Premiere Timeline Problem

Question

My Timeline in Premiere will not allow me to drag any contents into it. The area turned black. I got the black region to look a little more like normal, but I still couldn't drag clips/files into this container (bottom right area). I even created new project/sequence and all files now are set up this way. I literally cannot edit with the way it is. IMAGE ATTACHED! Please help

Answer 1

F1, the same way you and I learned what ti is.
Hmmm. Well, I think Craig, you and I and many others around here may be the exception, not the rule.
I believe I can speak for a few of us when I say we study the new releases and therefore catch the nuances of some of the changes. Even though I personally seem to miss a few now and then. We do this to remain useful on these forums, and to squeeze every last drop of value out of the money we pay for our software. We end up knowing how to do a bunch of stuff we will never actually use. But on the off chance that we might use it one day, we will have it in our arsenal when we need it.
But because Premiere Pro is supposed to pretty much do what other NLEs do, my guess is that people coming from other products are expecting the same general terms to be of use. L Cut, J cut, trim, timeline, etc.
An experienced FCP editor might think that they should be able to sit down and start using Pr CC without much hassle. Especially if they set the keyboard shortcuts to what they are used to. That experienced editor may may just start reading or watching tutorials when they come up against a problem that think they should be able to solve. Most of the time they find it, I believe. And when they don't they seem to like raising a ruckus on this forum. But notice that most of them are asking for something that they searched diligently for first.
Now, let's look at the new Adobe user. The ones who pay $50/month or less and get every product. All of a sudden we are seeing transfers from iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. Those people who should possibly be using Premiere Elements, which, for reasons I can't pretend to understand, are not part of the Creative Cloud. Those people are used to a program that leads them through the process.
I have occasionally used Windows Movie Maker in order to help some users on this forum. It certainly didn't require that I study it first. My training in editing, almost all of which came from this forum and the Creative Cow and Curt Wrigley, just allowed me to start right in and get to work. But if I had been looking for a sequence instead of a timeline, I would never have gotten past step one. Although, actually, if you import assets into Movie Maker they automatically get placed on a timeline/sequence and I don't even see the name of the thing at all. But I digress.
It is those people that I think we need to help. And I think that the right place to start is the Eagle project. I believe it is the best piece of learning material Adobe has ever put together for a beginner. It is short, and sweet, and produces a specific result.
If we all pointed in the same general direction, I think it would be more helpful than pointing to the Pr FAQ for many people. That's all I am really trying to say. Let's band together a bit, point in the same direction, and maybe things will be better for a lot more people.
http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/learn/start/premiere.html