Premiere Elements is Adobe’s consumer video editing package. Going from raw video to a finished production in Premiere is a very straight-forward three step process: Edit, Create Menus, and Share.

The Premiere Elements 4.0 editing mode allows you to work with video clips of various formats, including “themes” that it provides to help with your productions. You can also insert dozens of effects, transitions between clips, and, of course, titles. You can assemble your masterpiece on a “sceneline” , which I highly recommend for those new to the product: You simply drag and drop your clips onto the sceneline and, if you wish, set transitions between clips. For more detailed editing, simply switch to the “timeline” view, which by default shows you four tracks: Video, Audio, Narration, and a Soundtrack. However, you can add additional tracks for more complicated productions.

I tested out Premiere on some video of the kids. It detected scene transitions as I imported the video from my camcorder, and it was easy to drag and drop the clips onto the timeline at the bottom of the screen. Next I played around with the menus to find one that I liked, and created a DVD for grandma. Overall, Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0 is a powerful video editing tool, yet it remains easy enough for a novice to use.