In previous articles, I have discussed how Premiere Pro CS5 can import native Canon 7D video (as well as video from Canon 5D Mark II/Canon T2i)  without the need to convert the video from its native H.264 format.  Once you drag the video to the timeline, there is a whole range of features to manipulate the video.  One of the coolest (and easiest) effects is Slow Motion.  Earlier version of Premiere were limited in how to create and manipulate slow motion video, forcing users to purchase third-party filters like Twixtor.  But, Premiere Pro CS5 is so flexible that you have your choice of three different ways to apply slow motion effects.

1. Speed/Duration to an entire video clip.

With the clip on your timeline and selected, just go to Clip > Speed/Duration to apply slow motion to the enitre clip.  You can also use the short cut Ctrl/Command + R.

In the pop-up dialog box, change the value of Speed to less than 100% to slow down the entire clip.  You can also increase the value of Speed higher than 100% to speed-up the entire clip.  Both the video AND the audio for the clip will be altered accordingly.

2. Time Remapping in Effects Control Palette provides key frame control for video time effects.

The more powerful way to control the speed of a video clip is to use the Time Remapping Effect.  This effect is automatically applied when a clip is dragged to the time line.  With a clip selected, just click on the Effects Control palette to see Time Remapping.  Expand the arrows to display the Speed effect.  You will see the clock next to Speed which means that it can be animated over time.  Just move the playback head to where you would like to start the video time effect and Control-Click (Command-Click) on the timeline to insert your first key frame.  (You can also click the diamond icon to insert a key frame.)  With the key frame in place, you can drag the rubberband timeline up to speed-up the track or down to slow-down the track.  That video time effect will continue until the next key frame (or the end of the track if there are no other key frames.)

You will notice the handles on the key frame are split.  This means that they can be pulled apart to further refine the transition speed.  Click on one handle and pull to create a space in between the two side of the handles.  That will reveal a bezier control point which will allow you to adjust the transition for the start of the video time effect.  This point can be altered by pulling the blue points to speed-up the transition start or slow down the transition start.  The same is true for the end key frame.

One important difference between Time Remapping and Speed/Duration – Time Remapping only applies to the video portion of the clip.  The audio track will remain unaffected.  You will either need to Unlink the Audio and slow the audio track down using Speed/Duration or add in an additional (duplicate) audio loop to fill in the sound gap.

3. Time Remapping in the timeline directly.

For those who like to work in the timeline, you can also use Time Remapping there too.  Just click on the clip and select Time Remapping from the drop-down.  All of the same features discussed above in the Effects Control Palette are also available here.  Time remapping will also affect only the video clip.  The audio track will remain unaffected.

Premiere Pro CS5 really does make video time effects easy! You can either slow down a clip or speed-up a clip with just a few clicks.  Just pay attention to the audio track and fill-in the blanks 😉

For additional information, take a look at this great video by Chad Perkins at the Adobe Video Workshop.