Changing the speed of a video should not be a major challenge. You can slow down or speed up the video to boost its performance. These are simple changes, but the main question here is how to make these changes to your video.
Well, there is definitely a way out.
But before delving deep into how to add slow-motion or fast-motion effects, it is necessary to understand everything about video speed. Not just video speed, but you also need to understand why the speed of a video matters when it comes to creating highly influencing visuals.
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Understanding Video Speed
Video speed is the rate at which a certain video is shot. Technically, the frame rate is called FPS or Frames Per Second. It shows the total number of individual frames or images shot in a certain video per second.
For instance that your camera shoots videos at 30 frames per second. Slowing down this frame rate means you will be getting a slow-motion visual. Contrastingly, speeding up the frame rate means you will be creating a fast-motion video.
Now, let’s understand more about both these transitions:
Steps on Changing the Speed of a Video
You can use an online video editing tool to speed up your video. The steps are as follows:
- Log in or sign up to your online video editing tool account and start with the procedure.
- Next, upload your video onto the editor. For this, you will have to browse through your device and choose the footage you are looking to speed up. Once you are ready with the footage, open it.
- Start editing the video. You will find the speed option that will help you in speeding up or slowing down your video. Select the preferable speed index. Based on how fast you want your visual to be, choose the speed index from 1.25 to 2.
If you are looking to slow down your video, choose a speed index of 0.75 to 0.25.
- The last and final step is publishing your sped-up video.
Why Speed Up a Video?
Some of the reasons why speeding up a video can be a great choice are as follows:
1. To Highlight a Long Procedure
The viewers these days are quite busy. Hence, they do not like long-winded procedures being described through visual matter. So, if you have shot a lengthy process, transform it into an interesting visual summary to generate the viewers’ interest.
You have the option of reducing the running time of the video by pushing the lengthy procedure short to just a few minutes. The idea also works great for cooking videos.
2. To Increase the Video production Value
You can easily add exclusive style to your visual by blending a sped-up shot with a few slow clips. Vloggers generally practice this process. They often speed up their visuals to improve their production value.
3. To Fit the Content Within a Specified Time Frame
Lengthy videos are usually not very engaging. Hence, it works to speed up a video for shortening its duration. The slower sections of a video can also be sped up, especially when you do not want to cut out the same.
4. To Narrate a Story
Storytelling forms the key ingredient of a good video. It helps in winning customers. Increasing the speed of a video helps with compelling storytelling. It not only conveys information at great speed but even gives viewers a great video-watching experience.
And yes, there’s no better way of narrating a story than predicting the future with time-lapse or sped-up videos!
5. For Creating a Comedic Effect
It is quite likely to have the images of those Charlie Chaplin movies running in your mind by comedic effect. Movement in the old silent movies was generally sped up to add a comical effect to the content—the same works in the videos of the present era.
Reasons to Slow Down a Video
Slowing down a video helps give a good close-up at the perfect time and adds an artistic effect to a video. Nevertheless, various other reasons advocate slowing down a video. They are as follows:
1. To Focus on the Details
Using slow-motion effects in action scenes or spots videos is of good help in emphasizing the details that the viewers might miss out on easily. Almost every detail of a video looks great in slow-mo.
2. For Adding Suspense
Slowing down a video is of good help in creating suspense. It helps in hooking the audience for a bit longer.
3. To Show Certain Skills
Looking to show your audience a special skill or talent you possess? Or do you want them to know about your exclusive style? Not a problem when you have the option of using a slow-motion effect for representing the talent you possess.
4. For Observing the Natural Wonders
There’s no beauty like Mother Nature, and the best way of observing this beauty is through slow-motion videos. Slow-motion visuals are great when it comes to capturing natural phenomena in detail.
5. