As attention spans shrink and content saturation grows, video editors are constantly seeking ways to tell engaging stories and hold their audience‘s interest. One of the most powerful tools for crafting dynamic, fast-paced videos is strategically increasing the speed of key clips. When used artfully, speeding up footage can compress time, build energy, and add a professional polish to your videos.
In fact, a 2022 study by Wyzowl found that 85% of marketing videos contained at least one sped up clip, with 25% using speed ramping techniques. As viewers become accustomed to this quick cutting style, integrating speed effects has become a key skill for editors.
Fortunately, Adobe Premiere Pro offers a robust set of speed controls that make it easy to manipulate your clips and achieve creative results. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dive deep into three methods for speeding up video in Premiere Pro:
- Speed/Duration
- Rate Stretch
- Time Remapping
Whether you‘re a beginner looking to learn the ropes or a seasoned pro seeking to refine your techniques, this article will equip you with the knowledge and tips to become a master of video speed manipulation. Let‘s get started!
Understanding Premiere Pro‘s Speed Controls
Premiere Pro provides multiple ways to adjust clip speed to fit different editing situations. Here‘s a quick overview of the key differences:
| Method | Best For | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed/Duration | Basic, clip-wide speed changes | Quick and easy to apply to one or more clips | Limited control, can‘t vary speed within clip |
| Rate Stretch | Fitting a clip to an exact duration | Automatically calculates needed speed percentage | Less precise than Time Remapping |
| Time Remapping | Variable speed changes within clip | Ultimate customization with keyframes | More complex, can cause audio sync drift |
As professional editor Justin Odisho explains, "Premiere Pro‘s speed tools give you so much flexibility. You can go from simple percentage-based speedups with Speed/Duration to super precise ramping and easing with Time Remapping. It‘s all about choosing the right method for your creative needs."
In the following sections, we‘ll explore the workflow for each technique, share power user tips, and break down real examples. By the end, you‘ll be ready to creatively incorporate speed into all your editing projects.
How to Quickly Change Clip Speed with the Speed/Duration Command
When you need to apply a one-click, clip-wide speed adjustment, the Speed/Duration command is the way to go. Here‘s how it works:
- Select a clip (or multiple clips) in your Timeline or Project panel.
- Right-click and choose "Speed/Duration" (or press Cmd/Ctrl+R).
- In the dialog box, enter a percentage value over 100 to speed up the clip. For example, 200% will make the clip play twice as fast.
- If your clip has audio, check "Maintain Audio Pitch" to preserve the original pitch as the speed increases. This will help the faster audio sound more natural.
- Click OK to apply the new speed.
Pro Tip: You can also enter a negative percentage to play the clip in reverse!
The Speed/Duration method works best when you need a fast way to speed up a full clip a consistent amount. It‘s also handy for changing the speed of multiple clips at once by selecting them together.
For example, vlogger Peter McKinnon shares how he uses Speed/Duration to create snappy b-roll montages of himself moving around a space or packing for a trip. "When I‘m filming cutaway shots, I often purposely record way more than I need. Then in post I can just select all those clips, speed them up 400% as a batch, and quickly cut them together to music."
Filling a Specific Timeline Duration with Rate Stretch
Sometimes you have a gap of a specific length in your edit that you need a clip to fill precisely. Rather than calculating the exact speed percentage, you can use Premiere Pro‘s Rate Stretch tool to automatically adjust the clip speed to fit.
- Select the Rate Stretch tool from the Tools panel (shortcut key: R).
- Hover over the end of a clip in your Timeline until you see the double-arrow icon.
- Click and drag inwards to shorten the clip. As you drag, Premiere displays the new clip duration and speed percentage.
- Release the mouse button when the clip is the desired length. The clip‘s speed will increase to fit the new duration.
The Rate Stretch method is a favorite of film editor Thomas Flight for quickly condensing talking head shots. "When I‘m cutting down a long interview, I use Rate Stretch a lot to subtly speed up pauses or slow talkers. It helps keep the pacing snappy without the audience noticing the edit."
Power User Tip: Rate Stretch is also great for tightening up the timing of a series of clips without changing their order. Grab the end of the last clip and drag to the left – Premiere will speed up the other clips to close the gaps in between.
Harnessing Time Remapping for Ultimate Speed Control
For the greatest precision over your speed effects, you‘ll want to learn the Time Remapping technique. Time Remapping gives you granular, keyframe-based control to ramp speed up and down at specific points within a clip.
- Right-click a clip and select "Show Clip Keyframes" > "Time Remapping" > "Speed".
- Click to add a keyframe on the clip‘s Time Remapping bar where you want a speed change to start.
- Click again where you want the speed change to end.
- Drag the line between keyframes up to increase speed or down to decrease speed. The line‘s height represents the speed percentage relative to 100%.
- Repeat the process to add multiple speed ramps within the clip. Adjust keyframe handles to fine tune the acceleration curves.
Time Remapping is the secret sauce behind those super dynamic speed ramping effects you see in action sports videos and commercials. By strategically placing keyframes and easing the speed up or down, you can create an impressive "whoosh" that propels the viewer through a scene.
Sam Kolder, a filmmaker known for his breakneck travel videos, elaborates: "I love using Time Remapping to accentuate movement and transition between clips. I‘ll often start a clip at 40%, speed it up to 300% in the middle, then ramp back down to lead into the next shot. It helps create this frenetic energy that keeps the viewer hooked."
