Where to start? Wedding pics & video

[Seawrenity]

Hi,
Hope someone can get me started in the right direction. Please bear with me while I explain what I want to accomplish.
I have the new package - Elements 6 & Premiere 4. I downloaded these and so I did not get any manuals. I have worked with photo editor programs and I am a fairly experienced CS3 user. I got Elements primarily for my husband. I am also experienced with Proshow Producer. I have made quite a few slideshows in Producer with good results, but have only used tiny snippets of video from my point & shoot camera. The shows were mostly made up of photos. What I am not familiar with is video editing and how you put a show with combined photo & video together.
What I need to accomplish is to put together a show of a wedding video interspersed with still photos. My problem is that I was handed a package that consisted of a dvd of the wedding video that was made at Ritz or someplace by one of the guests who did not really know how to use the camera properly. The video is long with lots of unusable footage. The DVD has some software on it from Ritz (Digital Scrapbook) and a copy of the whole video and then segments of the video. All are VOS extensions. I could not do anything with the software on the DVD.
I have managed to copy the video footage to my hard drive. After reading some posts here, I figured out how to break the video down into usable sections using the preview screen. I imported the file to El. Premiere and have made several smaller "sub clips" of the best footage and put them in the project. What I would like to do is to use some of the better still photos between these smaller video clips in a slideshow. Can these small clips be saved separately from the project? Questions:
Not sure what is next? Do I 1) now add photos from Elements (or my hard drive) to this project and line them up to drag them to the timeline?
2) make the subclips into one video, save it and use it in a slideshow in Proshow Producer? 2)Make a photo slideshow in elements and incorporate the video clips to that show? (I thought I read somewhere that Elements is actually better at making slideshows.) If I made an Elements slideshow and sent it to Premiere Elements, can the video sublips I've made be added?
I'm sorry to be so long, but I wanted to get across what I am trying to do. After editing the video, I am not sure what to do.
Thanks for any help at all. The help files, explain how to do individual steps, but not how to put things together.
Kathy

[Barb O]

I suggest that you also post over in the forums at http://muvipix.com/home.php because I know that there are participants that have used ProShow for slide shows and combined them with video in Premiere Elements. At least some of the participants have ProShow Producer whereas others have ProShow Gold.

I am not discouraging you from posting in this forum. However, since I know that people on the muvipix forum have used the combination of software that you referenced, I suspect that their advice will be very valuable to you. There is also an area at muvipix where people post samples of their video work - it is a great place to see what is possible with Premiere Elemtns.

My specific advice to you is - do not set yourself a deadline (or allow anyone else to set a deadline for you) for your first project with Premiere Elements. Because you said you have not done video editing previously, there will be a learning curve.

[ATR]

Seawrenity

There are numerous Threads at this site on slideshows, and many have different views. There are those who hang in there and get good results with either

(a) Premiere Elements (for creating the slideshow as well as generating the DVD-VIDEO)
(b) Photoshop Elements (for creating the slideshow) and integrating it with Premiere Elements (for generating the DVD-VIDEO)

And there are those who say @#$% with the Adobe products and use the products that you mentioned to do it all. Far superior products, they say. Apparently, you are using those products and know their pros and cons.

Group me with (a) first and (b) when indicated. I am not a Brand X follower. Know this at the onset, I am a detail person, so I will be asking a lot of questions in our dialogs and giving detailed replies. I try to answer quickly.

If you have not been discouraged from listening further, I would be happy to work with you here. If you are interested, let me know and I will give you a detailed plan of action that I have used.

Depending on your answers, I am thinking in terms of you first getting to know Premiere Elements 4 by creating your slideshow (stills + video) there as well as generating your DVD-VIDEO there. There should be no problem working with stills, video, and ripping video from the DVD-VIDEOs that you were given.

The first thing that I need to know is where you plan to show this end product... DVD-VIDEO via a standard TV/DVD player and TV?. With the additional output options in Premiere Elements 4, are you considering standard, widescreen, HD offerings, Blu-Ray? And, do you have the equipment to support the newer HD forms?

