In this DVD from Total Training, Jacob Rosenberg, post supervisor on
Dust to Glory, shows how to work in different file
formats, examines new tools, interface revisions and workflows for
Premiere Pro 2, and gives a mountain of tips and tuttorials along the
way.

Rosenberg is a man of passion and you can feel it through out this
disk. He is an award winning film maker who has directed a number of
short films and music videos. He was the Post Supervisor on the film
Dust to Glory, which took an HDV edit up to film entirely within the
Adobe pipeline. Find out more about him at
www.formikafilms.com/

I expected this DVD to be a quick overview of the new features in
Premiere Pro 2. It is that, and more. Rosenberg clearly knows his
stuff, and dishes it out with tornado force in nine comprehensive
lessons. At first he covers too many new goodies in way too little
time. The resulting information density left me exhausted and confused,
back-tracking constantly to see what he said. What he has to say is
very important and you don’t want to miss any of it. You’re going to
have to go over this deep training several times even if you are an
expert. I’d suggest mastering it one bite at a time before moving on.
That said; expect to find an array of sophisticated new features
explained, with exercises demonstrating such things as the new
MULTI-CAM work flow, new color correction tools, and very cool custom
DVD authoring tools. He also spends a good amount of time exploring new
HD formats and greatly expanded IO options as well, explaining all the
new option switches and what they’re used for. There is a lot new in
APP2.0 and Jacob covers it in detail.

Rosenberg gears this presentation to the video professional (as the
series name implies) with a well stocked vocabulary of video editing
terms which he tosses at you like ping-pong balls. Yes this is a
criticism, but on the other hand, I’m not a full time video editor. On
the plus side, he doesn’t mumble at all, showing you mostly tools and
adjustments that you’ll really need to know about, especially if you’re
editing HDV. A lot of thought went into the content of this DVD. Jacob
clearly is intense about his work; you feel it the whole time as he
introduces you to new workflows that will most likely make you more
efficient. Fortunately, as he gets into the new tool tutorials he slows
down…a bit, and his presentation, though still a bit jackrabbit,
demonstrates Total Training’s proclivity for well thought out, well
organized content.

Premiere Pro 2.0 is the centerpiece of the CS2 Production Suite. It
links directly with the the other applications for smooth and efficient
inter-app workflow. Unfortunately when this very first DVD for the
suite was produced, not all the individual components of the Suite were
available for demonstration, but you’ll get the idea. For example
Premiere Pro 2 can load After Effects projects even if AAE is closed.
You can use Bridge’s great tools for embedding information into your
video clips, without leaving PP2. If you have a fast processor and
plenty of ram you can be editing effects in AAE and your sound in
Audition 2.0 with all of your edits dynamically updated in your
PP2timeline. Rosenberg explains this approach. He also comes prepared
with a nice load of media clips including some HDV footage that you can
use to follow along in PP2 as he does his magic with each new tool.

Rosenberg’s “on steroids” presentation is awesome to behold, but there
are places, especially in the first few lessons where A little more
explanation and a less frenetic pace would be most appreciated by
semi-pros like me. I think in addition to being labeled “Professional
Series” this DVD should include warnings like: “Advanced” or “Expert”
because I think it’s one of the more advanced DVDs in Total Training’s
Production Studio CS2 series.

This is absolutely a good investment for those who really know their
video editing, and are thoroughly familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5,
and who can follow Jacob’s rapid-fire presentation. He clearly knows
his stuff and is willing to share, presenting some very interesting
techniques along the way. This DVD is not for the casual user who
bought APP2 to edit a few home movies into a DVD for the family.

Next I’ll be reviewing two excellent production design DVD series from
Gnomon Workshop. The first is an engaging 2 DVD set teaching how to use
Photoshop digital painting and compositing for concept development and
production design. The second series teaches you everything you ever
wanted to know about designing and building digital sets, with a focus
on urban backdrops for your production.

______________________________________________

–
VIDEO
TUTORIAL: What Are Clip Notes?

–
VIDEO
TUTORIAL: Set Playback in Premiere 2

______________________________________________