Exporting a filmstrip file for editing in Adobe Photoshop

When you want to edit a clip in Adobe Photoshop, you can use the Filmstrip format, which was specifically created for this purpose. The Filmstrip format is useful when you want to paint directly on video frames, a process known as rotoscoping. You can export a video clip or a section of the Timeline as a filmstrip.

A filmstrip is a single file that contains all the frames of the clip. If your computer doesn't have enough memory to enable Photoshop to load the filmstrip file, consider exporting the clip as numbered still images instead so you can edit each frame as a separate file (see Exporting a sequence of still images). A filmstrip opens in Photoshop as a series of frames in a column, with each frame labeled by number, reel name, and timecode. If the column created by the filmstrip frames is more than 30,000 pixels tall, the frames continue in a second column. This size limitation is the maximum image dimension that Photoshop can handle. The number of frames displayed depends on the duration of the clip and the frame rate selected when the filmstrip was exported from Premiere.

When editing a filmstrip in Photoshop, use the following guidelines for best results:

If you simply want to export a single frame, you don't need to use the Filmstrip format. Instead, export a single still frame. See Exporting a still image.

To export a clip as a filmstrip:

1 Choose File > Export Timeline (or Export Clip) > Movie.

2 Click Settings.

3 For File Type, choose Filmstrip, and choose the frames to export from the Range menu.

4 Make sure that Export Video is selected.

5 Click Next, and confirm video settings (see Exporting a video). Make sure that the frame rate is the same as the project frame rate. Then click OK.

Note: If the video contains interlaced fields, select Keyframe and Rendering Options from the menu at the top of the dialog box; for Field Settings, select Upper Field First if the original source video is field-1 dominant, or Lower Field First if the original video is field-2 dominant. If you don't know the field dominance of the original video, ask the creator of the original video or refer to the documentation for the hardware used to create it.

6 Specify a location and filename, and then click Save.

After editing the filmstrip and saving it in Filmstrip format from Photoshop, use it as a clip in a Premiere project by importing it as you would any other compatible file. See Importing clips.

Producing Final Video > Exporting a filmstrip file for editing in Adobe Photoshop