Trying to give your videos a more cinematic look and feel? Adobe Premiere Pro lets you do exactly that. By adding black bars with cinematic style, you can give any footage a widescreen appearance. You can transform it so that it looks like it was shot in dramatic widescreen.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add black bars in Premiere Pro. It’s an easy process, and it works with any footage. Black bars appear at the top and bottom of your video. They help create a widescreen aspect ratio, like that you’ll often see at the movies.
Let’s learn how to add black bars in Premiere Pro, with just a few steps.
How to Add Cinematic Bars in Premiere Pro (Step by Step)
Learning how to make black bars in Premiere Pro is amazingly easy. Below, we will walk through the process.
To demonstrate, we’ll work with stock footage from Envato Elements. You can download it here to follow along with our tutorial guide.
Let’s get started!
1. Create an Adjustment Layer in Premiere Pro
To see how to add black bars in Premiere, begin by finding footage in your Timeline. The Timeline is at the lower center of your screen. It sits right underneath the video preview in the Program Monitor.
Also, be sure that you have the Project panel active. If it isn’t, launch it by going to Window > Project.
To add black bars with cinematic style, we’ll use an Adjustment Layer. Why? Because an Adjustment Layer can apply to all clips in a given project. Edits you make to one of these will apply to any clip below.
In other words, you can add cinematic black bars once, and extend them to as many clips in your project as you want.
To add an Adjustment Layer, go to File > New. From the list of options, click Adjustment Layer. The Adjustment Layer dialog box will launch. Typically, you can use the default settings, so go ahead and click OK.
The Adjustment Layer will appear in your Project panel. Click and drag it over the top of your video clip (or clips) in the Timeline.
Then, click and pull on the right edge so that the Adjustment Layer duration matches that of all the clips in your project.
2. Add the Crop Effect to the Adjustment Layer
Next, you’ll add the Crop effect to the Adjustment Layer. Begin by opening the Effects panel. If you don’t see it, launch it by going to Window > Effects.
On the Effects panel, open the Video Effects folder, and then the Transform subfolder. Then, find the Crop effect.
Click and drag it onto your Timeline. Drop it onto the Adjustment Layer. Finally, open the Effect Controls panel by going to Window > Effect Controls.
3. Crop the Top and Bottom of the Layer
On the Effect Controls panel, find the Crop dropdown. Click to open it up. You'll see areas to crop the Left, Top, Right, and Bottom sides of your Adjustment Layer. Remember: these will apply to any and all of the video footage that sits below the Adjustment Layer.
To see how to add cinematic bars in Premiere Pro, you’ll crop at the top and bottom of your clip. Let’s start by cropping the top. In the Top section, click into the box and input a new crop value. I like to use a value of around 10%.
Type this into the box, and hit Enter. Watch in the Program Monitor: a cinematic black bar will appear at the top of your video. You can always adjust these values. A lower value narrows the bar. A higher value thickens it.
Repeat this step in the Bottom group. Generally, it’s best to use the identical value to ensure that your black bars with cinematic style are the same height at the top and bottom of your video.
Now, when you play your video, you’ll see cinematic black bars at the top and bottom.
As you can see, this is a cool dramatic effect that makes any video look right at home at the movies. Even if you didn’t film in widescreen, this easy adjustment delivers that powerful visual.
The Top Source for the Very Best Adobe Premiere Pro Templates (With Unlimited Downloads)
The best way to build amazing videos is to use a premium Adobe Premiere Pro template. The ultimate source for these is Envato Elements.
At Elements, you’ll find thousands of these templates to choose from, with more added every day! It gets easier and easier to find the perfect template for any project.
The Elements offer is powerful: unlimited downloads. For a flat monthly rate, you can download and use as many premium Adobe Premiere Pro templates as you want. And that isn’t all. Elements includes over 16 million digital assets.
Among these are fonts, music, stock footage, and so much more. Combined, it’s the perfect tool to craft amazing creative projects of your own.
When you choose a premium Envato Elements template, you’ll enjoy:
- Sleek designs with cinematic styles
- Themed templates for project-specific needs
- Drag-and-drop features to share your own content on video
- Included support guides and tutorials to help you get started
As you can see, Envato Elements is the best creative value in 2024 and beyond! Join today and start exploring the vast, ever-growing content library.
Add Black Bars Cinematic With Styles in Adobe Premiere Pro Today
In this tutorial, you learned how to make black bars in Premiere Pro. It’s a fast way to make any video footage look more elegant and cinematic. Your videos will look right at home on the largest screens!
So, what are you waiting for? Put your new skills to work today. You know how to add cinematic bars in Premiere Pro. Bring them to your next project and prepare to wow your audience. You’ll find yourself using these powerful Premiere Pro features every time you produce a video. Don’t wait to get started.
By
