Premiere Pro and After Effects: Enhancing Production Value

Learn how to get great video from mediocre footage, using compositing, color balancing, and artificial lighting (and relighting) techniques in Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Have you ever been handed substandard footage and have a client expect you to spin this straw into gold? In this course, motion graphics veteran and After Effects expert Chris Meyer shares his favorite tricks to take boring footage and create a more professional, compelling result. Most of these tricks can be performed inside Adobe Premiere Pro without the need for third-party effects. Some techniques also use After Effects, taking advantage of Dynamic Link, which makes the changes appear directly in your Premiere Pro timeline. The results add polish and production value—without missing deadlines or blowing the budget.

This course was created and produced by Chris and Trish Meyer. We are honored to host this content in our library.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Software versions and exercise files

1. Blending Modes Overview

• Applying modes
• Modes explained

2. Compositing Footage on a Black Background

• Live action composites
• Synthetic composites

3. Removing and Adding Tints

• Correcting white balance issues
• Unifying a montage of clips
• Tinting with gradients
• Affecting selected regions

4. Creating a Filmic Glow

• Filmic glow 101
• Boosting highlights
• Stacking treatments

5. Adding Artificial Lighting to a Scene

• Choosing lighting candidates
• Artificial light 101
• More practice
• Synthesizing lighting
• Shooting your own lighting footage

6. Relighting Footage in After Effects

• Using 3D lights in After Effects
• Material options
• A practical example

7. Stabilizing Handheld Footage

• Rolling Shutter Repair
• Warp Stabilizer in Premiere Pro
• Warp Stabilizer VFX in After Effects CC

Conclusion

• Goodbye

Introduction

• Welcome
• Software versions and exercise files

1. Blending Modes Overview

• Applying modes
• Modes explained

2. Compositing Footage on a Black Background

• Live action composites
• Synthetic composites

3. Removing and Adding Tints

• Correcting white balance issues
• Unifying a montage of clips
• Tinting with gradients
• Affecting selected regions

4. Creating a Filmic Glow

• Filmic glow 101
• Boosting highlights
• Stacking treatments

5. Adding Artificial Lighting to a Scene

• Choosing lighting candidates
• Artificial light 101
• More practice
• Synthesizing lighting
• Shooting your own lighting footage

6. Relighting Footage in After Effects

• Using 3D lights in After Effects
• Material options
• A practical example

7. Stabilizing Handheld Footage

• Rolling Shutter Repair
• Warp Stabilizer in Premiere Pro
• Warp Stabilizer VFX in After Effects CC

Conclusion

• Goodbye