With a simple interface and guided edits, Premiere Elements is useful for making engaging videos while learning editing skills. However, both guidance and features lack depth, and performance can falter.
For
Well-designed, clear interface
Guided edits teach you the ropes
Motion tracking feature useful and accessible
Against
Guidance doesn’t go beyond the basics
Some features lack depth
Performance can be slower than competitors
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Adobe Premiere Elements enables novice editors to turn their video clips into slick productions. It's an all-in-one video editing and content creation software that has been designed for users who prefer visual user interfaces and simple layouts. Whether you’re a beginner or an old hand, you’ll most likely prefer this video editor if you like a one-time purchase and want hands-on media creation support from within the software.
Premiere Elements is among the best video editing software of its kind, with key competitors including CyberLink PowerDirector, Pinnacle Studio and Apple’s iMovie.
It was first released in 2004 and has been regularly updated since. The latest version is Adobe Premiere Elements 2021, which sees the addition of a motion-tracking tool for effects and two new guided edits.
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In our Adobe Premiere Elements 2021 review, we will assess the features of this software, in particular those introduced in this latest version, and help you decide whether it’s right for you.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: Motion tracked effects
Draw around an object to track an effect onto it (Image credit: Adobe)
The biggest addition in Elements 2021 is built into the video effects. After applying an effect to a clip, you can draw around an object or area within the clip. Elements tracks this object as the clip progresses and masks the effect to it. You can brighten a sky, adjust the color of a moving vehicle, or blur the face of a person.
The way this is built into the effects panel is efficient and accessible. The equivalent process in Premiere Pro is very complicated and requires deeper understanding of masks, so it’s impressive how Adobe has simplified the process for Elements while retaining most functionality.
However, the controls can be fiddly, and the cursor sometimes changes from the drawing tool to a rotation tool when you don’t want it to. Plus, the tracking accuracy varies – in some of our tests, it worked impressively smoothly, but in others, the tracked area drifted away from the actual object.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: Double exposure guided edit
The guidance allows you to combine a video clip and a framing graphic (Image credit: Adobe)
A key feature of Elements is guided edits, which take the user step by step through various tasks. They’re useful in helping you learn the ropes and build confidence using the interface. The 2021 edition includes two new guided edits – double exposure and animated mattes.
The double exposure guidance involves combining a mask, either from the included graphics library or your own photos, with a video clip. It shows you how to use blend modes and filters to give this resulting video various looks. The actual functionality here isn’t new – you could achieve the effects in previous versions of Elements – but the guide does introduce users to numerous tools.
That said, the guidance is still very basic, and further explanations would be useful, such as how to move the video clip around or animate the mask. It’s also odd that Adobe has prioritised adding this guided edit for existing functions and hasn’t added one for the new motion tracking.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: Animated matte overlays
Animated mattes enable you to creatively frame your footage (Image credit: Adobe)
The other new guided edit takes the user through adding an animated matte to a video. These are fun graphics that reveal or frame a clip in interesting ways, and there are 37 to choose from.
Again, though, the guidance is basic – it tells the user to change the track matte settings a certain way, without explaining what the settings actually do. Still, while the mattes are far from as flexible as the animation options in higher-end software, they’re a fun and accessible way to add visual flair to videos.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: GPU acceleration
The latest version of Premiere Elements has had some under-the-hood improvement, now making greater use of the graphics card to accelerate performance, rather than relying entirely on the CPU.
While performance varies depending on your hardware, there’s definite improvement in this version, with the GPU acceleration enabling you to watch certain effects in real time, without rendering them first. That said, Premiere Elements can still run slowly compared to some competitors—more time is spent rendering and waiting for the program to respond here than with PowerDirector or Pinnacle Studio.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: Should I buy it?
Premiere Elements has a clear and accessible interface, and useful built-in guidance. However, this guidance is lacking in depth, as are some of the features. Competitors such as PowerDirector offer a greater number of features, as well as faster performance.
Premiere Elements costs a one-off fee of $99.99. While this may seem high for a relatively basic application, it’s preferable in the long term to the subscription model used by PowerDirector and Premiere Pro. If you have a previous version of Elements and want to upgrade, the price drops to $79.99, though this doesn’t seem worth it for the few new features.
While it’s far from the most professional application on the market, Adobe Premiere Elements is a good choice for novice editors and enthusiasts wanting to make visually appealing videos, such as to compile holiday footage in interesting ways or for social media purposes.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021: System requirements
Windows
Intel 6th Generation or newer processor or AMD equivalent with SSE4 support
Microsoft Windows 10 version 1903 or later; 64-bit versions only
8GB of RAM
6.9GB of available hard-disk space to install applications; additional 10GB to download all optional content; additional free space required during installation
Internet connection required for product activation and content download
macOS
Intel® 6thGen or newer CPU
macOS v10.14 or later
8 GB of RAM
8 GB of available hard-disk space to install applications; additional 10 GB to download all optional content; additional free space required during installation
Internet connection required for product activation and content download
With a simple interface and guided edits, Premiere Elements is useful for making engaging videos while learning editing skills. However, both guidance and features lack depth, and performance can falter.
Managing editor, ecommerce, Space and Live Science
Jase Parnell-Brookes is the Managing Editor for e-commerce for Space and Live Science. Previously the Channel Editor for Cameras and Skywatching at Space, Jase has been an editor and contributing expert across a wide range of publications since 2010. Based in the UK, they are also an award-winning photographer and educator winning the Gold Prize award in the Nikon Photo Contest 2018/19 and named Digital Photographer of the Year in 2014.
After completing their Masters degree in 2011 and qualifying as a teacher in 2012, Jase has spent the last two decades studying and working in photography and publishing in multiple areas, and specialises in low light optics and camera systems.
