How to slow a clip down in premiere pro

- You learned about changing the speed globally, which is the more common method, but sometimes you may want to do a variable speed effect. Maybe you want to speed up motion for just part of a clip, or have it at one speed and then slowly transform to another with some gentle blending. This can be done using a series of keyframes, but it's a little tricky. Open up 4_6 Variable Speed, and press the backslash key to zoom your sequence, and then I suggest drag to make the clip a little taller. Let's watch the clip. It's a bicycle rider riding at a relatively constant speed. And what I'd like to do is speed it up and then have him freeze. To do this, select the track, and then right-click, and choose Show Clip Keyframes, Timer Mapping, Speed. Now you see a line going through the clip. This line indicates speed. And since it's at a constant even level, it's going at 100%, but we can move this line up or down as needed. What I want to do is make a change here using the pen tool to add keyframes. And so the bicycle rider is going here, and I'd like to bring him into this point a little faster. So I'm going to add a keyframe. Then I'm going to have him come right to here and I want him to stop as he looks at the camera. So I'll add another keyframe. Now using the move tool, we could change this line. For example, if I drag down, it slows things down. That's 60% speed. If I drag up, it speeds things up. For example, there it is at 200, and let's go for 250%. You'll notice that this method is not quite as precise as typing in values, but if you carefully drag, you'll get it. So he's going to pedal at 250% speed. And then go to regular speed. And then right here, let's drag down to slow that down to 1% speed, effectively a freeze frame. Now that extends the clip quite a bit and we don't need to use all of that. So I'll just press the W key to trim it. Here we go. Rides, normal, almost slow motion. Barely moving. Okay, that's changes in speed, but kind of abrupt. If you expand this here, look closely at these keyframes. Now, what we can do is actually change these keyframes to change their behavior, splitting them apart for some ramping. I'll just come here to the keyframe itself and pull this apart. Let's go ahead and put back the rest of those frames in. I'll just drag that back out, and we'll put a little ramping in. There we go. And now we'll split this one apart and get some ramping as well. Now, watch what happens. Faster, transition, slow down. Pretty cool. And what we can do is modify this some. Remember, everything is still able to be grabbed. So you can play with these and spread them apart or forward. You can select a property and adjust the Bezier shape, pulling that for some nice ramping. Watch how we can change that to a gentle ramp, by just pulling the Bezier handle. And now we get a change in speed that's more gradual, which is very cool. Notice there, how it transitions between the different speeds here with a gentle acceleration. If you ever change your mind, you can right-click and just go to Timer mapping and switch to a different value, and you see your overall line here, but under the hood, it's still there. So if you want to modify, you have to go back to speed. But if you completely change your mind, you could just open this up and disable the animation. You'll also notice that everything can be modified up here. So if you find yourself needing to make a change just look at the values. 250 transitions to 100, then transitions to a new speed. Well, let's move this up a little, like so. And in. And there you see the changes, 250, 150, 50. Let's go and pull that down a little bit more. 15. Speed change, even slower. It's pretty cool. And if you ever needed to, by the way, you can actually change these by just clicking on the property here and spread it out more, changing the overall ramping of the effect to go between the different speeds.

How to change the speed of a video

Step 1: Plan in advance

While it is possible to bring any footage into Premiere and slow it down, you will achieve the best results if you plan your shoot accordingly. Slowing down footage means spacing out the frames. Therefore, if your footage was shot at a standard 24 or 29.97 frame rate, then your slowed-down clip can wind up looking jittery or choppy. You'll also lose resolution.

Here's our ultimate guide to frame rates to give you a crash course.

Ultimate guide to frame rates  •  Subscribe on YouTube

The key to shooting great slow-motion footage is to shoot at a higher frame rate than your intended playback rate. The higher your frame rate when shooting, the more you will be able to slow down your footage in post without it looking chopping. Specialized slow-motion cameras are ideal for this.

Deciding which moments to enhance with slow motion in advance can help you to visualize your scene with extra clarity. And, if you take the time during pre-pro to designate which individual shots will be put in slow-motion on your shot list, everyone on the crew can adjust accordingly.

It’s free to get started with StudioBinder’s shot listing software. You can even write slow motion into a script if you plan far enough in advance.

Camera rigs explained  •  Subscribe on YouTube

One additional factor to pay attention to if you really want to go the extra mile is stability. Slowing down footage can make small movements and adjustments to the camera body extra noticeable, and those movements can quickly become a distraction, especially if shooting handheld. To counteract this type of instability, instead of shooting handheld, use a tripod or one of the camera rigs mentioned in the above video. If you are looking for new gear, check out our tripod buying guide and our rundown of the best stabilizers.

How do you slow down a video?

Step 2: Import the footage

Whether you followed Step 1 when initially shooting your footage or not, the rest of the steps will be the same, though the end result may differ. If you are new to using Premiere Pro, this quick start video will help you get the lay of the land, including how to import your footage.

How to slow down a video in Premiere Pro  •  Starter guide

Bring the footage you want to slow down into Premiere by clicking “File” → “Import,” or by pressing the Command+I keys (swap Command for Control if editing on PC). You can also simply drag your footage into Premiere from a separate window. Once your footage is loaded into the program, you’re ready to slow down video.

How to slow down a video Premiere Pro

Step 3: Isolate the moment

Now, it’s time to isolate the moment you want to slow down. If you want the entire clip slowed down, simply drag it into the timeline. Alternatively, you can press “,” or “.” with your clip selected.

If you only want a portion of the clip to be slowed down, there are a few ways to isolate the moment. The most efficient method would be to set in and out points on the clip while it is loaded into the preview window using the “i” and “o” keys. You can use the onscreen player controls to set the in and out points instead of the hotkeys if you prefer.

How to edit and slow down a video  •  Set in and out points

Once your in and out points are set, you can bring the clip into the timeline using any of the previously described methods. Now that your moment is isolated, you are ready to slow it down.

How to slow down a video on Premiere Pro

Step 4: Slow down video

Premiere Pro makes slowing down footage easy. With your footage in the timeline, simply right-click on it and select “Speed/Duration.” A window will open with a few new controls. Since the goal is to slow down the footage, you will want to lower the percentage beside “Speed.” The lower the percentage, the slower the resulting clip will be.

Right-click → Speed/Duration

If you ever need to speed footage up, you can do so by increasing the percentage past 100%. If you don’t find percentages intuitive, you can adjust the duration instead. Inputting a longer time than the default will slow down the footage.

Speed/Duration controls

By deselecting the link icon, you can alter the speed and duration independently. You will also find three checkboxes in this dialogue window.

“Reverse Speed” does exactly as the name implies and reverses the footage. 

“Maintain Audio Pitch” should be checked if you want your footage to sound as close to normal as Premiere Pro is capable of preserving automatically. 

“Ripple Edit” is useful for preserving the rest of your edit if you have other clips loaded onto your timeline.

Once you’ve adjusted the settings to your liking, simply click “OK”, and Premiere Pro handles the rest. Your footage is now in slow motion.

UP NEXT

Types of Editing Transitions

You now know how to slow down a video in Premiere Pro. Having a working knowledge of every type of editing transition and understanding the purposes of each is valuable information for a video editor to possess. Learn all about the different types of editing transitions, when and why to use them, up next.

How do you change the speed of a clip in Premiere Pro?