel,
change the layers opacity to 0%

53. Do the same for interview clip 3

Animate Image w/ Motion Preset

54. Select pic-beach-sunset2 clip

55. Right-click / In Motion Preset drop-down, choose Pan / Click away

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BRING VIDEO ALIVE WITH SOUND

Sound from Video, Adding Music, Mixing Audio
Basics of Audio in Photoshop
Though not exactly an audio editing program, Photoshop can do useful things w/ audio

• Play audio on video tracks

• Add multiple tracks of audio and music

• Mix volume

• Mute audio tracks

• Fade sound in and out

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Adding Sound from Video

The photo has no audio, so there’s a silent portion between interview & beach videos /
Audio can be extracted from a video track and used by itself

56. Click the music note icon, / Select Add Audio... / Select edit-1.mp4 & Open

57. Drag the audio clip so it starts at same time as photo, pic-beach-sunset2 / Click
right edge of audio clip & drag it back to match photo duration

58. Right-click on audio track, set Volume = 60%, Fade in = 2s, Fade out = 2s / This
makes sound blend w/ rest of other sound, avoiding sudden change

Adding Music to Video Project

59. First, create a new audio track / Click the music note icon, / Select New
Audio Track

60. Click of the new audio track / Select Add Audio... / Select
michaelburns_rescumeinstrumental.mp3 / Open

61. Play music & find a good starting point / Where the music already starts to
intensify / Move Playhead on this point & cut with Scissors / Delete slower first
portion

62. Zoom out the Timeline / to see the end of the music

63. Drag end of music to end of video track

64. Right-click on audio track, set Volume = 15%, Fade in = 2s, Fade out = 2s

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CREATING CINEMATIC EFFECT
Using Filters and Adjustments

What makes a movie scene look so cinematic? / One thing that creates the effect is
coloring treatment / It creates a cinematic look in an ordinary-looking video.

Using Adjustment Layers

Adjustment layers affect one or more layers / They are nondestructive & can be changed
any time / They also work on video as well as on static images

Advantages of adjustment layers include:

• Nondestructive

• Re-editable

• Many can be stacked together

• Stacking order can be changed

• Control over which layers are affected

• Opacity adjustments to control strength of filters

• Blend modes for each adjustments to produce nice effects

• Each comes with a mask, so effect on the image or video can be controlled

• Adjustment layer masks can be animated

Colorizing w/ Adjustment Layers

Color & tone can be adjusted to create a professional look for video

Applying adjustment layer

Add Vibrance adjustment layer to boost the colors of sunset

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65. Scrub the playhead to ocean & basketball scene / The color of sky is from
basketball footage / Click bball clip to select it

66. Add Vibrance adjustment layer / Set Vibrance slider to 73 / This boosts the orange
colors in clip, enhancing visual effect

Add CLUT adjustment layer to create a cinematic effect

67. Scrub the playhead to interview clip / Click clip to select it

68. Add Color Lookup adjustment layer / In Abstract drop-down menu, select Gold-
Blue / This creates cinematic color effect

Mask CLUT effect on skin tones using brush w/ black

69. Select Brush tool / Set hardness around 80% / Set foreground color to black / On
mask of CLUT adjustment layer, paint area of face & arms / This brings back
original skin tones while maintaining color adjustment on rest of clip

Animating Masks on Adjustment Layer

The layer mask works for a still image, but not always for video / The head of the
commentator is moving from side to side, while the mask is stationary / It is better if it also
moves, i.e. animated, so the color adjustment is applied consistently with the moving
image

70. Remove transitions of interview clip / So it’s easier to see movement of the head /
Transitions will be restored later

71. View > Rulers / Rulers are now out & can be used

72. Scrub playhead / Look for leftmost position of head & place a vertical guide
there / Look for rightmost position & place a vertical guide there

73. Hide Rulers

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Working w/ comments

In Premiere Pro, there are Timeline markers / Photoshop does not have Timeline markers /
Instead, use Photoshop Timeline comments as workaround markers

