Never give up on your dreams. That's something I always said and go on saying to myself. I must admit sometimes I went walking the road of "maybe not everything is possible". But when it happens I use to read thoughts of valuable people that realized their dreams. That helps a lot to keep the faith in yourself.
But when you are too stressed by things of life in general you seem unable to pursue your purposes. And sometimes, something apparently bad as is to loose your job, may result in a physical and interior rebirth. It happened in February. The fact of being on welfare for some months, made me feel enough protected economically to mentally and physically rest. I discovered that I was so stressed that I needed 2 months before my mind decided to dedicate to something useful. I have two old passions: video editing and writing. But while for writing you only need a simple laptop and your mind, for my old first but everlasting dream, video editing, you need resources.
I tried several times in 20 years but with no luck. My first video editing was done in the '90s using videotapes, two video recorders and a lot of patience! Still remember the amazing feeling of when I saw it finished. But when I was going to buy my first digital mixer video (price 4000000 Lire back then, actual buying power 4000 Euro, a lot of money) it happened that things went bad in my "world" and had to use that money to live.
Some years later, still in the '90s, things went better for me, technology had done GIANT steps and computers started doing the job of "old" mixer videos. I was so happy that I now had a computer and a software but... I sadly soon discovered that the program, to run properly, needed resources that my new computer didn't achieve. I got sad. I was unable to buy another in that moment. Damn!
But, being a very positive person I never really totally give up. I learned sometimes you must wait, no matter how hard it is.
I went on installing softwares for video editing on every pc I had in my life, but I was always a step behind. And time flies, inevitably.
When two years ago I bought my last laptop, having a lot of digital material to "play" with I decided to try an old version of Adobe Premiere. But once again, my 300 Euro cheap laptop - Win 7 64bit System Dual-core processor AMD E-300 APU with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics 1.30 GHz RAM 4GB- (still not enough money to buy one most powerful!) didn't reach the low specifications and video started running jerkily.
But, thanks to my constant motto "never give up on your dreams until you die!", one lucky day, April 1st 2014, I run into the last version of the software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC, 30 days trial. Innovative, so shining to my eyes. As usual, no matter this time too the specifications didn't match with the minimum system requirements I decided to though try it on the same laptop described above. And... surprise of the surprises... IT WORKED!!! Against every descriptions IT WORKED!!! I was INCREDULOUS!!! But finally, after 20 long years, my old everlasting dream could start. I felt so excited that it's very hard to describe. I was in my bed, with the laptop on my knees, watching that video running fluently in front of my eyes with no stops. I was smiling as a baby in front of their parents jokes and nearly crying. It was TRUE! It was RUNNING! Now it was only a matter of time to do my first digital video editing.
The first incredible excitement abruptly stopped after loading the first video. How to do the things in my mind? It was so that now that I had the POWER I didn't have the KNOWLEDGE! At first sight it's a complicated software. Complicated as every thing you never run in through. But luckily I always have been a self-taught person regarding technology. When I started using Microsoft Word 2.0 there was no internet (well, not the one we know now) and no tutorials. But it came with a very "fat" manual that I decided to start reading as a book. -It worked then, it will work now-, I said to myself. Now the "fat" book is a "fat" Pdf and Adobe created also a lot of intesting video tutorials that are short and very powerful. And if you add this what Google's world can offer and other tutorials from normal people on YouTube, you know you can start learning soon.
The trial comes with a sort of interactive project were you download videos, pictures and music, and together with the online teacher you can move your first steps. AMAZING.
The initial incomprehensible terms used became familiar in few minutes. Then followed the most, for me, exciting part: START DOING!
As usual, everything seams easy when done by someone with knowledge. So I diligently started repeting everything and DONE! I felt so proud of myself. But, being realistic, I just knew the problems would have started when beginning my own work. The videos in the tutorial where just selected and edited by the teacher, mine were only in my mind.
Indescribable joy when I loaded my first video to edit and soon after cutted the first scene. My dream was starting. Highly exciting. Then followed some major mistakes like deleting the video when inserting the audio, doing an unwanted slow-motion using the wrong tool, moving a scene just syncronized to the music that took me like 5 minutes to do it to later discover there was a dedicated procedure for doing this in one second. That's the price for not reading the manual first!
But sometimes, your knowledge with other softwares lets you do the right move making you feel like a pro! I needed to silence the original audio. How to do it? I instinctively right clicked on the video in the editing field and in the pop-up window I noticed a flag on enable. I unflagged it and... YESSS! It was the right thing. Now my few seconds edited started looking as a videoclip. My dream was going on. With a baby's smile on my face.
My next move was to slow the very first seconds of my video. Yes because that tool that I previously used when unwanted I was unable to find it now that I needed. So I started pressing each tool randomly. I know I must never do that but, you know, I like to be diabolic. So the predictable result was that instead of clicking 5 times starting from the top and find out immediately what I needed I ended up clicking like 20 times the entire row of commands without never pressing the right one! But if that by one side is diabolic by the other is instructive because you learn in few seconds the exact meaning of all the other tools. And that's good. You learn by your mistakes, says the said. True.
Next step was... how to delete just some few still from this clip? Another long research started and it was fructuous. Here I felt the power of the video editor: modeling the stills at my own pleasure. Because when you have a long time passion for editing as mine you watch nearly every scene critically doing yourself continuous questions like why those stills were repeted? Were them wanted or it was a mistake? Why that song is not totally in syncro at some points? Why that scene was so long and not intercalated with a shot taken from a different point of view?
The next addition was that thing called the lucky of the beginner. I liked a scene where there was a kick that I wanted to put it in a specific point of the music. Incredibly I posted it exactly in time at the first try! Well, we would use a term here for that, which is in gentle terms that human part posted right below the back. Lol, I'm sure you got it! ;D
My sequence was taking form and excitement was growing.
Screening the video material found a sequence that I decided it was the last, the closure of my first clip. The guy wave at the very end and my composition was bringing me to make another step. Transition. I needed a fade to black. Too bad that in the effect list on the left there is only a fade to white. Whyyyy? I need black! To see the effect I decided to though use the fade to white while searching for the proper black.
Started searching on Google "fade to black with Adobe Premiere pro CC". But it happened that there were only tutorials made with the previous version of the software. I said to myself -Well it will work as well.- WRONG! The software house decided to make the "fade to black" different, here. A lot harder to find for a beginner as me. So, after spending like 4 hours watching unuseful tutorials I searched on the good "old" fat pdf manual and found out what to do. There was a little mistake in my opinion but, doing some tries, I found the right one.
I went on searching and adding scene by scene and the excitement was bigger at any second added.
But since my slow video card sometimes didn't want to show me a fluent video, to see if my work was going well, it was time for my first rendering. I can't describe my immense joy when I watched the video, MY video, for the first time. I knew, I saw it was simple and imperfect but I was so proud of myself.
After watching it and asking a friend to give me their feedback I made some few changes and now the video was ready and for the first time, online.
A new, immense world opened in front of my eyes. And I feel a so great happiness that it's very hard to describe.
Thank you Adobe for this 30 days trial of Premiere Pro CC.
But when you are too stressed by things of life in general you seem unable to pursue your purposes. And sometimes, something apparently bad as is to loose your job, may result in a physical and interior rebirth. It happened in February. The fact of being on welfare for some months, made me feel enough protected economically to mentally and physically rest. I discovered that I was so stressed that I needed 2 months before my mind decided to dedicate to something useful. I have two old passions: video editing and writing. But while for writing you only need a simple laptop and your mind, for my old first but everlasting dream, video editing, you need resources.
I tried several times in 20 years but with no luck. My first video editing was done in the '90s using videotapes, two video recorders and a lot of patience! Still remember the amazing feeling of when I saw it finished. But when I was going to buy my first digital mixer video (price 4000000 Lire back then, actual buying power 4000 Euro, a lot of money) it happened that things went bad in my "world" and had to use that money to live.
Some years later, still in the '90s, things went better for me, technology had done GIANT steps and computers started doing the job of "old" mixer videos. I was so happy that I now had a computer and a software but... I sadly soon discovered that the program, to run properly, needed resources that my new computer didn't achieve. I got sad. I was unable to buy another in that moment. Damn!
But, being a very positive person I never really totally give up. I learned sometimes you must wait, no matter how hard it is.
I went on installing softwares for video editing on every pc I had in my life, but I was always a step behind. And time flies, inevitably.
When two years ago I bought my last laptop, having a lot of digital material to "play" with I decided to try an old version of Adobe Premiere. But once again, my 300 Euro cheap laptop - Win 7 64bit System Dual-core processor AMD E-300 APU with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics 1.30 GHz RAM 4GB- (still not enough money to buy one most powerful!) didn't reach the low specifications and video started running jerkily.
But, thanks to my constant motto "never give up on your dreams until you die!", one lucky day, April 1st 2014, I run into the last version of the software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC, 30 days trial. Innovative, so shining to my eyes. As usual, no matter this time too the specifications didn't match with the minimum system requirements I decided to though try it on the same laptop described above. And... surprise of the surprises... IT WORKED!!! Against every descriptions IT WORKED!!! I was INCREDULOUS!!! But finally, after 20 long years, my old everlasting dream could start. I felt so excited that it's very hard to describe. I was in my bed, with the laptop on my knees, watching that video running fluently in front of my eyes with no stops. I was smiling as a baby in front of their parents jokes and nearly crying. It was TRUE! It was RUNNING! Now it was only a matter of time to do my first digital video editing.
