User Guide Cancel

Arranging clips in the Sceneline

Last updated on Oct 1, 2024

Learn to quickly arrange your clips into a movie in Premiere Elements working in the Sceneline.

The timeline in Quick mode is called Sceneline. The Sceneline provides a stage to quickly arrange your clips into a movie. It displays images and video clips as individual thumbnails. Use the Sceneline to trim a video or combine video clips, photos, titles, music, and more into a unique production. You can also add captions, transitions, and special effects to your media.

The Sceneline has two AV tracks and one Audio track. Videos or images can be added to the AV tracks, and text created on V1 clips will, by default, go to the V2 layer. Only Audio files should be added to the Audio track of the Sceneline.

Suitable menu options on the Sceneline items:

Separate Audio: Use to separate the audio from the video clip on the V1 track.
Expand Audio: Use to expand the audio from the video clip on the V1 track.
Duplicate: Use to duplicate the selected clip.
Clear: Use to delete the selected clip(s).

To access this menu, select any clip or audio track and right-click. The menu will appear in the drop-down menu.

You can expand or collapse tracks to display or hide track controls. You can choose from several display options to control how video and audio clips appear on a track.

The left or Right Panel tools, Quick tools, track tools, and program monitor work together with Sceneline items. Sceneline items can be switched to Advanced mode without any issue.

Some of the key features accessible through the Sceneline are as follows:

Freeze frame: Freezes a specific frame from the media in your Sceneline and saves it as a picture. For more information about freeze frames, see Freeze and hold frames.
Render: Renders the layers and effects on the media in your Sceneline to create a smooth playback.
Delete/Clear: You can delete the media from Program Monitor and the Timeline.
Auto Reframe: Automatically adjusts the aspect ratio of your video to fit different screen sizes and social media formats, such as square, vertical, or widescreen.
Rotate Right: Rotates the clip to right in the Program Monitor.
Program monitor settings:
- Playback Resolution: Sets the quality as Automatic, Highest, Medium, or Lowest.
- Select Zoom Level: Changes the size of the program monitor according to one of the available percentage options.
Toggle full screen: Plays your media in full screen mode.
Add transition: Adds transition effects before or after your media, or in between two media. Click each icon to add an effect from the Transitions panel. For more infomation, see Apply transitions in the Sceneline.
More options (add title or media):
- Add Title: Click to add a motion title from the Titles panel. Drag a title from the pre-defined options and drop it in the sceneline to start creating your movie.
- Add Media: Click to add media to the sceneline through the following options:
  - Files and folders: Adds media from your computer’s hard drive or other storage devices.
  - Elements Organizer: Adds media from albums in Elements Organizer.

For information about customizing your media in the Sceneline, see Customize your media.

Add clips

Drag clips directly to the Quick view sceneline from Windows Explorer (Finder in Mac OS). You can also use the Add Media panel to add clips to the Quick view sceneline from various sources.

After adding clips, use the Quick view sceneline to rearrange them. You can insert a clip before another, after another, or even split it before inserting.

Place a clip

Drag a clip from your system to the Sceneline. When you drag the clip over the Sceneline, a vertical red line indicates the drop zone where you can place the clip. When the pointer changes to the insert icon, release the mouse button.

Note:

You cannot drag a clip from your system to the Monitor panel in Premiere Elements 2025.

Insert a clip before another

Drag the clip from your system on to a clip in the Sceneline.

The new clip appears over the one on which you dropped it.

Insert a clip after another

In the Sceneline, select the clip after which you want to insert the new clip.
Drag or Add the clip from your system to the Sceneline.

The new clip appears to the right of the selected clip, and subsequent clips shift to the right.

Move a clip

Drag a clip from a location in the Quick view sceneline to a different location before or after another clip. Place the clip in the drop zone (indicated by a green icon).
Release the mouse button. The clip moves to its new location.

Zoom in or out

When you zoom in on the Sceneline, it is magnified around the current‑time indicator, letting you examine smaller increments of media. You can also zoom in as you add a clip, magnifying the location around the pointer rather than the current‑time indicator. This technique lets you see the exact placement of the insertion point before you release the mouse.

In contrast, zooming out displays more of the Sceneline, giving you a visual summary of the movie.

In the Sceneline, do one of the following:
- To zoom in or out as you add a clip, drag the clip to the Sceneline. Hold down the mouse button, and press the Equals (=) key to increase the zoom factor or press the Minus (–) key to decrease it.
- To zoom in on the Sceneline, drag the Zoom slider to the right, or click the Zoom In button.
- To zoom out of the Sceneline, drag the Zoom slider to the left, or click the Zoom Out button.
Note:

To toggle between viewing the entire movie in the Sceneline and the previous zoom level setting, click the Fit To Visible Timeline icon. Alternatively, press the Backslash (\) key. Make sure that the Sceneline is active before pressing the Backslash (\) key. You can also zoom in and out by pressing the Equals (=) or Minus (-) keys on the keyboard (not the numeric keypad).

