[Book Review] Essential Premiere Pro Video Editing for Online Marketing and Social Media

Background and Introduction

This book-review project has already reached its fourth installment. The main reason I have been publishing reviews so frequently is that I have recently been taking books I have finished—and do not expect to revisit—to a secondhand bookstore.

I still wanted to squeeze every last bit of value out of them, though, and that is how this review series began.

This Premiere textbook is the final book in the current batch that I plan to sell. XDDD

The review series will probably slow down for a while after this, so I can finally update the site with a few other kinds of articles. XD

Why Did I Want to Learn Premiere?

Following my Adobe learning sequence, once I had finished Illustrator and InDesign, Premiere was the next practical tool to learn.

You might ask: when so many applications can help people edit video, why would anyone still need to learn Premiere?

Well… that is a fair question. Especially since the arrival of AI, one-click editing and one-click captioning can be handled quickly by automated tools. It can seem as if there is no longer much reason to learn a program with an interface as complicated as Premiere.

When I learned Premiere, however, AI tools were nowhere near as popular as they are now. Yes, I really did learn Premiere a long time ago. Editing software was less diverse then, so I chose Premiere for its practicality and versatility.

I also hoped that I could eventually advance from ordinary post-production into video effects. Premiere was widely used by YouTubers, and I believed it could take me toward the kind of work I ultimately wanted to make.

So I chose to learn it without much hesitation.

The funny part is that, after spending so much time learning Premiere, I mostly used it to edit silly podcast highlight clips. I had not recorded video during the podcast sessions, so there was no footage; the highlights and outtakes had to be presented through hand-drawn digital art and animated title cards instead.

It immediately felt like: “I learned all those transitions and color-grading techniques… for this?”

I have also edited a few ridiculous clips for friends, but I still do not have a particularly serious project to show for it. (Silence.)

As an aside, when I only need to work with audio rather than video, I use Adobe Audition. You can find a previous article about the basics of Audition here:

Recording and Editing a Podcast with Audition CS6: The LearnMore Podcast

As for how I learned Audition, I will save that for another article someday. (There I go making another promise when I have no idea when I will finish writing all these articles.)

Why Did I Choose This Book?

Compared with graphic design, video editing has a relatively high barrier to entry.

Video requires some foundational knowledge: what a frame is, which format to choose, and which export format works for a particular social platform. These are all important prerequisites for editing.

Editing is not limited to cutting footage and adding captions, either. Image correction, color grading, and volume adjustment are only a few of the many details that need attention.

I usually enjoy learning through projects, but that approach did not seem quite as suitable for beginning Premiere, so I did not insist on finding a specific type of Premiere textbook.

I chose this book mainly because its cover was attractive and well designed—yes, I judge books by their covers—and because it deliberately devoted some space to the basic knowledge I mentioned above.

About the Book

It Identifies Which Premiere Versions Support Each Feature

After learning the Adobe applications in this series, I felt that Premiere probably had the largest differences between versions, especially between CS6 and Creative Cloud.

Because I owned CS6, I paid particular attention to which Premiere versions a textbook supported when choosing a book.

Even if I could not find a book specifically for CS6, that would still have been acceptable. I expected to move to Creative Cloud eventually, so learning newer material in advance would not hurt.

One thing I appreciated about this Premiere book was that the authors had considered readers using different versions. Although the book is structured around Creative Cloud, the upper-right corner of each section clearly indicates which versions support the feature being discussed.

Readers therefore do not have to keep experimenting just to discover whether a feature works in their version; the book labels that information clearly.

I do have one small complaint: the book uses fairly thick glossy paper. The thickness is fine, but the glossy surface reflects a desk lamp or monitor light so strongly that it can be uncomfortable to read.

It Covers the Basic Knowledge Needed for Video Editing

As I mentioned earlier, video editing has a higher entry barrier than graphic design, largely because more background knowledge is needed to make sense of initial format settings, later adjustments, and final output.

The first chapter briefly introduces fundamentals such as frames and pixels. The output section also discusses video formats commonly used on social platforms.

The coverage is not exhaustive, but it provides enough foundation for someone who wants to edit a first video, choose appropriate settings, and export it correctly.

Feature-Based Rather Than Project-Based Instruction

When learning Premiere, I do not necessarily expect a textbook to design a separate project for every feature it teaches.

A polished video already combines basic editing, captions, transitions, some effects, and finally export.

Accordingly, this Premiere book follows a feature-based teaching sequence rather than organizing its lessons around projects or cases.

Even within that feature-based approach, the book groups its material into broad sections: basic editing in one chapter, transitions and effects in another, and post-production adjustments elsewhere. That makes topics reasonably easy to find later.

The features also follow a typical editing workflow, beginning with project creation and format settings, then importing footage, basic editing, transitions, effects, captions, and final export.

It Includes Practice Assets and a Disc

A video-editing book without practice material would be frustrating. This one provides the video and image files needed for its chapters, including special matte files required by some lessons.

With the book in hand, readers therefore do not need to worry about having nothing to practice with.

The included videos are mostly scenery—snowy landscapes, simple buildings, and similar footage.

If you tried to turn those assets directly into a portfolio, the result might look like one of those karaoke music videos assembled from unlicensed stock footage. XDDDDD

If you want to build a portfolio, I strongly recommend preparing different material or waiting until you have finished the entire book before creating a finished edit.

All of the assets are supplied on a disc. I already complained about discs in another review, so I will not repeat the complaint here. XD

It Covers the Features People Commonly Use

As noted above, the book covers most of the functions commonly used when editing video.

