Each year or so, Adobe releases a new version of Premiere Elements, trying to better their past performance and improve the usefulness of the program to the end user. Sometimes the additions they've put in the program have been of very limited use to filmmakers, while, at other times, they've been very helpful. In fact, the “Beat Detection” algorithm introduced in Premiere Elements 4 is still one that I would love to see come to Premiere Pro CS5, as it can certainly makes cutting music videos and promos much easier.
Now we have Premiere Elements 7 (PE7) which boasts a number of new ease and power improvements. (The jump from Premiere Elements 4 is not quite as high as one might think. Apparently, the number was artificially increased, so that Premiere Elements would have the same number as Photoshop Elements. As such, what should be Premiere Elements 5 is now PE7.) So, let's crack into it and see what makes it different than it's past iterations. (If you are new to Premiere Elements and want to find out more about past versions, you can start by reading our review of Premiere Elements 4)
The new Videomerge aims to make chromakeying easier for amateurs, but it's limitations in comparison to a simple Green or Bluescreen key make it less likely that microfilmmakers will use it.
Ease of Use
As with past additions of Premiere Elements, PE7 is very easy to use, but to make it more easy to read, PE7 has gotten a visual look upgrade that seems directly based on CS4. While you can't drag around your workspace in the dynamic way you've been able to do with Adobe's pro line (although you can do basic resizing of windows), you can choose different basic workspaces and you can now adjust the color of the interface and text to look more professional.
Another thing that's designed to make things easier for users is the new inclusion (and encouragement to use) Photoshop.com. While the name would imply that this is just an online photo service like Shutterfly, Photoshop.com will in fact let folks host up to 2 gigs of photos or videos for free. (For folks who want more storage, you can upgrade to Plus membership for the small annual fee of $49.99--or $39.99, if you buy it with Premiere Elements 7. With this upgrade, you go to 20 gigs of online storage and Plus members get free downloads of new themes, layouts for InstantMovie, and tips and tricks.) This can be a great place to store small preview videos and pictures of locations where you can get to it anywhere.
A final feature that's designed exclusively for ease of use is the new VideoMerge option. The VideoMerge feature is designed essentially to auto-key any footage with a dominant color in the background. While this is clearly created to make keying easier for amateurs, the results are a bit sketchy for most footage, unless you play with the adjustment options. (And of course, once you have to play with the adjustment options, you've removed the benefit of an auto-adjustment feature.) If adjustments are necessary, you will find the options to be much more limited than if you choose the Greenscreen, Bluescreen, or Chroma key filter. (These filters are still easy to use, so most filmmakers will use these much more readily than they will the VideoMerge feature.)
While the "Instant Movie" option can be a quick way to make introductory movies for behind-the-scenes featurettes, the fact that you can't make more than minimal customization choices will make it a bit limited in its usefulness for most filmmakers. (Raw clips from "The Message" and music from Smartsound Quicktracks for Premiere Elements.)
Each year or so, Adobe releases a new version of Premiere Elements, trying to better their past performance and improve the usefulness of the program to the end user. Sometimes the additions they've put in the program have been of very limited use to filmmakers, while, at other times, they've been very helpful. In fact, the “Beat Detection” algorithm introduced in Premiere Elements 4 is still one that I would love to see come to Premiere Pro CS5, as it can certainly makes cutting music videos and promos much easier.
