Tutorial: Scene Edit Detection Using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2020

Welcome to this short tutorial on the Scene Edit Detection feature in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2020. Scene Edit Detection is a handy feature that leverages machine learning and AI technology to automatically detect cut points and scene changes from your original video. This will allow you to speed up the process of color grading, adding effects, reframing, and even editing live multi-camera recordings. This is a great tool to use when you have to color grade or make adjustments to an exported video you may have received from a client. It also works well if you're looking to enhance color or add something to an older video that's already been exported and you no longer have access to the original Premiere project.

Here's how it works. In Premiere Pro I've loaded an exported video onto a timeline. The video file is loaded in one video layer and does not have any cut points applied to it. In order to see where the original cuts are, you can right-click on the video in the timeline and navigate to the Scene Edit Detection option. You will get a panel with some options. By default, the Apply a Cut at Each Detected Cut Point option is selected under Output.

Secondly, you can have this process create a bin with all of the sub-clips from each detected cut point. This option allows you to completely rearrange the edit. This would work well in the event that you wanted to create a trailer or highlight reel from an exported video.

Finally, you can have Premiere Pro add a marker to the timeline rather than a cut. If you prefer, you can enable all of these options if you'd like. For this demo, I'll go with the first option. When ready, you can press Analyze and Premiere Pro will process these options. This usually goes pretty fast, depending on the speed of your system. Adobe boasts a 99% accuracy rating of detecting all the scenes.

I've had really good results with this feature. It's another really simple, yet powerful tool to use to make your editing process more efficient. I've also loved using this feature when editing a live multi-camera switch that's been recorded. Oftentimes the recording gets sent to me as a transcoded baked file. So applying the Scene, Edit Detection feature has allowed me to quickly make edits to those videos and see exactly where the cuts were.

Give Scene Edit Detection a try in your next project.