How to find a shot by description in Premiere Pro
Since Premiere Pro 26 you can search shots by description: Media Intelligence analyses footage on your computer and finds fragments for queries like "coffee on the table, soft light". Here's how it works and where Rescanzo helps.
With Premiere Pro alone
Media Intelligence searches footage that's already been analysed. If it's switched on in the settings, analysis runs in the background after import or when a project opens.
- Open Preferences › Media Analysis & Transcription and turn on Analyze all imported media to visually search your projects. Progress shows at the top right or in Window › Progress.
- Open the Search panel: the magnifying glass at the top right of the window.
- Describe the shot in English and in detail: object, action, lighting, camera angle.
- Use the dropdown to limit results to visuals. Double-clicking a result opens it in the Source Monitor with In and Out already set, and you can drag a result straight into a sequence.
- To find similar takes, right-click a frame in the Program Monitor and choose Search Similar Frames.
Limits
Media Intelligence only takes English queries, doesn't read text in the frame and doesn't identify people by name. It only searches media imported into the open project. If you want only some clips analysed, you have to turn the setting on, import them, turn it off, and then import the rest.
The same in Rescanzo
Rescanzo searches by what's in the frame in Low and Mid mode, right on your computer, and takes queries in Russian or English.
- Add your footage folder to Rescanzo and let indexing finish.
- Pick a mode: Low at 1 token to see quickly whether a shot exists, or Mid at 2 tokens for careful selection.
- Describe the shot, for example "speaker on stage in front of the screen" or "full room applauding".
- Add the good results to a collection, export it to Premiere Pro (XML) and bring it in with File › Import.
Which to use
If all the footage is in the project and you query in English, Media Intelligence is handy and comes with your Premiere subscription. Rescanzo helps when you'd rather write in Russian, when the footage is still in folders and only the found moments should go into the project, or when you want a cloud AI to double-check results in Pro mode.
Questions and answers
Can Media Intelligence search in Russian?
No, Premiere's visual search only takes English queries. In Rescanzo you can describe the shot in Russian too.
What does it cost in Rescanzo?
A description search costs 1 token in Low and 2 in Mid, however many hours are in the folder. Twenty Mid searches come to 40 tokens, less than the 50 starter tokens.
Does Premiere send footage to the cloud for analysis?
No, according to Adobe, Media Intelligence analysis and search run on your computer, and results are cached next to the files.
Try it on your own footage
A new account gets 50 tokens: that's 25 searches in Mid mode.