One of the things you will do often during video editing is splitting and trimming clips. It removes parts of the video you may not want or helps speed your video just right. If you are just starting to edit videos on Adobe PremiereYou may be overwhelmed with all the tools available and wonder how easily you can split your clips.
There are several ways you can split a clip in Premiere Pro.
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Method 1: Using the Razor . Tool
The easiest way to trim or split clips in Premiere is to use Razor tool. This allows you to split the clip at any point in the clip you want, right from the project timeline. The only downside to this method is that it can be less accurate, however, it’s a good way to make a rough first cut of your clips.
- Make sure that the clip you want to split is placed in your timeline.
- Look to the left of the timeline and you’ll see some tool icons. Move your mouse over them until you find one Razor tool, with an icon that looks like a razor, and select it.
- When you hover over your clip in the timeline, your mouse pointer should look like Razor Icon. Find where you want to split the clip.
- Click where you want to split and you will see the two parts will now be disconnected.
- Each split will now act like their own separate clips.
You can now delete the part of the clip you don’t want, or add effects and transitions to either part of the clip without affecting the other. Splitting a clip in the timeline also won’t affect the original clip from the Project panel, so if you want the entire clip back, you can just find it there and put it back in the timeline.
Method 2: Using the Source Table
Another way to split a clip in Adobe Premiere can be done before you include it in the timeline. This method is a bit more precise because you can change the exact in and out points of the part of the clip you want. With this method, instead of going to the timeline, you would use Source dashboard. This is the panel usually in the upper left, and when you select a clip in the Media Library, its preview will show up here.
So select the clip from the Projects panel you want to split so it appears in the Sources panel. Then follow these steps.
- At the top of the clip’s timeline in Source , you will see an arrow marker. You can use this to scan through the clip and set In and Outside markers. Wherever the In marker is placed is where the clip will start when placed in the timeline, and vice versa for the Out marker.
- Hit I or O key anywhere you want In and Outside mark is placed. I for In, O for out. There are also icons in the toolbar in the Sources panel that you can click to place these icons, which look like brackets.
- Once you have the marker set, in the Source panel tool select Insert. This will bring the clip into your timeline wherever the timeline marker is located. You can insert video with or without sound.
This is a good method to use for accuracy, as you can view the clip frame by frame and place In and Out markers at these specific points. It also won’t affect the original clip from the Project panel, like the other method. And, you won’t have to deal with the rest of the clippings cluttering your timeline.
How to delete part of a clip
If you used the Razor method, you may want to remove parts of the clip you don’t want in your project. To do this, you only want to delete part of the clip. Don’t worry, though, if you later realize you want to go back to part of a clip, you can go into your Media library and find the original clip again to include in your timeline.
Here are some easy ways to remove parts of a clip:
- Right-click the part of the clip that you don’t want. From here, choose Cut right to buy. The clip will be removed from the timeline.
- Alternatively, you can simply select the part of the clip you don’t want in the timeline and press Backspace on your computer. You can also click and drag in the timeline to select multiple clips and delete them this way.
Split a Clip in Adobe Premiere Pro
Using these methods, it is easy to achieve the perfect cut of a clip. Over time, these techniques will become second nature, as they are some of the most commonly used tools in a video project.
