Sams Teach Yourself Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours [Paperback]

Jeff Sengstack (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672324288 | ISBN-13: 978-0672324284 | Publication Date: September 19, 2002

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours offers practical advice from an author with a strong writing background, solid teaching experience, and extensive television production credentials.

Rather than simply presenting a collection of disconnected lessons, Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours always reminds its readers of the big picture and what they're trying to accomplish. The book includes not only instruction on the basics of using Premiere 6.5, but also tips on shooting high quality video, creating professional voice-overs, and effective methods.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 brings high-end video editing to the PC (90% of Premiere users use Windows). Anyone with a Windows PC who wants to venture into anything more than very simple video editing will eventually turn to Premiere 6.5.

The planned new version of Premiere, version 6.5 (slated for release in late summer 2002), will garner significant attention in part because it will add DVD authoring to its extensive feature set. The opportunity to create DVDs-from home movies to Hollywood productions-on PCs is a dramatic development, and Premiere 6.5 will be at the forefront of the emerging technology. The author has been working closely with Adobe, advising them on DVD software issues.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours offers practical advice from an author with a strong writing background, solid teaching experience, and extensive television production credentials.

Rather than simply presenting a collection of disconnected lessons, Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours always reminds its readers of the big picture and what they're trying to accomplish. The book includes not only instruction on the basics of using Premiere 6.5, but also tips on shooting high quality video, creating professional voice-overs, and effective methods.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 brings high-end video editing to the PC (90% of Premiere users use Windows). Anyone with a Windows PC who wants to venture into anything more than very simple video editing will eventually turn to Premiere 6.5.

The planned new version of Premiere, version 6.5 (slated for release in late summer 2002), will garner significant attention in part because it will add DVD authoring to its extensive feature set. The opportunity to create DVDs-from home movies to Hollywood productions-on PCs is a dramatic development, and Premiere 6.5 will be at the forefront of the emerging technology. The author has been working closely with Adobe, advising them on DVD software issues.

About the Author

Jeff Sengstack is an ACE, and Adobe Certified Expert on Premiere. He has worn many hats: TV new reporter/anchor, video producer, writer focusing on PC technology, high school math/science teacher, and music publisher marketing director. As a TV new reporter he won a regional Emmy and two Society of Professional Journalists first-place awards. He has written more than 300 magazine and newspaper articles as well as three books, co-authored two others and contributed to three more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Sams (September 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672324288
• ISBN-13: 978-0672324284
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a lynda.com author and an instructor in the Computer Studies department at Santa Rosa Junior College near San Francisco.

I have worn several hats: TV news reporter/anchor, video producer, writer focusing on PC technology, high school math/science teacher, radio station disk jockey, and music publisher marketing director.

As a news reporter I won a regional Emmy and two Society of Professional Journalists first-place awards. I am an Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor in Photoshop and wrote Adobe's Higher Education, Digital Video Curriculum Guide.

I've written 300 articles, nine books, and six (and counting) lynda.com video tutorials.

You can find my lynda.com DVDs in the software section of Amazon. Topics include Adobe Premiere Pro, Encore, Soundbooth, and Premiere Elements. I've also produced a lynda.com tutorial on "Growing and Sharing Your Family Tree."

I sing bass/baritone with the Occidental Community Choir (www.occidentalchoir.org), I am a long distance runner and I enjoy playing tennis with my wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginner's Book: Experienced Users Still Craving More, January 3, 2003

By 

PETER MCDERMOTT "Peter" (Germantown, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours (Paperback)

In response to the reader from South Florida, Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours is for beginning Premiere users. However, as a Digital Video editor (DVE), I would strongly advise that you use an easier program to start learning the basics of non-linear editing (NLE). Adobe Premiere, like many other Adobe products, is a professional and prosumer grade product. It's not intended for Aunt Nancy and Uncle Pete to use for making the yearly Thanksgiving family home video. It has commercial and industrial applications in news rooms, independent film studios, and freelance video production companies, such as my own.

I have been using Premiere for about a year now. I started on Premiere 6 and just upgraded to 6.5 hoping that the claimed "real-time" affects would really work, however I was disappointed. If you're new to the Adobe Premiere 6.5 editing system, I would suggest you pick up this book before any other. It does an excellent job of outlining every aspect of not only the software, but video editing in general.

In the first few "hours" you'll learn about video production. Shooting in "thirds," minding your audience and reserving transitions for times only when they are necessary. In the later chapters or "hours" you'll find great information and an excellent introduction to the editing environment. Everything is spelled out, and each feature is identified in the book.

However, as an experienced videographer and Digital Video editor, I think others will concur. Some of the features in Adobe Premiere are a bit "hokey" and amateur. Get your hands on a copy of Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects Production Bundle if you plan to be putting out any commercial pieces, the effects and "titler" in Adobe aren't really up to your audiences expectations. However, for the home user that just had to get this software title, or the new digital editor trying to familiarize themselves with Adobe's revamped editing environment I would really recommend this book as your first read to Adobe Premiere 6.5

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The power of Premiere 6.5..to the point...., October 1, 2002

By 

Alan Hamill (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours (Paperback)

I would like to recommend this book to anyone entering the world of Digital Video Editing. One of the biggest hurdles a beginner encounters is the sparsity of practical, easily digestible, easy to use information and techniques.
Of course there are other good books on the market in additional to this one but as the title says...."Teach Yourself Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours" and this book fills a previously vacant slot in the market.
As mentioned earlier it's replete with practical step by step examples which are not only easy to follow but Jeff also provides the relevance, the context, of using specific techniques and methods. It's not enough to simply show what Premiere can do, rather it's crucial to convey a sense of what you can do and when to do it, that is the important difference.
And it's not only about cutting video together, Jeff explores good design practice using the new Adobe Title Designer for broadcast quality titles, he delves into the exploding area of multiple formats including DVD production using the new Adobe MPEG2 exporter, basically he provides a detailed overview of Digital Video Technology using Premiere 6.5 as the engine.
In conclusion I would thoroughly recommend the book to anyone wishing to get up to speed as rapidly as possible in using the power and flexibility of Premiere 6.5. Buy this, you won't be disappointed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect! :-), March 12, 2003

By 

"enokling" (Oslo Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Premiere 6.5 in 24 Hours (Paperback)

Got me up and running in record time, and does not spend ages on to much detail in the beginning. Also offers those important tips that keeps your production from looking like a beginners, and warns you about the slight bugs and problems with Adobe Premiere and how to solve them. Also asks the important question: Is this logical? Several times and points out the ilogical aspects of Premiere.