New! Automatic Scene Detection in Premiere Pro

New with the Sept. 2020 update to Adobe Premiere Pro is automatic scene detection. This is a great way to deconstruct an already-edited video.

This system looks for abrupt changes in a movie, then gives you options on how to flag them. Here’s how it works.

THE SETUP

Import and edit an edited video into the timeline. Here’s a promo clip from the Hallmark Channel that I’ll use as a test.

THE PITCH

Select the clip, then choose Clip > Scene Edit Detection.

In this dialog, select what you what Premiere to do.

• Apply a cut… Cuts the timeline clip at the In of each scene change.
• Create a bin… Creates subclips for each scene, without editing the master clip
• Create a clip marker… Puts markers to indicate each scene change in the master clip.

You can select one or more options from this dialog.

THE RESULTS

When you choose to cut the clip, you get this: An In at the start of each scene.

When you select subclips, you get a folder filled with subclips.

When you select markers, you get… wait for it – CLIP MARKERS!

THOUGHTS

In playing with this, I was impressed with both its speed and accuracy. It flags cuts nicely, but sometimes overlooks dissolves. It can also get confused if there’s a large graphic with multiple video clips cutting underneath.

While any automated process should have its results reviewed, for those video formats – like DV or HDV or anything already edited – where you can combine multiple shots into a single clip, this scene detection is fast, easy and accurate.

---

Bookmark the permalink.