What are the pixel dimensions of your photos (W x H)? That is going to be important when you are evaluating the output options. How many photos are involved or do you want in the slideshow? Do they need photo editing before getting to Premiere Elements? What is the format of your video (how many total minutes will be involved). Are you planning on pans & zooms? Is your audio just music or narration as well. Keep in mind that the standard DVD capacity spec is 4.7 GB/120 min. For the stills, put a minimum of 5 secs for each and maybe 1 sec for the transitions.

On the downloads that you received, are there PDF Help files for both programs. If not, I will supply you with the online links for them. They are very comprehensive and no doubt more than you would get in the routine User Guide.

Summary:

Indicate Windows XP or Vista and optimize for the computer before you do anything. Indicate if you need the links for doing this. Defragmenting among other things is important.

Make sure that Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements 4 install properly. Do a very mini test run for slideshows in both programs to make sure that your DVD burner is being recognized for the tasks ahead and no crashes along the way. Start with the Burn to Disc option rather than Burn to Folder. Look at Burn to Folder if there is a burn incompatibility issue.

Indicate what your plans are for viewing the end product.

Indicate sizing in pixels dimensions (stills) and video (timing) so you can back calculate what you need to do or not do for resizing/re timing

Both programs have their own Organizer. But one of the features of this specific integration is that they share a common database. Read up on the benefits of that in dealing with your media.

Hope we can work with you, but, if you have other plans,.good luck and success in your project.

ATR

[Seawrenity]

Barb & ATR
Thanks for responding so quickly to my post.
Barb - the only deadline I have is what I have given myself for the end product. I would like to give this as a Christmas gift to the couple.
Also, I will do as you suggested and cross post to muvipix to get some opinions there.
ATR - Thank you so much for willing to be a tutor/guide. I will answer some of your questions now and will get the rest to you shortly.
-This dvd will likely be shown on TV only with a standard dvd player. I am running windows XP with 2 gb ram and plenty of HD space. I will defrag my computer before starting on the project.
-I will run a mini slideshow, (Ithink) to make sure both programs installed properly.
-I have to look thru the still photos I was given on dvd to determine the sizes. I realize that I may have to size them down. I'm not sure what to look for re: pixel dimensions on the video?
-The uncut footage of the wedding ceremony runs about 18 minutes, but probably 8-10 minutes of that will be cut out.
- The audio on the video includes some music and the wedding vows. I would like to keep the vows, and the music was shut off during the service, so I would like to cut that early part out and perhaps include some nice music in the background.
-I would like some panning/zooming/other effects, particularly on the stills, without going overboard.

I really would like to learn to use Premiere Elements even though I do not have a video camera myself. More & more, people like to have dvd packages of events with a combination of stills & video. My expertise is in the photography area so I see myself needed to learn the video portion.

I do not know at this point if Premiere Elements/Elements will ultimately be the best combination for me. I only mentioned Proshow because I had some experience with that program and wanted to see what opinions other users might have. It may be that I end up using both for different projects. I have a show I did on Proshow on line. If you are interested, you can view it here to get an idea of what I like to do:
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?
fl=2851423&alb=0
Again, thank you for your willingness to help me out. I am ready to jump in and learn.
Kathy :D

[ATR]

Kathy,

What resolution should still photos be?
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bb8822c

Premiere Elements 4 PDF
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremiereElements/4.0/help.html?content=WSDFBA8495-1B3C-4888-BC8C-990DC6924700.html

Add files from DVDs, still cameras, mobile phones, tapeless camcorders, and other devices
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremiereElements/4.0/help.html?content=WSDFBA8495-1B3C-4888-BC8C-99

How do I work on a large project in small pieces?
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bbe608f

How can I make a stress free video project?
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bbf8a18

Also, be sure to watch the Premiere Elements 4 video tutorials in the Learning Center of this web site.

Also, read up and get comfortable with the Organizer in Premiere Elements 4 as well as
In Editor, File Menu/Process Multiple Files (for batch resizing) and Image Menu/Resize/Image Size (for pixel dimensions evaluation and resizing if indicated).

To be continued…..

ATR

[ATR]

Add on....

That last sentence refers to Photoshop Elements 6 for the batch resizing as well as size evaluation and any image resizing.

ATR