74. Click panel menu > Show > Comments Track

75. Scrub playhead until head moves to other side / Click Comment track stopwatch,
click OK to add a comment / Next time, to add more comments, click diamond that
appears at start of Comment track

76. Scrub playhead thru visible interview track & every time head moves to opposite
side, add a comment & click OK / Remember to just click diamond NOT stopwatch

Animating mask

77. Scrub playhead to start of Timeline

78. In Layers panel, drag CLUT adjustment out of video group & on to top of layer
stack / Adjustment layer must be out of any video group to have access to all
keyframes / This is needed to animate layer mask

79. On Timeline, click triangle of Color Lookup 1 adjustment track / This opens
keyframe options

80. In Layers panel, click mask of CLUT adjustment / Use Move tool to position mask
on face / Click stopwatch to left of Layer Mask Position / This adds first keyframe

81. Now, scrub playhead to first comment / Position mask on face / Another keyframe
is added

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82. Repeat scrubbing playhead & positioning mask for each Timeline comment / To
create all keyframes

To see the movement of the mask, Alt+click or Option+click on the layer mask / Now the
mask is visible / Play video & see the mask move

83. Add back Fade w/ Black transition to start of interview clip 1 & Fade to end / Add
Fade transition to start and end of CLUT adjustment clip

Lower mask density to tone down CLUT masking

84. Click CLUT mask / Open Properties panel w/c should show / Set Density = 70%

Clip CLUT adjustment layer to interview video group

CLUT adjustment is affecting pic-beach-sunset2 clip / To prevent this, use Clipping Group
on adjustment layer

85. In the Layers panel, position pointer on line separating CLUT adjustment layer &
Video Group 3 / containing interview clip / Alt/Option+click on the line

A clipping group causes adjustment to affect only layer directly below it

Converting the Video to Black and White

Apply B&W adjustment to create nostalgic look of black & white film

86. Add B&W adjustment layer / Entire video turns black & white

87. Trim beginning of B&W track to beginning of beach & bball clips

88. In Layers panel, drag B&W adjustment layer to just above Video Group 1 / This
contains bball & cars clips / This limits adjustment to only bball & cars clips

Fading an Adjustment Over Time

89. Scrub playhead a few seconds into B&W adjusment / about frame 20

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90. Click open the triangle to left of B&W track

91. Click stopwatch on Opacity to set first keyframe

92. Advanced playhead 1s / to make a quick transition from B&W back to color

93. In Layers panel, set B&W adjustment Opacity to 0 / New keyframe is

automatically added

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ADDING ANIMATION & MOTION GRAPHICS

About Animated Graphics

Animated graphics & titles are seen in documentaries, commercials, news & sports
programs. Here will be shown how to create this kind of graphics.

Lower Thirds

A “lower third” is a graphic placed in the lower portion of screen, such as an animated bar
used for titling

Creating a lower third graphic

Using Photoshop, lower third graphic can be created / Here instead, a previously created
graphic will be used

Importing a lower third graphic

94. In shortfilm_bball_beach window, in Layers panel, select topmost layer, color

lookup adjustment layer / This will ensure imported graphic will appear on top of
layer stack

95. File > Open... graphic.psd

96. In Layers panel, select two layers Photoshop Video Editing & GP 2018

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97. Use Move tool, click in image window & drag graphic to window tab of
shortfilm_bball_beach.psd / Shortfilm_bball_beach window will open / Continue to
drag pointer inside window (a thin outline is visible) & release click / Lower third
graphic appears

98. Move graphic to proper position

Animating title text

99. Click triangle on left of title text “GP 2018” to open keyframes

100. Drag playhead to 2s / Click Opacity stopwatch to create 1st keyframe / In Layers
panel, set “GP 2018” layer opacity to 0%

