MediaStorm Guide to Creating Effect Presets in Premiere Pro CC

This article is part of a series of posts with tips and tricks from our producers’ experience working with Adobe Premiere Pro after years of working in Final Cut Pro. To read more about why we made the switch, check out this post.


Reader Filip Lein asks, “I would love to be able to make custom effects like I had in FCP7…How can one make those please?”

Saving custom effects in Premiere Pro CC is easy but not obvious.

First, add an effect to a clip by doing the following:

  1. Search for the effect in Effects window (Shift–7).

  2. Drag the effect on to your timeline clip.

  3. Change the effect parameters by first clicking the clip in the timeline then opening the Effect Controls window (Shift–5). You may need to twirl down the disclosure triangle to see all of its options.

Once the effect is set to your specifications, right-click the name and choose Save Preset.

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Story is the Point

Back in the 90s, as a graduate student in creative writing, I discovered the novels and short stories of Richard Yates. His masterpiece Revolutionary Road, which was the basis for the 2008 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, depicts the stifled dreams of a suburban couple. Kurt Vonnegut called the book the greatest American novel since Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Last week, I found a series of quotes by the author. One in particular stood out. “Don’t be seduced by prose, the point is structure.” I think the parallel is clear. To paraphrase, don’t be seduced by gorgeous imagery. Story is the point. Now don’t get me wrong, I love beautiful video. I adore it. And seeing a stunning photograph for the first time is like a window opening in your heart you didn’t know was there. It’s a revelation. In fact, I’ve written elsewhere that we should embrace the grammar and aesthetics of…

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Read more about the article “The Long Night” Screens at Paley Center
The first private screening of "The Long Night" at the Paley Center for Media. Photo: Shameel Arafin / MediaStorm

“The Long Night” Screens at Paley Center

The first private screening of “The Long Night” at the Paley Center for Media.
Photo: Shameel Arafin / MediaStorm

On Wednesday night, influencers in media and activism gathered at the Paley Center for Media to celebrate the first private screening of The Long Night. MediaStorm’s first feature-length film and the first project funded by the Alexia Foundation’s Women’s Initiative grant, The Long Night is a shining example of both organizations’ commitment to driving change through the power of storytelling.

“When we first started working on this film, we thought we were producing a 10-minute piece about domestic minor sex trafficking in our country today,” executive producer Brian Storm said while introducing the film. “We quickly realized that this story was too big and too important to try to fit into that framework.”
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