The first incredible excitement abruptly stopped after loading the first video. How to do the things in my mind? It was so that now that I had the POWER I didn't have the KNOWLEDGE! At first sight it's a complicated software. Complicated as every thing you never run in through. But luckily I always have been a self-taught person regarding technology. When I started using Microsoft Word 2.0 there was no internet (well, not the one we know now) and no tutorials. But it came with a very "fat" manual that I decided to start reading as a book. -It worked then, it will work now-, I said to myself. Now the "fat" book is a "fat" Pdf and Adobe created also a lot of intesting video tutorials that are short and very powerful. And if you add this what Google's world can offer and other tutorials from normal people on YouTube, you know you can start learning soon.
The trial comes with a sort of interactive project were you download videos, pictures and music, and together with the online teacher you can move your first steps. AMAZING.
The initial incomprehensible terms used became familiar in few minutes. Then followed the most, for me, exciting part: START DOING!
As usual, everything seams easy when done by someone with knowledge. So I diligently started repeting everything and DONE! I felt so proud of myself. But, being realistic, I just knew the problems would have started when beginning my own work. The videos in the tutorial where just selected and edited by the teacher, mine were only in my mind.
Indescribable joy when I loaded my first video to edit and soon after cutted the first scene. My dream was starting. Highly exciting. Then followed some major mistakes like deleting the video when inserting the audio, doing an unwanted slow-motion using the wrong tool, moving a scene just syncronized to the music that took me like 5 minutes to do it to later discover there was a dedicated procedure for doing this in one second. That's the price for not reading the manual first!
But sometimes, your knowledge with other softwares lets you do the right move making you feel like a pro! I needed to silence the original audio. How to do it? I instinctively right clicked on the video in the editing field and in the pop-up window I noticed a flag on enable. I unflagged it and... YESSS! It was the right thing. Now my few seconds edited started looking as a videoclip. My dream was going on. With a baby's smile on my face.
My next move was to slow the very first seconds of my video. Yes because that tool that I previously used when unwanted I was unable to find it now that I needed. So I started pressing each tool randomly. I know I must never do that but, you know, I like to be diabolic. So the predictable result was that instead of clicking 5 times starting from the top and find out immediately what I needed I ended up clicking like 20 times the entire row of commands without never pressing the right one! But if that by one side is diabolic by the other is instructive because you learn in few seconds the exact meaning of all the other tools. And that's good. You learn by your mistakes, says the said. True.
Next step was... how to delete just some few still from this clip? Another long research started and it was fructuous. Here I felt the power of the video editor: modeling the stills at my own pleasure. Because when you have a long time passion for editing as mine you watch nearly every scene critically doing yourself continuous questions like why those stills were repeted? Were them wanted or it was a mistake? Why that song is not totally in syncro at some points? Why that scene was so long and not intercalated with a shot taken from a different point of view?
The next addition was that thing called the lucky of the beginner. I liked a scene where there was a kick that I wanted to put it in a specific point of the music. Incredibly I posted it exactly in time at the first try! Well, we would use a term here for that, which is in gentle terms that human part posted right below the back. Lol, I'm sure you got it! ;D
My sequence was taking form and excitement was growing.
Screening the video material found a sequence that I decided it was the last, the closure of my first clip. The guy wave at the very end and my composition was bringing me to make another step. Transition. I needed a fade to black. Too bad that in the effect list on the left there is only a fade to white. Whyyyy? I need black! To see the effect I decided to though use the fade to white while searching for the proper black.
Started searching on Google "fade to black with Adobe Premiere pro CC". But it happened that there were only tutorials made with the previous version of the software. I said to myself -Well it will work as well.- WRONG! The software house decided to make the "fade to black" different, here. A lot harder to find for a beginner as me. So, after spending like 4 hours watching unuseful tutorials I searched on the good "old" fat pdf manual and found out what to do. There was a little mistake in my opinion but, doing some tries, I found the right one.
I went on searching and adding scene by scene and the excitement was bigger at any second added.
But since my slow video card sometimes didn't want to show me a fluent video, to see if my work was going well, it was time for my first rendering. I can't describe my immense joy when I watched the video, MY video, for the first time. I knew, I saw it was simple and imperfect but I was so proud of myself.
After watching it and asking a friend to give me their feedback I made some few changes and now the video was ready and for the first time, online.
A new, immense world opened in front of my eyes. And I feel a so great happiness that it's very hard to describe.
Thank you Adobe for this 30 days trial of Premiere Pro CC.
