See how to create and combine sequences in Adobe Premiere

The length of a video you might have for your editing project can sometimes seem overwhelming if you have a lot of media to put in your timeline at one time. One way to organize clips can be to use so-called sequences.

In Adobe Premiere Pro, sequences are smaller video projects within the main project. This is a way to organize scenes into longer videos, create several “drafts” of your video, or keep a series of linked videos in one place without having to start a whole new project.

Sequences may seem daunting, but once you know how they are used they can be a great tool for any video editor.

How to create a sequence

Creating a new sequence is easy once you’ve opened your Premiere project and your videos are ready to go. Here’s how to create a sequence.

1. Go to the Project panel in your project.
2. Right-click, select New Item and select Sequence.
3. In the New Sequence window, select the preset that most closely matches the camera you used to shoot the video in your project. Select OK.
4. The new sequence should appear in the timeline panel. You can then add new videos to this sequence.

If you’re not sure which type of sequence settings to choose, you can choose any one. If the clip you add doesn’t match, you can have Premiere adjust the sequence settings to automatically match the clip.

Another way to create a sequence is to use a clip you own and Premiere will choose the sequence settings based on the clip.

1. Find the clip you want to create a new sequence within the Project panel.
2. Click and drag the clip into the New Item option.
3. A new sequence will be created using the clip settings.

This is a quick and easy way to create a new sequence with sequence settings matching the clip. Sometimes, however, you may want to keep the same sequence settings when adding a clip, and you can do this by selecting Keep existing settings when you see the pop-up window.

How to combine sequences

If you want to put all your sequences together in one timeline, this is also possible. This is useful when you’ve just finished editing your sequences and want to put them into a main sequence to keep things organized.

This process is called nesting, as you are essentially “nesting” one sequence into another to combine them as a video. Here’s how to do it:

1. Make sure you have inserted and overwritten sequences as nests or single clips enabled in the timeline. Then find the first sequence you want to use, select it, then right-click on it and choose Nest.
2. Name the sequence, keeping in mind that this will be the sequence in which the other clips are nested.
3. Go to the next sequence you want to nest, right-click and select Nest. Then select the nested sequence and drag it into the main sequence.
4. When a sequence is nested, you will see it change to green. When you double-click on a nested sequence, the original sequence will appear and you can continue editing from there if you wish.

Once all of your sequences have been combined, it is much easier to play all of your videos or scenes in sequence, as a whole.

How to edit and delete sequences

If you are using sequences, it is also important to know the details of their modification. You may, for example, want to change some of the settings or perhaps delete an unwanted sequence.

Editing sequences

To change aspects of your sequences, go to the top bar in Premiere and select Sequence. You will see a drop-down menu of options to change in the sequence.

At the top, you can choose Sequence Settings to edit them directly. This will only change the sequence settings you’ve selected, so make sure you’ve selected the right one before going into the settings and changing them.

Sub sequences

You can also create so-called subsequences, which work very similar to nested sequences. They will not modify the clips on your actual timeline in any way and will instead be created separately in the Project panel. To do it:

1. Find the clip in the timeline that you want to turn into a subsequence.
2. Right-click on it and select Create Subsequence
3. The subsequence will appear in the Project panel.

A nested sequence will take all clips from the sequence and change it to a nest. You’ll just need to double-click the nest to edit your clips again.

Deleting a sequence

If you decide you no longer want a sequence on the timeline, it’s very easy to delete them.

• Select all clips within the sequence and press Backspace to delete them.
• At the top of the timeline find the title of the sequence and click on the little x next to it. This should remove the sequence from the view.
• If you’ve nested the sequence somewhere else, you can still double-click it to reopen it in the timeline.
• To delete a nested sequence, select it in the timeline and press Backspace.

Using sequences in Adobe Premiere Pro

Once you have learned how to use sequences, they can act as a very powerful tool for your workflow when you have long and arduous projects. It provides a great method of organization and helps you keep everything tidy, without having to create additional Premiere projects.