Create a video story and give it cinematic flair. See how to assemble clips, design a title, add music, and share to social media—all from Adobe Premiere Pro.

Before You Start

Gather all of your video into one place on your computer, including scenery, close-ups, and selfies. It’s easiest when everything is shot in landscape mode using the same camera.

Step 1: Plan Your Story

Open the Assembly workspace, double-click a blank area in the Project panel, and select the video files you want to import. Use Freeform view to drag the thumbnails around and visually organize your story—don’t worry about lining them up. You can move the mouse over a thumbnail to review it.

Step 2: Lay Down the Shots

Press Control (Windows) or Command (macOS) as you click the video clips in the order you’d like them to appear. Then right-click and choose New Sequence From Clip.

Step 3: Build a Rough Cut

Trim the clips to focus on the best parts. Switch to the Editing workspace; then double-click a clip and press the spacebar to play it. As you watch it, press I (In Point) and O (Out Point) to mark the precise moments where the action should begin and end. Then drag to select all of the clips and close the gaps.

Drag the sequence to the beginning of the timeline so it starts at 0. To move a clip, drag it elsewhere—but before releasing the mouse, hold Control+Alt or Command+Option to move the other clips out of the way.

Step 4: Focus on the Message

Most video clips come with audio. You’ll likely want to mute some of it. Wind, background voices, or noises recorded on location, for example, can be distracting. Drag the audio you want to keep to a lower audio track and leave the unwanted audio on track A1. Then click the M at the head of the track to mute it.

Step 5: Let the Music Play

The right music can help you tell a great story. Switch to the Audio workspace and move the playhead to the beginning of the timeline. Play some default music samples on the Browse tab of the Essential Sound panel or narrow the list by category or a keyword search. Drag one you like to an empty audio track. You can learn more about licensing music from Adobe Stock.

Step 6: Sweeten the Sound

Fine-tune your audio with the settings on the Edit tab. Select an audio clip and choose the appropriate Audio Type. Explore the settings and discover the effect different adjustments have on the audio. For starters, click Loudness to expand it and click Auto-Match to prevent music and voices from being too loud during playback.

Step 7: Hook Them with a Title

Add a title that will make viewers want to watch your story. Switch to the Graphics workspace and move the playhead where you want the title to first appear. Select the Type tool, click on the Program Monitor, and then add a title. Position and style the text using the options in the Essential Graphics panel. You can choose from thousands of Adobe Fonts (we liked Cortado) and apply color and a shadow. Finally, drag the ends of the title clip in the timeline to set the title’s duration.

Step 8: Say It with Color

Lighting on a shoot isn’t always ideal, but you can fix this in editing. Switch to the Color workspace and select a clip that needs a color adjustment. In the Lumetri Color panel, click the Basic Correction section to expand it and click Auto. Use the sliders to fine-tune the adjustment. Explore other categories to find a creative look for your video.

Step 9: Share Your Story

Publish your video to social media directly from Premiere Pro. Click on the Timeline to make it active and press Control or Command+M. In the Export Settings dialog box, select the appropriate Preset. Go to the Publish tab, scroll down to your preferred social platform, and log in. Click Export to encode and upload your video in one step.

Put Your Influence in Motion

Your life isn’t static; your stories shouldn’t be either. One secret to engaging viewers and amassing fans is to keep your videos short. See what we did below. Share your work with @AdobeCreate and inspire others to curate their own personal film festival.