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Sequence video clips and render an mp4 file
Overview
Name of explainer: Sequence video clips and render an mp4 file
Creative theme: Video editing
Software used: Premiere Pro
User level: BEGINNER
This is explainer 2 of 5 in this series
This series includes:
- Create a project, import video clips and save the project
- Sequence video clips and render an mp4 file
- Trim video clips, add fades and transitions
- Add text and music
- Putting it all together: Project Stonehenge!
This explainer series is also available in a microlearning course format! The course is completely FREE and you can download a PDF certificate of completion like the one below at the end! See our sister site pixelsofcourse
The Software
This series of explainers for beginners uses Adobe Premiere Pro. You can download a free trial version from Adobe if you have not used it before.
Premiere Pro is a PAID app, usually purchased as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud ‘All Apps’ subscription. It can also be subscribed to on its own. Here are example pricing options:
Premiere Pro has a ‘baby brother’ called Premiere Rush, a simpler video editor designed to work on mobile devices and laptops. It offers ‘quick and simple’ workflows but doesn’t include many of the features of Premiere Pro. Premiere Rush is part of Adobe’s ‘Creative Cloud Express’ bundle which may be suitable for content creators working between mobile and desktop devices. It’s worth trying a free demo to see if it includes the features you will need.
Please review all the subscription options before committing to a purchase. Also look for subscription offers.
This month we’re also running an explainer series for Vegas Pro (which can be purchased for a one-off fee or by subscription).
The final product
Here’s the simple ‘Spring is sprung’ video we’re creating as we work through explainers 1 to 4. Notice the added text, fades, transitions and music track.
The pre-requisities
This is a BEGINNER workflow explainer, so you just need to install and open the software. We’ll take it from there.
We suggest watching explainer one in this series before continuing here.
If you’re new to IT / computing, you may need help downloading and installing the software. Start with a search for ‘how do i install premiere pro’ or speak with someone familiar with downloading and installing.
Why would I do this?
Video creation is the art of storytelling! It’s essential that video clips are placed in the right order – Imagine if our explainer below included 26 video clips add to the timeline in a random order!
Even if you’re new to video editing software, you’ll have heard of ‘mp4’, the most popular video file format for general use, including uploading to YouTube and Vimeo.
Let’s do it!
Click the play icon to watch this video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can also watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.
Download the video clips used in this series
If you’d like to follow the explainers using the video clips demonstrated, you can download them below. These files are for personal use only and must not be distributed or sold.
Good to know
Premiere Pro uses context-sensitive menus. If you find that a specific menu option isn’t available (greyed-out), you probably need to select a particular panel first. For example, ‘Sequence Settings’ is greyed out below:
This is because I need to select the SEQUENCE panel first. Click anywhere on the sequence panel, and the option is now available…
Where to next?
For this beginner explainer we’re using the default option of ‘match sequence settings’ to render the video to an mp4 video. To take more control of your export, in the ‘Export Settings’ dialog, select H.264 as the format and look at the presets available. For example, below we’ve selected ‘Match Source – Medium bitrate’ which will create a ‘medium’ size file:
There is no ‘best’ option – If your video will be played back in a professional environment, your choice will be different to if your video is destined for YouTube or social media, where it will be compressed again when you upload it.
Notes and updates
There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in March 2023. This page was last updated in April 2025.
We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software gives users many ways in which to accomplish the same task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to reference multiple options. All computer users should run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risk.
This is number 7 of 10 explainer videos for video editing month. Make sure you check out the others!