A word of caution: Time Remapping requires a lot of rendering power, especially when slowing footage down, so playback may be choppy on weaker machines. It also changes the timing of that section of the clip, so you may need to adjust adjacent edits and audio keyframes.
Tips for Preserving Audio Quality at High Speeds
One of the trickier aspects of speeding up video clips is dealing with the audio. By default, making a clip faster will also speed up its audio, resulting in the chipmunk effect. To keep your sound natural:
- In the Speed/Duration window, check the box for "Maintain Audio Pitch". This will shift the audio timing to match the video but preserve its original pitch.
- For clips with separate dialogue and background tracks, unlink the audio (right-click > Unlink) before adjusting speed. Edit the dialogue track independently to avoid warping voices.
- Music and ambient tracks can be sped up for stylistic effect – just make sure to start with high quality audio to minimize distortion.
- Apply audio effects like EQ and compression to sped up dialogue to restore clarity and punch.
"Clean, natural sounding audio is essential for selling the illusion of sped up footage," advises commercial editor Sven Pape. "I always make sure to unlink my dialogue before adjusting clip speed so I can keep the voices clear and undistorted."
Balancing Speed Artfully: Examples from the Pros
So how exactly do professional editors put these speed techniques into practice? Let‘s look at a few examples.
In his DJI Mavic Air 2 promo video, Sam Kolder uses frequent speed ramps to bring extra dynamism to gimbal shots and trick cuts. He often speeds up clips by 300-500% to mimic the look of fast forwarding through time. Strategic use of half speed and reversed clips adds contrast and keeps the pace varied.
Peter McKinnon‘s Lost Creator Laptop video creatively integrates speed effects into its narrative flow. He speeds up a clip of himself spinning in a chair by 800% to show his mind racing chaotically, then later plays the same clip at 5% reverse speed to flashback to that moment. These exaggerated speed choices amplify the humor and help structure the story.
Gaming streamer Shroud uses subtle speed adjustments throughout his videos to cut down dead space and keep the pace engaging. Clips of him walking into frame or adjusting his setup are typically sped up 150-200% to skim over the less exciting moments.
These examples illustrate how modulating video speed can enhance a wide range of creative projects. The key is matching the speed effect to the content and rhythm of the specific video. A vlog or gaming stream might employ sped up clips throughout, while a short film may hold speed ramps for a few key transition moments. "Every edit is unique," reminds Thomas Flight, "so it‘s about choosing the speed techniques that best fit your story and tone."
Troubleshooting Common Speed Change Problems
While Premiere Pro‘s Clip Speed tools are fairly intuitive, there are a few issues that can arise, especially when making large speed adjustments. If you run into trouble, try these solutions:
-
Audio drifting out of sync: For clips with linked audio, changing the speed can cause the audio timing to slip, particularly with Time Remapping. Unlink the audio from the video (right-click > Unlink) and adjust its placement manually to correct any drift.
-
Choppy or flickering playback: Increasing speed requires Premiere to skip frames and blend the remaining ones together, which can tax your CPU, especially in longer clips. Render the sped up section (Sequence > Render In/Out) or lower playback resolution to smooth performance.
-
Soft, blurry footage: Faster clips can suffer a softness since Premiere is blending fewer frames together. Try applying a sharpening effect like Unsharp Mask to compensate, or shoot at a higher framerate to give Premiere more frames to work with.
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Speed changes causing jumpy cuts: Large speed adjustments can make previously smooth cuts look jarring. Trim a few frames off the cut point or apply a brief cross dissolve to hide the transition.
"The key to avoiding speed related headaches is to stay organized," says Sven Pape. "Label your speed adjustment presets, color code clips with major ramps, and save backups before tackling big Time Remapping edits. A little proactive maintenance goes a long way."
Level Up Your Speed Skills with Editing Plugins
While Premiere Pro‘s built-in speed controls can handle most situations, power editors looking to push their speed effects even further should explore third-party plugins. Options like Twixtor and RSMB can help maintain image quality and smooth motion at extreme speeds.
For example, action sports filmmaker Johnny FPV uses Twixtor to slow down his drone shots to an incredible 1% speed without sacrificing sharpness or introducing artifacts. "When I‘m chasing race cars at 80mph, even 120fps isn‘t enough to get those epic slow mo shots. Twixtor lets me stretch my clips further while preserving crisp detail – it‘s been a game changer for my work."
Go Forth and Speed Things Up
We‘ve covered a lot of ground in this guide, from the fundamentals of speeding up clips to pro-level time remapping and plugin enhancement. With these techniques in your toolkit, you‘re well equipped to take your video editing to the next level.
Remember, like any creative technique, learning to wield speed effectively takes experimentation and practice. Don‘t be afraid to play around with different speed percentages, easing curves, and effect combos to discover what works for your particular style and subjects.
The real key is to let your speed effects be motivated by your content and overall editing vision. As Sam Kolder puts it, "It‘s not about just throwing in speed ramps to make your video look cool. It‘s about understanding the feel and energy you want to create, and then using speed as a tool to get there."
So open up that Premiere project, drop some clips in your timeline, and start flexing your new speed skills. With a little practice and creativity, you‘ll soon be off to the races making videos that keep your audience engaged till the very last frame.
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