Create your own project templates

Video production can be complex. The way to manage that – and scale your projects – is to set up your workflow before you begin. Using Premiere projects as templates allows you to do that. It saves you a little time when you start your project, but it saves you a lot of time as you work on it, by standardizing your production pipeline and helping you to avoid errors.

Project templates include traditional bins for organizing media, which are common to any project, and much more. A Premiere project includes timeline layouts, track names, colored labels, effects, bins (media folders), search bins, and more. All of these can be saved, adapted as needed, and reused for new projects.

How do project templates help you create faster?

For new users, project templates offer insights into Premiere and help guide the editing workflow. For expert editors, provide a flexible tool for planning projects and completing work more efficiently. For editorial teams, project templates standardize media and timeline organization, simplifying collaboration.

Organize your project before you start

Projects often grow and evolve after you start editing. Project templates should allow for that. A common set of standardized bins helps you stay organized in the project.

Project templates can include search bins that automatically display media that meet the criteria you set. For example, a search bin configured to display all music clips in the project saves you from having to search other bins to find your music.

Anything that can be included in a Premiere project can be part of your template:

• Pre-built sequences: With pre-named tracks, editable titles, and motion graphics, music, and adjustment layers.
• Raw Video Footage: This might include animation files and can have pre-applied master clip effects.
• Graphics: This might include common logos, backplates, visuals for all projects, or even a wide selection of graphics cleared for use.
• Music and SFX: This might be an organized audio library with multiple clips to choose from.
• After Effects Compositions: If After Effects is installed on the same system, these are editable, with changes automatically reflected in Premiere. After Effects does not need to be installed for compositions to be included in a project.
• Titles: These might include the names of members of subjects that appear regularly, or they can be used as a template with the correct font and in-house colors for your organization.
• Stock elements: Incorporate Adobe Stock video and photos licensed by your organization.
• Exports bin: Place sequences in this bin before exporting to track versions for exported media files.
• Notes: Text files can be imported into Premiere Pro projects, just like media files. 

You can download the sample template project and adapt it as needed for your own workflow. Place it somewhere on your system for storing. Make a copy with a new name and put that on your media drive (the storage location you use for your media when you are editing).

• The main folder contains a Premiere project and a set of folders - the bins in your Premiere project. Each folder is empty except for a text file with a note about how to use it.
• The folders are numbered to ensure that they appear in the same order, but there is plenty of space to insert other folders where needed.
• Any content you reuse can be added to these folders. If you have different types of projects, you could create templates for each of them and populate those folders with recurring content, such as intros, audio, graphics, and so on.
• When you open the project in Premiere, you find the bins organized in the Project panel.

• You can choose to use this template as is. In Windows or macOS, copy your source media to the 10 Raw footage folder. In Premiere, open that bin and import your footage. This gives a running start with your timeline with an audio setup and bins for media.

Find media faster with Search bins

Search bins combine the functionality of a regular search with a dynamic, constantly updating search. These are a great way to automatically collate certain types of media, or clips with specific kind of metadata. For example, you can have a search bin configured to display any clips with “BTS” in the name, making it easy to locate behind-the-scenes content.

Here is a list of search criteria to create or customize search bins:

General

• All Sequences: Media type set to search for sequence.
• Favorites: Favorite set to True (it’s a Boolean).
• Hidden: Hidden set to True. It’s possible to hide elements in the project, and this reveals them. An example might be raw audio after it’s been synced to video or older versions of a sequence.
• Exported Sequences: A best practice is to duplicate a sequence when exporting and add the word "Export" to one copy. This search bin looks for any sequences that have the name Export.

Editorial

Search bins that help you find footage.

• Documentary style: Interview is in the Name field or Description.
• Documentary style: B-roll – Any information has b-roll or broll (in case someone adds or forgets the dash).
• Narration: Any information that has the word Narration.
• Voice Overs (VO): Any information has the word VO.
• Shot motion: The Name or Description has (individually) the words pan, tilt, or zoom.
• Shot type: The Name or Description has (individually) the words CU, MS, or WS.

Utility

Search bins that help analyze your media

• Offline: Status is set to Offline.
• In the User Directory: Find all files that are in the user’s home directory. On both macOS and Windows, any file that’s on the desktop, download, or other user-specific folders is likely in the wrong place. This search bin gives quick access to this media, making it easy to find and move it.
• Adobe After Effects projects: Find all imported media with the. aep After Effects project extension.
• Find Render and Replace media: Replace and render is a great method of improving performance, especially from Adobe After Effects compositions in Premiere. Locate all media that have “_Render” in the filename.
• All the Stills: Find any media type set to Image.
• File Type: Find every instance of 12 different common file types. 

Organize timelines

Starting with a sequence that has pre-named tracks helps keep the editorial organized and logical. It makes it easier to work with audio and navigate the sequence's contents.

If multiple editors contribute to a project, it’s much easier to share the work when tracks are standardized and organized.

Common timeline track types

• Video track names: Main, B-Roll, Graphics, VFX, and Alternate versions.
• Audio track names: Dialog, VO, SFX, Ambience, Music.
• Audio submixes: Submix tracks that don’t contain clips. Instead, the audio output from other tracks can be directed to a submix, where effects are applied. This allows you to apply audio effects to a group of tracks with a single set of effect controls.
• Adjustment layers: Having a pre-established “Look” on an adjustment layer permits seeing footage with a color treatment during the editorial process (and can be easily toggled off and on).

Timelines in the example template

All the sequences in the example project template already have their preview file format changed to match the sequence size, set to ProRes422. This codec supports fast rendering for export.

The example template has the following five timelines:

1. A 1080p 23.976-fps timeline, with named tracks and a track with an adjustment layer that has a LUT applied.
2. A timeline has been prepared for social media with Square Resolution (1080x1080).
3. A timeline has been prepared for social media with vertical orientation (1080x1920).
4. A timeline with a Hard Limiter effect and the Loudness Radar effect applied to the master track.
5. A timeline with four submixes (Dialog, SFX, Ambience, and Music).

Track-Based audio effects

Track-based audio effects let you perform advanced audio mixing right in your Premiere project.

In the example project template, two effects have been applied to the primary track - a Hard Limiter and a Loudness Radar.

The Hard Limiter is a compressor that prevents audio from exceeding its set level of -1 dB.

The Loudness Meter displays levels in accordance with the CALM Act (US) and the EBU R128 recommendations for loudness monitoring. This is critical for broadcast audio monitoring.

Multichannel output sequences

It can be useful to create an additional type of audio mix called an M&E – Music and Effects only, with no dialogue. This makes it easier to reuse content for multilingual delivery.

If you intend to create an M&E mix, organize dialog tracks separately to make it easier to selectively mute them.

This sample timeline has been configured for multichannel output. Each track type (Dialog, SFX, and so on) has been routed to an appropriate submix, as seen in the Audio Track Mixer below.

The final output will have five stereo tracks (10 channels.)

The full mix is on the first stereo track. Each subsequent pair of tracks is just the specific submix output on its own pair of channels.

When exporting, output must be configured to 10 channels, as follows: