Help, creating a music video, please.

Hello,

I’m seeking advice on how to proceed with my video project, please. (I am a neophyte with Adobe Elements, but quite versed in computers & audio multi-tracking.)

I’d like to create what I’d call (for lack of a better term) a music video.

I have already created the audio track that I will be using for my project. The audio track was created in Cakewalk’s Sonar and is a composite of several audio overlays & mixed to a “wav” file.

I have now created multiple video recordings of myself playing various instruments along with my audio recording, using one instrument at a time.

What I am doing now is importing these various video recordings from my Sony Camcorder into Adobe Premier Elements.

I’ve started by importing the “master” audio track into Elements, and then am able to sync up the various video tracks to the master audio. (I’ll be throwing away any audio that was captured by the video camera ..)

Here’s where I need help.

I’ve started by importing the various video tracks into multiple video tracks in Elements.

But, it is difficult to edit the various video tracks, cut, cross-fade, copy, PIP, etc. and keep control of the tracks.

For instance, when multiple tracks exist in parallel, which one takes priority and which ones disappear behind the foreground video?

Or am I doing this all wrong?

Is there a good way to do this or a thread about this or a tutorial?

Thanks greatly!

--Tom Nickel

<tom_nickel@adobeforums.com> wrote in message
news:59b64092.-1@webcrossing.la2eafNXanI...
> Hello,
>
> I'm seeking advice on how to proceed with my video project, please. (I am
> a neophyte with Adobe Elements, but quite versed in computers & audio
> multi-tracking.)
>
> I'd like to create what I'd call (for lack of a better term) a music
> video.
>
> I have already created the audio track that I will be using for my
> project. The audio track was created in Cakewalk's Sonar and is a
> composite of several audio overlays & mixed to a "wav" file.
>
> I have now created multiple video recordings of myself playing various
> instruments along with my audio recording, using one instrument at a time.
>
> What I am doing now is importing these various video recordings from my
> Sony Camcorder into Adobe Premier Elements.
>
> I've started by importing the "master" audio track into Elements, and then
> am able to sync up the various video tracks to the master audio. (I'll be
> throwing away any audio that was captured by the video camera ..)
>
> Here's where I need help.
>
> I've started by importing the various video tracks into multiple video
> tracks in Elements.
>
> But, it is difficult to edit the various video tracks, cut, cross-fade,
> copy, PIP, etc. and keep control of the tracks.
>
> For instance, when multiple tracks exist in parallel, which one takes
> priority and which ones disappear behind the foreground video?
>
> Or am I doing this all wrong?
>
> Is there a good way to do this or a thread about this or a tutorial?
>
> Thanks greatly!
>
> --Tom Nickel

Hi, if there are better ways to do this I'll be glad to know too. I've
always thought I was doing it the long hard way.
Once you have your tracks in sync you can put the first one to the beginning
of the timeline and the next one right over it in Video2.The tracks can
simply sit out of the way farther down the timeline. As I recall V2 is what
you will see. Click anywhere on the video track (V2) to high light it..
Under the Edit tab you will see fx-effects which will give you a screen full
of effects. Right below that is a small tab that says edit effects, click it
and go to Opacity. Slide it to about 50% and you will see both video tacks.
The way I have done this in the past is do all the snipping and moving of
what I want from V2 down into the video I remove from V1. If they are in
sync, it is entirely simple. When V1&2 are edited into what is now the new
V1, I slide the next bit of video onto V2 and repeat. This has worked well
for 2,3 and 4 camera edits of live performances. I'm not sure how it will
work for PIP which I have never attempted.

The top track is the one you see.

In order to see the lower tracks, you'll need to slice (the scissors icon on the Monitor) to isolate portions of the upper tracks and then right-click on each segment and select Clear (not Delete) to remove each segment.

Rather than doing it that way, it may be easier to just create a single track of video using bits and pieces of all of your video clips, synching as best you can.