Most application reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere (hint, film-tv blog) and note four or more functions that you’ve never used before and why they may be invaluable for you editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester)

Last semester I listed the main keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Premiere, noting the L cut for dragging sound under a different shot and using ‘,’ for adding the selected clip to the sequence. To enhance this shortcut glossary, below lists four functions that I’ve never used before that will be invaluable to editing:

Duplicate – Shift + CMD + /

As editing is a task of trial and error the duplication of material will ensure that the original edit is not comprised if we wish to experiment with different elements of the program, such as colour grading in clips. Using this shortcut will also make the editing process a lot more efficient, as individuals will be able to duplicate and edit content in their own time, making adaptions to their own copies rather than directly editing the main sequence.

Clear In and Out – Opt + X

Clearing the ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the selected clip means no longer having to drag the points to the beginning and then end of the clip if you want to add the whole clip  to the sequence, it also means getting rid of previous ‘in’ and ‘out’ points which may have been set. This shortcut is more than invaluable to me, having already experienced the frustration of dragging the previous ‘in’ and ‘out’ points of a clip into the sequence without realising.

Change Speed/Duration – CMD + R

As I’m horrible at right clicking this shortcut will alleviate about five minutes of me trying to right click on the clip, before actually having to select ‘speed/duration’ from the drop-down menu. Furthermore, as our project has numerous action shots we may wish to slow down, this function will be a predominant part of the editing process, making its easy selection precious.

Mark Clip – Shift + / and Mark Selection – /

Marking important parts of clips while watching the content bookmarks ideas and moments of inspiration, therefore allowing you to jump to the significant content when you come back to search for clips. By marking favourite or interesting parts of clips by simply clicking two buttons while it plays, we can pre-select the vital content for our edit. With our project having an abundance of footage to go through, marking certain parts of clips will help us find what’s necessary with a click rather than having to scrub through the video content again to find it.

And lastly as a more general shortcut function:

Redo – Shift + CMD + Z

Surprisingly I’ve never used or been prompted to look up the Redo shortcut, and usually go to the edit menu and click ‘Redo’ from the drop down. Undo is probably a favourite among the keyboard shortcuts, something that’s got me out of numerous situations of peril, but sometimes it’s easy to undo more times than necessary. That’s where Redo comes in, allowing us to repeat operations previously undone and get back to the edit you want.