101. Drag playhead to 3s / In Layers panel, set “GP 2018” opacity to 100% / This creates
2nd keyframe

102. Click triangle on timeline to close “GP 2018” keyframes

This causes title text to start appearing @ 2s & be fully visible @ 3s

Animating graphic w/ nested title text animation

103. In Layers panel, select both “GP 2018” & “Photoshop Video Editing” layers

104. Right-click & convert to smart object named “GP 2018”

105. Click triangle on left of smart object graphic track “GP 2018” to open keyframes

106. Click Transform stopwatch to create 1st keyframe

107. Use Move tool & drag smart object graphic to left, outside of screen

108. Drag playhead to 1.5s

109. Drag smart object graphic into window to its final position / This creates 2nd
keyframe

110. Click triangle on timeline to close smart object track “GP 2018” keyframes

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111. Add a 1s Fade transition to end of smart object track “GP 2018” to fade it out
smoothly

Creating an animated credit roll

112. Scrub playhead to about 5s from end of video / Here it’s about 31:09s

113. Select Type tool / Font = Arial, Bold, 19 pt, centered, white

114. Click & drag a paragraph text box, approx. top to bottom, width about 1/3 of
window

115. Type the credits / Click check box to finish creating text

116. Click triangle on left of text video track

117. Click Transform stopwatch to create 1st keyframe

118. Use Move tool & drag down text box so only 1st line is visible

119. Scrub playhead to end of text track

120. Use Move tool again & drag up text box so only last line is visible / This creates
2nd keyframe

Test animation by scrubbing playhead at start of text track & clicking play button

Add fade-in & fade-out to text track

121. Scrub playhead to start of text track again

122. Click Opacity stopwatch to create 1st keyframe / In Layers panel, set text layer
opacity to 0%

123. Scrub playhead 1s forward from start

124. In Layers panel, set text layer opacity to 100% / This creates a 2nd keyframe

125. Scrub playhead about 1s before end of text track / Here it’s about 35:09s

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126. Since layer opacity is to remain 100%, no keyframe will be automatically created,
instead click diamond symbol to left of stopwatch, of Opacity keyframe

127. Finally, scrub playhead to end of text track / In Layers panel, set opacity to 0% /
This creates a 4th keyframe

Test animation by scrubbing playhead at start of text track & clicking play button

The video is done!

Useful Shortcuts for Working with Video in Photoshop

• Tap the Spacebar to play the timeline at the current time indicator point. Tap it
again to stop playing.

• Option-click (Mac) | Alt-click (Win) the current-time display in the lower-left

corner of the Timeline panel to switch between timecode and frame numbers.

• Option-click (Mac) | Alt-click (Win) the disclosure triangle next to the layer
name (on the Timeline panel) to expand/collapse the list of layer animation
options.

• Shift-drag to snap an object (keyframe, the current time, layer in point, etc.) to
the nearest object in timeline.

• With multiple keyframes selected, Option-drag (Mac) | Alt-drag (Win) the first
or last keyframe to scale the time “between” keyframes proportionatly.

To enable the following shortcuts for video, use the fly-out menu on the
Timeline panel to select “Enable Timeline Shortcut Keys”.

• Up Arrow moves to In Point of the current layer. Down Arrow moves to the
Out Point of the current layer.

• Left Arrow or Page Up moves to the previous frame, Right Arrow or Page
Down moves to the next frame. Add the Shift key to move 10 frames at a time.

• Shift+Up Arrow moves back in time 1 second, Shift+Down Arrow moves

forward 1 second in time.

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• Shift-clicking the Next/Previous Frame buttons (on either side of the Play
button) jumps to the next/previous whole second in timeline.

• Tap the Home key to jump to the beginning of the timeline, tap the End key to
jump to the end of the timeline. Note: on a laptop, press the function key (fn)
and use the Left/Right arrows to jump to the Beginning/End of the timeline.

And don’t forget, you can create custom keyboard shortcuts for any of the
items on the Timeline panel’s flyout by selecting Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
Choose “Shortcuts For: Panel Menus” and scroll down to Timeline (Video). Use
the disclosure triangle to view the individual commands and apply your own
custom shortcuts.

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