How to Speed Up Videos in Adobe Premiere Pro

Edited 2 days ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Adobe Premiere Pro is a popular video editing software that offers a variety of features to help you create professional-looking videos. Whether you're creating YouTube videos, commercials, or a film, increasing the speed of your video clips can be an essential part of the editing process. Increasing the speed of a video can help you emphasize action, fit the video into a specific time frame, or add some energy to your project. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the different methods used to speed up videos in Adobe Premiere Pro, with detailed explanations and examples to help you become proficient at this important editing technique.

Why increase video speed?

Before we discuss the technical aspects, let's first understand why you should increase the video speed. There are several reasons to consider increasing the playback speed of a clip:

• Time-lapse effect: Speeding up footage is an essential technique for creating time-lapse videos. It allows you to compress hours of footage into a short, engaging sequence.
• Emphasizing pace: Fast pace can be used to add excitement and dynamic energy to scenes, such as car chases, sports activities, or lively events.
• Shortening the duration: Sometimes you need to reduce the length of a video without cutting into its content, especially when there is a time constraint.
• Achieving a specific artistic effect: Changing the speed can help achieve a specific artistic effect that matches the tone and style of your overall project.

Preparation: Importing your clip

Before you start working on a clip, make sure you've successfully imported your video into Adobe Premiere Pro. Here's how to do it:

1. Open Adobe Premiere Pro and start a new project or open an existing project where you want to work.
2. Go to the Media Browser or use File > Import to locate and select your video file.
3. Once selected, click Open to import the file into your project's Projects panel.
4. Drag the imported video clip to the Timeline panel so you can begin editing.

Method 1: Change speed with tempo/duration

The easiest way to change the speed of a clip in Adobe Premiere Pro is to use the Speed/Duration command. Follow these steps to adjust the speed:

1. In your Timeline panel, right-click the video clip you want to speed up.
2. Select Speed/Duration from the context menu. This will open the Clip Speed/Duration dialog box.
3. In the Speed field, enter a percentage greater than 100% to speed up the clip. For example, entering 200% will make the clip play twice as fast.
4. If you want the clips to automatically adjust in the timeline, make sure Ripple Edit, Shifting Trailing Clips is checked.
5. Click OK to apply the changes. The speed of the clip will now be adjusted according to the percentage you specified.

Additionally, you may want to maintain the audio pitch when you speed up the video clip. You can do this by checking the Maintain Audio Pitch checkbox before clicking OK in the Speed/Duration dialog.

Method 2: Using the Rate Stretch tool

The Rate Stretch tool is a more direct way to change the duration of a clip, speeding it up or slowing it down. This tool manipulates the clip directly in the timeline. Let's look at the steps:

1. Find the Rate Stretch tool in the Tools panel, or press the R key on your keyboard to activate it.
2. With the Rate Stretch tool selected, hover over the end of the desired clip in your timeline. The cursor will change to a red bracket with left and right arrows.
3. Click on the end of the clip and drag it toward the beginning, which will decrease its duration, effectively increasing its speed.
4. Release the mouse when you see the new desired speed, which is displayed dynamically as you adjust the clip.

This tool is especially useful when you want the clip to fit into a specific timeframe, as you can visually extend or shrink the clip to the desired length.

Method 3: Time remapping

Time remapping is a slightly more advanced technique, but it provides more control over changes in speed over time within a clip. It allows creating variable speeds within the same clip, such as speeding up in some parts while slowing down in others.

Enabling time remapping

To enable time remapping, follow these steps:

1. Select the clip in the timeline that you want to edit.
2. Go to the Effects Control panel at the top of Premiere Pro.
3. Expand the Time Remapping group by clicking the arrow next to it.

Using keyframes for time remapping

Once time remapping is enabled, you can start adding keyframes and adjusting the speed of the clip:

1. Hover the mouse over the clip in the Timeline and hold down the Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) key; a Pen Tool icon appears. Click the clip to create a keyframe.
2. Multiple keyframes allow you to control speed changes at different points within the clip. Create as many keyframes as you need.
3. Drag the line between the keyframes up to increase the speed or down to decrease the speed. The steeper the line, the greater the change in speed.
4. Play the clip to preview your adjustments, refining the location and slope of keyframes as needed.

This method takes practice, but it offers precise control over speed, allowing for creative manipulation within a single clip.

Method 4: Speed up the sequence

If you need to increase the speed of multiple clips as an entire sequence or group, Premiere Pro offers a sequence speed adjustment feature. Here's how you can accomplish this:

1. Select all the clips in the sequence you want to speed up. You can do this by holding Shift and clicking each clip or by dragging the selection box around them.
2. Right-click on any selected clip and choose Nest from the context menu. This will create a new nested sequence.
3. Right-click on the nested sequence in the timeline and select Speed/Duration.
4. Enter the desired speed percentage as described earlier, and click OK to apply the change to all clips in the sequence.

This method is particularly useful for compressing or extending the length of an entire sequence, achieving a consistent speed effect across all clips.

Tips for adjusting speed

When you try to increase the speed of a video clip using Adobe Premiere Pro, keep these helpful tips in mind:

• Maintain quality: High-speed footage should be shot at a higher frame rate if possible so that visual quality is maintained when the speed is increased.
• Check the audio: Consider muting the audio if speeding up changes the timing. Alternatively, use background music or a voiceover.
• Preview changes: Always preview clips multiple times to make sure the motion effects fit the story and style of your project.
• Use markers: Use markers in your timeline to keep track of important events or changes when making complex speed adjustments.

Conclusion

Increasing video speed in Adobe Premiere Pro can be an easy and effective way to increase the energy and flow of your video project. By mastering the different methods available to adjust video speed, such as using the Speed/Duration command, the Rate Stretch tool, and time remapping, you can create dynamic content that suits your creative vision. Like any skill in video editing, practicing and experimenting with different techniques will help you develop a keen eye for how to best use speed changes in your work. Keep exploring and experimenting to find what works best for your style and project needs.

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