For documentary editors, working with hours of raw footage and interviews can be both inspiring and daunting. Adobe Premiere Pro’s text-based editing feature has revolutionised this process, making it faster and more efficient to find and assemble the story within the material. By turning spoken words into searchable text, this tool simplifies the editing process, allowing editors to focus on crafting compelling narratives.
Why Text-Based Editing is a Game-Changer
Documentary editing often involves:
Sifting through hours of interviews to find key soundbites.
Organising dialogue-heavy content into cohesive story arcs.
Ensuring accurate captions for accessibility.
Text-based editing addresses these challenges by making every word in your footage instantly searchable and editable. Instead of scrubbing through clips manually, you can jump straight to the moments that matter, saving significant time and effort.
Step-by-Step Guide to Text-Based Editing in Premiere Pro
Step 1: Import and Prepare Your Footage
Start by importing your video and audio files into Adobe Premiere Pro. Organise your media in bins to keep your project tidy and easy to navigate.
Step 2: Generate a Transcript
Select the clip or sequence you want to transcribe.
Navigate to the Text Panel, which you can find under the Window menu if it’s not already visible.
Click on the Transcript tab.
Press Create Transcription and configure the settings. You can choose the language, enable speaker identification, and specify whether you want to include audio on all tracks or just specific ones.
Click Transcribe and let Premiere Pro process the audio. This usually takes a few minutes, depending on the length of your clip.
Step 3: Explore and Search the Transcript
Once the transcription is complete, you’ll see the full text of the audio in the Text Panel:
Use the Search Bar to quickly find specific keywords or phrases within the transcript.
Scroll through the transcript and click on any word to jump directly to that point in the video. This is particularly useful for pinpointing key soundbites or quotes.
Step 4: Create Text-Based Edits
Highlight a section of the transcript that you want to include in your timeline and select either Insert or Overwrite Edit. This will place the corresponding video and audio clip into your timeline at the playhead position.
Step 5: Refine the Rough Cut
After building your sequence from the transcript:
Adjust clip timings and transitions in the timeline for smoother flow.
Sync additional B-roll or visuals to complement the dialogue.
Refine audio levels to ensure clarity and consistency.
Step 6: Generate Captions
If you need captions for accessibility:
Return to the Transcript tab in the Text Panel.
Click Create Captions and customize the caption format, including style, font size, and positioning.
Premiere Pro will automatically convert the transcript into captions and place them on the timeline.
Practical Tips for Documentary Editing
Organize by Themes: Use the search function to group quotes and soundbites by topic, making it easier to construct your narrative.
Collaborate Efficiently: Share transcripts with your team for faster feedback on story direction.
Leverage Speaker Identification: When working with multi-speaker interviews, enable speaker detection for smoother organization.
Zoe Davis worked as Series Editor and writer on The Art Of... for ABC Television in 2024. Hosted by Namila Benson and guests, Executive Produced by Zoe Norton Lodge and Series Produced by Emma Watts, the series endeavours to explore some of life's biggest questions through art. Season 2 is due to air in 2025.
For a full list of cast and crew, head to IMDB.