Note:

The steps described to zoom in and zoom out of the Sceneline also apply to the Advanced view timeline.

Clear a clip

Select a clip in the Sceneline.
Right-click/ctrl-click the clip and choose one of the following:

Clear

Deletes the clip with a gap in between the position of one or more clips.

Quick Tools

Available in Premiere Elements 2025 only.

A set of Quick Tools is now available in the Quick View Room. This tool panel can be moved and docked. The following tools are available to this panel.

Selection Tool: This allows you to select any item on the screen.
Rate Stretch Tool: It increases or decreases the speed of the clip.
Scissor Tool: It splits the chosen clip into two clips.
Text Tool: To add Texts or Title.

Customize your media

You can do the following to customize your media in the Sceneline:

Add Title

You can add a Title to your media (video clip or image).

Click on the Add Title icon on the top-left of the screen.
Drag the selected template from the Titles and Shapes panel to the clip in the Sceneline. You can add a new text layer by choosing the CTI (where you want the text to appear in the clip) by selecting Titles and Shapes > New Text Layer > select Text or Vertical Text.
You can edit your text by selecting the Edit button in the Titles and Shapes panel. Edit options will vary for Motion Graphic Templates depending on the template.

Add transition

You can drag and drop the selected Transition from the Transitions panel before or after your media or between two media, depending on where you want to add a transition effect.

Transitions before, in between, and after media
You can adjust transition settings by selecting the transition icon from the timeline.
In the Transition Adjustments dialog box, you can do the following:

Duration

Sets the duration of the transition. The default duration is one second.

Alignment

Controls how the transition is aligned between clips. By default, transitions are centered between clips.

Start/End Points

Set the percentage of the transition that is complete at the start and end of the transition.

Show Actual Sources

Displays the starting and ending frames of the clips.

Border Width

Allows you to adjust the thickness of the border surrounding the transition effect.

Border Color

Allows you to choose the color of the border that appears around the transition.

Reverse

Plays the transition backward. For example, the Clock Wipe transition plays counterclockwise.

Anti-Aliasing Quality

Adjusts the smoothness of the transition’s edges.

Custom

Changes settings specific to the transition. Most transitions don’t have custom settings.

You can edit your videos using various Tools such as Time Remapping, Color Correction and Grading, Pan and Zoom, Color Match, Candid Moments, Smart Trim and Freeze frame. To learn more about these Tools, see Tools.

Add Music score

A music score here refers to an audio track you can apply to a video in the timeline. It includes an intro, a body, and an extro. The music played in a score dynamically fits the length of the video track.

Soundbooth scores are like music pieces that adapt themselves to user-specified parameters, such as a video's length, by intelligently rearranging the musical structure and altering the mix to match a desired intensity.

To add a music score to your video clip, follow these steps:

Select Add Audio to the soundtrack button.
From the drop-down list, select Music Score. A list of categories of musical scores is displayed. Select a category of music score to explore the sounds available in that category.

Music Scores
The scores are displayed under the music score category selected in the previous step. Click the preview button to hear the score before applying it to the video clip.

Download Music Score

Tip:

All content in Premiere Elements 2025 is downloaded on demand. Manual and Deterministic downloads of content are not present.

Note:

Right-click and select Download Now to download the music score, can be done in Premiere Elements 2024 and previous Versions. Click here to read more about downloading music scores/online content.
Click to select the music score you want to apply to the video clip. Drag-and-drop it on the timeline on the intended video. The Score Property contextual pop-up menu is displayed.
In the Score Property pop-up, select from the following options:
- Intensity: A music score is an audio clip that contains sounds of various musical instruments playing together. You can increase the intensity of these sounds by dragging the slider toward Intense. To decrease the intensity of the musical instruments, drag the slider to the left toward Mellow.
- Fit Entire Video: Click Fit Entire Video to add the score to the entire video clip. The score sound plays throughout the video clip.
Click Done.
Score Property
Click Play or press Spacebar key to listen to the music score after applying it on the video clip.

Edit a clip

You can edit a clip's (video or image) Adjustments by selecting the clip and navigating to Edit > Adjustments.

What can you do with Adjustments?

You can modify basic color corrections and gamma adjustments, and if the clip contains audio, the panel will also display Audio Adjustment settings such as Volume, Balance, Treble, and Bass.