My main disappointment was that it felt more like a reference manual than a teaching book.

What do I mean by that? Consider the scrolling credits that appear at the end of many films, listing crew members and sponsors.

The book gives the section a title explaining that it concerns rolling credits, then immediately explains the steps required to create the effect.

After reading it, you can follow the instructions and produce scrolling credits—but that is all.

A reader will not learn the practical reasoning behind questions such as: “Why do we need scrolling credits?” or “What problems might arise if we leave them out?”

Although the features are grouped into broad categories, the book rarely explains their causes, purposes, or relationships. I often felt unsure where a chapter’s technique would be used, and the individual sections could feel fragmented rather than connected.

Because each section focuses narrowly on achieving the effect named in its heading, anyone who wants to explore variations must experiment with other interface controls or search Google independently.

The book may not contain the particular answer you are looking for.

It Offers Relatively Little Practical Guidance

As explained above, the book focuses on helping readers produce a minimally complete video: correct formatting, readable hard-coded captions, appropriate volume, and acceptable color.

Real editing work involves many other techniques, however, including faster workflows and supporting software that can make editing more efficient.

Captioning is a good example. The book teaches how to add hard-coded captions, but it does not explain the difference between hard and soft subtitles or introduce software that can speed up caption production.

In other words, the book stays very closely focused on Premiere itself.

It also says little about title cards, effects, and other elements common in practical editing, and naturally does not include those assets in its resource package.

Readers hoping to find ready-made title cards, video effects, or transitions on the included disc will not find them there.

What the book genuinely teaches is the more fundamental set of video-editing functions.

Everything has to begin with the basics, of course. I simply want to emphasize this limitation so that readers do not expect too much from the supplied assets. XD

It Really Is About Editing, Not Filming

Making a good video requires more than editing skills; you also need to know how to shoot the footage.

Filming adds an entire set of concerns, including equipment selection, lighting, and set design. This book does not discuss how to create the source footage at all.

It concentrates on Premiere, editing, and post-production adjustments. Readers who want to learn the missing production skills may find the learning-method section later in this article useful.

It Includes an Introduction to Editing VR Video

This is one of the book’s more distinctive features and may interest some readers. The function is available only in the later Premiere CC versions covered by the book, however, so I skipped the entire chapter while studying.

If you are interested in editing VR video, you may want to consider this part of the book.

Because I skipped it myself, I will not attempt to describe it further.

A Beginner’s Learning Path for Premiere

As discussed above, the Premiere book says little about filming or about many techniques commonly used in professional practice. I therefore looked for additional learning resources in both areas.

While working through the book, I also followed my usual habit of recording what I learned and the experiments I tried in a Word document. I later added notes from other Premiere resources to the same file so that everything would remain easy to search.

After finishing the book, you should have a basic understanding of Premiere and be able to edit a reasonably watchable video.

It will still be fairly basic: the sequence flows, captions are present, and background music has been added.

To bridge the gap in filming skills and move closer to the work of contemporary YouTubers, I also bought a Hahow course: Million-Subscriber YouTuber Ray Du: Editing That Wins Viewers Over!

I highly recommend the course because it covers most of the areas missing from the Premiere textbook.

It discusses choosing a camera, lighting an environment, planning shots and storyboards, creating common title cards, and processing captions more efficiently.

Its explanation of Premiere itself is comparatively brief, however, and not nearly as detailed as the textbook reviewed here.

For someone beginning both filming and editing, I think the course and the Premiere book complement each other and together cover most of the required skills and knowledge.

Completing both resources may finally get you out of the beginner village, but Premiere evolves quickly. Every new version brings material that must be learned separately; finishing these two resources does not mean the learning is over.

New AI tools that can accelerate editing also need to be followed and learned.

After all, filming is one task and the time required for editing is another. The less time editing takes, the more you can actually produce. (Laughs.)

After completing those two resources, I began exploring video knowledge and techniques in two directions: studying the style of particular channels and learning techniques for particular effects.

For channel-style references, I studied several YouTubers whose work I enjoy. I especially like the pacing, shot choices, and editing style of Lady Flavor.

For edited livestream content, I prefer the style of the editors behind J Team Gamers.

When looking at how to give a program a stronger variety-show feel, I studied the editing styles of Carry International and Muyao 4 Super Playing.

I carefully observed their captions and title cards, the timing of effects, the order of edits, and their shot planning, then turned those observations into notes that could help shape my own editing style.

For effects, I usually search Google for phrases such as “horror-film editing effects” or “retro editing effects.” I also refer to the exceptionally skilled Howwork X.

So far, I have rarely had the chance to edit footage that is entirely my own. Most of the time, I work from the style a team wants and edit according to its needs. XDDDD That part of the process is simply additional time spent learning and accumulating experience.

The road to learning video is very long. There is always more to learn!

Conclusion

Of all the Adobe applications I have studied, filming and editing have unquestionably taken me the longest.

With so many applications assisting with editing and smartphone cameras continually improving, however, the barrier to filming and editing has become lower and the field easier to enter.

For that reason, I no longer think everyone necessarily needs to learn Premiere.

But if you want a real breakthrough in editing, hope to pursue more effects and sophisticated presentation, or eventually want to cut an impressive cinematic piece, learning Premiere remains indispensable in my view.

After so many consecutive reviews, I have finally written about the books I currently plan to sell to a secondhand bookstore. It may be a cliché, but I will see you in the next book review!