How to Use the YC Waveform Mode in Adobe Premiere Pro

The YC Waveform Mode in Adobe Premiere Pro displays a graph that shows the signal intensity in a video clip. The horizontal axis on the graph corresponds to the video image (from left to right) and the vertical axis is the signal intensity in units called IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers). It is useful to help you analyze the luminance of your video footage when editing and rendering footage, and to assist you in making adjustments such as color corrections.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Drag your footage into the Source Monitor, and click on the “Output” button. It looks like three red, green and blue balls intersecting. Choose YC Waveform.

2. YC Waveform displays luminance information as a green waveform. "Luminance" is the brightness of your footage. On the "YC Waveform Mode," the bright objects will produce a waveform pattern (bright green areas) near the top of the graph and darker objects produce a waveform toward the bottom.

3. For US NTSC video, luminance levels range from 7.5 to 100 IRE. Different countries have different standards.

4. The YC Waveform also displays the chrominance information of a video. Chrominance, the hue and saturation of color in the video clip, appears as a blue waveform. A vectorscope maps a video’s color information onto a circular chart, and it is overlaid on the luminance waveform.

5. You can specify whether the YC Waveform displays both luminance and chrominance information at the same time, or if it displays just the luminance information.