Select the clip you wish to make adjustments.
Access the Adjustments panel from the right action bar or select Edit > Adjustments.
The Adjustments panel will open and allow you to adjust basic color corrections and gamma adjustments. The panel will display Audio Adjustment settings such as Volume, Balance, Treble, and Bass of the clip containing audio.

Adjustment panel parameters

The Adjustment panel has the given parameters that you can adjust in a clip:

Color Corrections

Color

White Balance

The white balance in a video represents the lighting conditions during filming. Adjusting the white balance can significantly enhance the overall color of your video.

To adjust the white balance in your clip, modify the Temperature and Tint properties. You can use the eyedropper tool to select a white or neutral-colored area in the footage, which will automatically adjust the white balance. Alternatively, you can manually fine-tune the temperature and tint values using the slider controls until you achieve the desired color balance.

Temperature

Fine-tune the white balance using a color temperature scale. Slide to the left for cooler tones, and to the right for warmer hues.

Tint

Adjust the white balance to correct for green or magenta tints. Move the slider to the left (negative values) to add a green tint, and to the right (positive values) to add a magenta tint.

Saturation

Adjusts the saturation of all colors in the video uniformly. Drag the slider to the left to reduce saturation, and to the right to enhance it.

Light

Exposure

Sets the brightness of the video clip. Move the Exposure slider to the right to increase tonal values and expands highlights. Move the slider to the left to decrease tonal values and expands shadows. Adjust the slider until the video looks good with the desired brightness.

Contrast

Increases or decreases contrast. Adjusting the contrast mainly affects the midtones of color in your video. When you increase contrast, the middle-to-dark areas become darker. Similarly, decreasing the contrast makes the middle-to-light areas lighter.

Highlights

Adjusts bright areas. Drag the slider to the left to darken highlights. Drag to the right to brighten highlights while minimizing clipping.

Shadows

Adjusts dark areas. Drag the slider to the left to darken shadows while minimizing clipping. Drag to the right to brighten shadows and recover shadow details.

Blacks

Adjusts black clipping. Drag the slider to the left to increase black clipping, making more shadows pure black. Drag to the right to reduce shadow clipping.

Gamma Corrections

Gamma

Adjusts the midtones of your video. It helps to balance the image's luminance by modifying the gamma curve, which affects how light and dark areas are displayed.

Volume

Level

Allows you to control the loudness of your audio clips and tracks.

Balance

Adjusts the distribution of audio between the left and right channels in a stereo mix. This adjustment ensures that the audio is evenly distributed across the stereo field, preventing one side from being too loud or quiet compared to the other.

Treble

Boost

Adjusts the higher frequency range of sound, typically between 3 kHz and 12 kHz. Adjusting the treble emphasizes or reduces these high frequencies, affecting the clarity and brightness of the audio.

Bass

Boost

Adjusts the lower sound frequency range, typically between 20 Hz and 250 Hz. By emphasizing or reducing these low frequencies, bass adjustment affects the depth and warmth of the audio.

Apply Video Effects

You can edit your videos using tools such as time remapping, color correction and grading, pan and zoom, color match, candid moments, and smart trim and freeze frame.

Candid Moments

A video usually has various candid moments. This tool helps you mark and extract all your favorite moments in a video as a single collated or individual clip. You can use the clips of favorite moments that I've attached for editing or sharing.

For more information, see Mark and extract your candid moments.

Color Match

Color Match is used to ensure consistent color tones across different photos, videos, and parts of the images and videos. It helps blend clips together seamlessly by matching the color and lighting between the target videos and images.

For more information, see Color Match.

Freeze Frame

Grab a single frame from a video clip to use as a still image in your current movie or save it as a still on your hard drive for use elsewhere. For example, you can use a still in your clip to show a character starting an action but then stopping mid-action, frozen on the screen.

For more information, see Freeze Frame.

Color Correction and Grading

Color Correction and Grading are used to color-correct the clips with adjustments, LUTs, and curves. These tools allow you to adjust your sequences' color, contrast, and light in new and innovative ways.

For more information, see Color Correction and Grading.

Pan & Zoom

You can create video-like effects from images or movie clips using the pan and zoom tool in Adobe Premiere Elements. The effect works best for movie clips with minimal movement of objects.

When working with the pan and zoom tool, you select objects and the order in which they are panned and zoomed. Premiere Elements provides customization options, using which you can apply the effect according to your requirements.

For more information, see Pan and zoom to create video-like effect.

Smart Trim

Smart trimming enables you to trim the low-quality sections of a video file. Smart trim can be done manually and automatically. You can trim clips from the Quick view timeline or the Advanced view timeline.

For more information, see Smart trimming.

Time Remapping

Add a slow or fast motion effect to your videos for that wow factor. For more information, see Time remapping.

Get help faster and easier

New user?