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Margaret Artola/3 min read

Adding Keyframes on the Timeline in Premiere Pro

Timeline Keyframe Workflow

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Master Premiere Pro at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate teaches Premiere Pro alongside After Effects.

In this video, we will learn how to use Pen Tool in Premiere Pro to adjust volume levels, as well as adjust a clip’s opacity.

Video Transcription

Hi, This is Margaret with Noble Desktop. Today We Will Be Looking at the Pen Tool in Premiere Pro. Before We Start, Go to Your Wrench and Make Sure All of These Items Are Checked. I'm Going to Click on Option Plus. the More Times You Click on the Plus Symbol, the Larger Your Audio Track Will Get. Option Minus Makes It Smaller and Option Plus Makes It Larger.

So Let's Say I'd Like to Fade in This Guitar Playing Audibly. I'm Going to Press the Pen Tool Right Here (P for Pen) or Just Click on the Pen Tool. Make One Point There Because That's My Base Level I Want to Return To, and Then One Point Here and Then Drag That All the Way Down.

A Couple of Times, so Another Way of Getting a Pinpoint on Your Timeline, Even If You're in the Selector Tool, to Hold in the Command Key and Make a Couple of Clicks. That'll Have the Same Effect As a Pen Tool. If You Are on a PC, You Will Hold Down the Control Key.

We Want This to Be an Extremely Dramatic Fade-in. Now, What Might Look Great with This is If the Video Followed Suit and Faded in Exactly the Way the Audio Faded In. So, I'd Like My Video Track to Get Larger. I Could Double-click Here or I Could Use Command + Plus. Now Here's Your Opacity Line. Again, at the Beginning of the Lesson, I Mentioned Having This On. This Actually Shows Video Keyframes.

So, I'm Going to Make Another Point Here. I'll Do That Command-click Again Because It's Easier. Make Another Point Here, and Then Just Drag It Down. but Maybe I Want to Hear Him a Little Bit Before I See Him, so I'll Make This Perhaps More of an Abrupt Fade-in by Just Moving That Over.

Now, If I Wanted to Work in the Effects Control Panel on the Opacity of the Video Clip, I Would Double-click on the Video Clip, Effects Control, Opacity. Let's Open That Up. This is Pre-checked Because It Was Used Before. So, I'm Going to Make One Point Here (I Already Actually Have a Point There). I'll Use That Back Arrow to Get to It and I'll Make the Opacity Zero. I'd Like It to Start a Little Bit Later. I'm Going to Move My Keyframe Closer to the Other Keyframe and You Can See It Being Reflected Immediately on the Timeline.

If You've Enjoyed This Lesson on Using the Pen Tool in Premiere Pro, This Has Been Margaret from Noble Desktop.

Video Transcript6 sections

1Full Video Transcript

Hi, this is Margaret with Noble Desktop, and today we will be looking at the pen tool in Premiere Pro. So before we start, go to your wrench and make sure that all of these items are checked. I'm going to click on Option plus—the more times you click on the plus symbol, the larger your audio track will get. Option minus makes it smaller, Option plus makes it larger.

2Creating Audio Fade-Ins with the Pen Tool

So let's say that I would like to fade in to this guitar playing auditorily. I'm going to press the pen tool right here—P for pen, or just click on the pen tool. Make one point there because that's my base level I want to return to, and then one point here, and then drag that all the way down.

So another way of getting a pin point on your timeline, even if you're in the selector tool, is to hold in the Command key and make a couple of clicks. That'll have the same effect as a pen tool. If you are on a PC, you would hold down the Control key. So we want this to be an extremely dramatic fade in.