Elementary Elements questions

[aquila]

I've been working my way through the tutorial which came with my trial version of Premiere Elements. I'm currently on Titles but I've accumulated a few questions which I had hoped the tutorial would address by this point to make "navigating" life a little easier.
The last straw was when I tried to edit a title that I had already created. My goal was to see if I could edit the roll properties. Unfortunately, instead of editing the title I had already created, I inadvertently superimposed a second title over another clip (or at least I ended up in that mode). I tried both "undo" and hitting the "Delete" key while the title box was selected... no luck. I couldn't even find a way to "cancel", "abort" or "ignore" the change so I closed the project hoping to bring it up again back to normal but the project was automatically saved prior to closing which would normally be a good thing except that I couldn't avoid the second titled clip.

**So....How does one abort something like a title on the wrong clip?
**How does one edit an already created Title without creating a new one?
**And while I'm at it... I've found clips that have made their way deep into the time line (like 6 minutes for an otherwise 60 second test movie). I've been selecting them all using the shift key to group them but I could only slide them to the end of the screen and scroll and slide them to the end of the screen again (progressing about 10 seconds at scroll).
**What is the magic button or key sequence to just jump my selected clips back to the beginning? Of course my patience gave out and I ended up clearing all those mini clips and just added them again at the beginning.
**One last question that's been on my mind. I've noticed that in the Sceneline, some clips have a small icon in the upper right corner (2 rectangles overlapping). What is that suppose to be mean to me? At first I thought maybe those were stills but it seems to appear on some video clips too. Maybe it's identifying "effects"???
Thanks for the assistance,
Judy

[ATR]

Judy

This just a quick note to let you know that I have seen your post and am working on a response which I should be posting within 1 or 2 hours, or sooner, if I do not get distracted by snow removal.

ATR

[ATR]

Judy,
Some miscellaneous: whenever, you want to get back to the start (0 time), hit the Home Key on the keyboard immediately to the right of the main computer keyboard. When you want to get to the end of the content, hit the End Key on the keyboard immediately to the right of the main computer keyboard.

Remember your title is going to be placed automatically in with the Media as well as at whatever position that you highlight on the Sceneline OR where the Timeline Indication (CTI) is located on the Timeline.

Do not forget to right click the Monitor and select Safe Margins before you start creating your titles. The text needs to stay inside the inner rectangle, the action within the outer rectangle.

I will go back to creating a Title later if necessary, but for now just the post titling details.

1. Let us say that you are in the Sceneline, Filmstrip positions 1, 2, and 3 have content (.avi, stills…). You select position 1. You create your title, and it is titled Title 01. First issue: you want it to extend this title over all three positions, not just position 1.

2. So, click on position 1, then click ONCE on the text in the Monitor. You will see a purple bar for each of the content of 1, 2, 3 moving and will finally see a gray bar appear “Title 01”. It will have two purple looking tabs at either end. With the far right purple tab of the gray bar, drag the end of this gray bar so that it matches up with the end of the last clip (purple bar). This gray bar Title 01 should match up with the same area as the purple bars. Now you have your title across more than one Filmstrip position.

3. Now you decide that you want to edit Title 01. Select Filmstrip position 1, DOUBLE click the text in the monitor and give a few seconds for the Titler Interface to appear. Edit, hit done, and your changes will be automatically reflected in the Sceneline.

4. Now let us say that you created an extra title or want to get rid of Title 01 in the Sceneline or in the Media Panel. In the Media Panel/Project View: right click the Title 01 file and select Clear. In the Sceneline Filmstrip…click on position 1, click ONCE on the text in the Monitor, and, when the gray bar “Title 01” appears, right click it and select Clear.

This all much easier with the Timeline in my opinion. I can go into details for that when and if. As for the icon (top right) at a given position in the Sceneline...as far as I can judge, it indicates the position of the start of a title. I would need to look into that to see if it is supposed to do anything else.



Chuck Engels has two free Title Videos over at his favorite place http://www.muvipix.com. (Products/Complimentary/), but they were done with Premiere Elements 3. So, I do not know if the "principles" aspects would compensate for any possible confusion with a different interface.

Let me know how you are doing. Do not stress yourself. Try to work something out, but, if it taking too much time, post, and I will see if I can help.

ATR

[aquila]

Thanks for your continued patience. Next time I find straggling clips I will select them all and hit the home key and hope that will bring them back.
I got a little confused with your instructions for the editing the title properties but eventually I discovered that if I let my title clip run long enough to roll into sight I could then click on the text and that would make the roll/crawl options button available. There may be an easier way but I've also found that I can edit the Time Stretch option by right clicking my title clip in the project file list. I just have to learn to remember where to go to edit what.
Thanks also for the mini tutorial on spanning the title across multiple clips. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet but certainly a handy thing to know.

As for deleting the extra Title clip, I used your instructions (#4) on one of the clips that I had extended the title over (in #2) although it seems to always take me a few clicks to get to the text. Anyway selected "Clear" and happily it cleared the text and not the entire clip. Just what I was looking for!

I've been spending a lot of time in the Timeline display but I make a mess of things. That's how I ended up with clips buried deep in the Timeline. I end up with gaps between clips then I try to grab them and join them together but I have to wonder if I've done any harm between the s t r e t c h i n g and scrunching to make things fit. Very time consuming moving things around to fill the gaps but hopefully using home will help me pick up the pace.
Thanks again! I'll keep studying.
Judy

[ATR]

Judy,

I have something for you to try re: gaps.

Right click the gap, followed by clicking on "Delete and Close Gap". That should do it.

Let me know how that works.

If I lost you with any of my instructions, let me know if you want me to re-write to clarify.

But, all sounds like you are making great process.

I will continue to be watching for your progress.

ATR