[This is an excerpt from a recent on-line video webinar: “FCP X: Clip Speed Effects” which you can download in our store, or as part of our Video Training Library.]
Changing clip speed (also called “retiming”) can create dramatic effects – from high-speed time-lapse to extreme slow motion. Final Cut Pro X provides a wide-variety of techniques to change the speed of a clip, including:
During this session, Larry Jordan illustrates dozens of ways to change the speed of a clip, starting with a very simple hold frame in the Timeline, then moving into far more flexible – and weird – speed effects.
In this short video excerpt Larry shows how create high-quality slow-motion by conforming a high-frame-rate clip into a project.
TRT: 5:09 — MPEG-4 HD movie
Our website offers lots more video training in our store.
4 Responses to FCP X: High-Quality Slow-Motion [video]
Can we change all the footage to automatic speed before placing it into the timeline?
Mary Anne:
No. Automatic speed only applies to Timeline clips because FCP X needs to know both the speed of the clip and the frame rate of the project in order to set this.
Larry
“Automatic Speed” is such an odd term for the concept of shooting things at a higher frame rate so they will play back in slow motion. I mean, yes, I get what the term sorta means… ‘the clip will ‘automatically’ adjust its playback speed of the clip to the % that results from the ratio of the project frame rate to the frame rate the clip… but what an awkward way to think of it.
It may be because I came up shooting film, that the idea of ‘you shoot film at a high frame rate (creating more frames than regular speed) and, with the projector always running at a fixed rate, it takes longer to play back all those extra frames… thus: slow motion, seems fairly straight forward.
Slightly more intuitive terms: “Natural Speed” or “Allow Frame Rate”?
Victor:
I agree – the name is not the most intuitive…
Larry