Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) [Paperback]

Tim Kolb (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240805674 | ISBN-13: 978-0240805672 | Publication Date: April 23, 2004 | Edition: 1

This highly illustrated, full color book tells you all you need to know to get up and running quickly using Adobe Premiere Pro to achieve professional results. It covers the essentials, so you can apply the knowledge to your project immediately.

All the important areas are covered: set up, the interface, editing, effects, integration with other Adobe products, and finishing.

An invaluable first read for users of all levels who want to achieve professional results.

* Companion web site with information on Premiere Pro 1.5
* Get up and running with Premiere Pro quickly
* Clear and concise coverage in full color

Editorial Reviews

Review

'From front to back, this 199 page book has very tightly integrated all of the necessary steps to take a video from the camera to the final output....What stands out the moment you open the book are the brilliant graphics. The screen shots are in full color and even the smallest text is easy to read.'
- Steven Gotz, Creative Cow
'The graphics are the highest-quality I've ever seen in a book that wasn't meant to be displayed on a coffee table. They add a rich dimension to the book that will help the readers tremendously.' - Jeff Bellune, Bellune Digital Video Services

Book Description

A low-priced, concise, full color alternative to the software bibles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (April 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240805674
• ISBN-13: 978-0240805672
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #985,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick read, great info. Can't beat the price., May 4, 2004

By 

"shizzleg35" (Riverton, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

This book is certainly a great way to get your chops, being taught by someone who uses the application for real world work - on a daily basis.

I've followed Tim around the web for years, on different forums and as a respected expert editor and Adobe guru. You can find him online and pick from his reviews, articles and posts that all clearly demonstrate his qualifications and insights before you buy the book... But no need, it's cheap! Very easy to get way more than 15.00 of value from this book. You really can't go wrong.

It's far better than trudging through a boring black and white book (typical software manual) that covers everything but what you really want to know! The book is laid out very well, lots of color. It offers a very visual method of learning the app and why the different parts of the app are there..what they do.

I've used Premiere for 4 or 5 years now. Premiere Pro is quite different. This book is a great primer and companion for learning the ins and outs of this newly revamped Non-Linear Editor.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful as an Overview, Not a Tutorial, August 20, 2005

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

I am really of two minds about this book. My impression is that it would be almost useless to teach someone how to use Premiere Pro. I still liked it.

I am no great video editor but I do have some, small familiarity and have learned some things from other books. Based on that experience, I doubt this book would have done much good at all in learning to operate the program. Where I found it useful is in its overview and presentation. It does a great job of explaining broad concepts and giving a feel for the capabilities of the program. It also give some of the very basics of the mechanics of how to edit. I suspect I will find this book useful as a continuing reference not to explain the particulars of how to do something but to explain conceptually what can be done. I will use it as a jumping off point to investigate specific topics in other books.

The illustrations in this volume are luxurious. They are full color screen shots and are big enough, barely, to see what is happening on the screen. How I wish other training aids had as nice visuals!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Tool, August 4, 2004

By 

Jeff Bellune (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro: For New Users and Professionals (The Focal Easy Guide) (Paperback)

The Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro by Tim Kolb is just that - easy. As a longtime Premiere (and now Premiere Pro) user, I found it very easy (there's that word again) to search through the book and find references to tools or procedures that needed "refreshing" in my mind. Even if you use Premiere Pro everyday, you don't use every tool or technique on every project, so the help file and good reference books like this are essential when deadlines are looming or you are just experimenting with new ways to jazz up your videos. The descriptions are easier to follow and are better organized than the online help included with the program. They often go well beyond the information that Adobe includes in the help files.

Aiding me in my searches (and for new users, making Premiere Pro easier to understand) are the book's graphics. The graphics used for the screenshots in this book are, in a word, spectacular. They are crisp, clear and large enough so that even a casual viewing conveys lots of information immediately. They are what sets this book apart from so many other "getting started" books.

I really wish that I had had this book available when I was first learning Premiere; it would have saved me lots of time and lots of bumps from banging my head against the wall.

Jeff Bellune
Owner
Bellune Digital Video Services