How to edit an event video in Premiere Pro: interviews first, then b-roll

Why interviews come first

It's tempting to start with the beautiful shots: the venue, the lights, the crowd. But b-roll on its own doesn't tell a story. The speakers, guests and organizers do. When you build the story from their words first, every shot you add later has a reason to be there.

1. 1Organize
2. 2Mark the lines
3. 3Radio edit
4. 4Tag the b-roll
5. 5Match b-roll
6. 6Music & polish

Step 1: Organize your footage

Before you watch anything, make it easy to find. In the Project panel, create bins (folders) for each kind of footage, and rename clips so you can tell them apart at a glance.

If the talks were filmed with more than one camera, sync them first. Select the clips, right-click and choose Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence, then sync them by audio. You'll switch angles later with one click.

Step 2: Watch every talking clip and mark the best lines

Watch all the interviews and talks before you cut anything. Each time someone says something worth keeping, press M to add a marker, and type a few words about it in the marker's comment. Give the strongest moments a color label.

A faster way for long talks: transcribe them. Open the Text panel, choose Transcribe, and read the talk like a document. You can select the sentences you want and add them straight to your sequence.

Step 3: Build the story with sound only (the radio edit)

Create a new sequence and lay the best lines one after another on the first video and audio track. Listen to it without looking. If the story works with sound only, it will work with pictures. A simple shape that works for most events:

Cut each line tight, but leave breaths where a moment needs to land. Don't worry about jump cuts yet: b-roll will cover them in step 5.

Step 4: Review the b-roll and tag it

Now go through every b-roll clip: the crowd, the venue, details, reactions, arrivals, the stage from different angles. Add markers or color labels for what each shot shows, so you can find "applause" or "name badges" in seconds later.

Pick the best part of each shot: steady, in focus, with something happening. Most b-roll clips only have three to five usable seconds.

Step 5: Match the b-roll to what's being said

Go through the story line by line. Ask: what is this person talking about, and what shot shows it? Place the b-roll on the track above the interview, so the voice continues underneath. It also hides any jump cuts from step 3.

Keep the speaker on screen when they're saying something personal or emotional. Faces build trust; cover them only when the shot adds something.

See it come together: the timeline, stage by stage

Here's how the timeline grows through the process. Step through it to see what's added at each stage.

Step 6: Music and pacing

Choose music that follows your story's shape: gentle at the start, building through the highlights, warm at the end. Cut b-roll changes on the beat where you can.

Use J and L cuts so it flows: let the next speaker's voice start a moment before we see them (a J cut), or let a voice continue over the next shot (an L cut). And keep the music under the voices: in the Essential Sound panel, tag the music as Music and turn on Ducking, so it lowers automatically when someone speaks.

Always use licensed music. Our guide to copyright-free music explains how.

Step 7: Polish: color, sound, titles and captions