Adobe’s video editor Premiere Pro is now 25 years old — and to celebrate, the company is giving away $25,000 to the editor with the best re-imagined music video for Imagine Dragons’ Believer.
Participants will gain access to the uncut footage from the band’s latest video, directed and edited by Matt Eastin, and have until April 8 to make their own version for a chance at the top prize. Along with the Grand Prize, Adobe is also giving away a bonus $2,500 prize for the best use of Adobe Stock as well as four $1,000 prizes for Fan Favorite, Most Unexpected, Best Young Creator, and Best Short Form.
Eastin says the original idea for the music video was to show an internal struggle between the lead singer, Dan Reynolds, and an older version of himself. At the time, the possibility of boxer Dolph Lundgren from Rocky playing the role was a far-fetched laugh, but the next day the band’s manager called to say that the boxer had agreed to the video. Those two perspectives are also mixed with a kid-version of Dan making a sketch.
A video editor with nearly a decade of experience, Eastin started out working with production companies but quit when he realized that he wasn’t following his passion — music. He started by creating free music videos to get his name out there — and one of his first projects was for Imagine Dragons.
While Eastin learned on Premiere Pro, one of his first jobs required a switch to Final Cut Pro. When he branched out on his own, he switched back to Adobe’s system. The ability to play high resolution footage at a lower quality with proxy workflows allowed him to upload footage on-set for quick playbacks. “I really do love Premiere,” he says. “I love that it’s connected to Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects so that all those programs can talk to each other — it’s a pretty sweet set.”
Adobe Premiere first launched in 1992, moving to Premiere Pro around ten years later and reflecting an update that brought more pro-grade features to the platform. The program was part of the Creative Suite beginning in 2007 before moving to the Creative Cloud in 2013.
The panel of judges includes the band and Eastin along with Oscar-winning editor Kirk Baxter (Gone Girl, House of Cards, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), TV editor Billy Fox (Straight Outta Compton, Band of Brothers, Hustle & Flow) music video editor Vinnie Hobbs (who has worked with Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Drake, Kanye West, and Skrillex), Adobe Chief Marketing Officer Ann Lewnes, and Academy Award winning editor Angus Wall (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network, Fight Club).
Eastin says he’s most looking forward to watching edits completely different than his own. “For me, what I wish is that I could see a cut from an editor who never saw my edit, who just got a bin full of footage that made a new video from a blank slate. I’d like to see another editor’s interpretation of the footage, without my view in their head already.”
The music video director says he likes that the video can have multiple interpretations — the band has a different interpretation than his and fans can take different pieces from the video as well.
The contest is open now through April 8, with uncut footage available from the Make The Cut contest page.
