Preparing Material for Editing

1) Log in on a Mac using the given local media login details. We use a Mac because they are more powerful to run the editing software, as well as having more storage capabilities. You must log on to the local login, because if you are working on a shared project, the other person must be able to access it. Once it has loaded up, click on the program you'll be using to edit your media piece and wait for it to load.

2) Place the SD card into the port in the back of the Mac. Once the SD card loads up, make a new folder for you project within the destination 'movies' on the left hand side and then make 3 sub-folders within it; these folders will be for audio, video and images.. You should name your folder something relevant to you / the project so that you can locate it easily each time you edit.  These folders should be named appropriately so that they are easy to find and add or remove files to, when needed. Once the folders are made, transfer all your files from the SD card into the correct, corresponding folders. You should never edit straight from the SD card without transferring the files, because when the SD card is removed, the files are not on the actual computer so the video and audio will not appear. additionally, if you move or rename any folders / footage once you have started editing, you will have to 'locate' them again as the path will have changed and the program will not be able to find the files.

3) Once open, click on 'New Project' and proceed to name your new file. Then wait for the editing part of the software to load up.

4) Once you're loaded into your software and you've made a new file, import all of your footage and files into the project, from the folder. Once everything has loaded, go to the box in the bottom left hand corner and create 3 new folders to store your files in. Be sure to save the file now and this should also go into the folder that you have created within the 'movies' destination.

5) There are three different folders that need to be created; sound, footage and stills. When you're ready, import your files and place them into the appropriate folder. Making folders is very important when creating a piece of media as it allows files and other sources to be documented and stored in an orderly fashion that are easily accessible whenever they're needed. These folders allow you to separate your files effectively and are easily accessible at any point. 

6) Click on the folder containing the video, audio and other such files that you filmed, and drag them all into the appropriate folders within Premire pro. MOV files should be placed into the 'footage' folder, MP4 files should be put into the 'sound' folder and any JPEG files should be placed in the 'stills' folder. Once the files are safely put into these folders, eject the SD card correctly and remove it.

7) These images show some of the folders contents. The folders shown are the ones that host the footage and sound. As you can see, all the files are much easier to find and transfer now than if they were all scattered into one big mix of all file types.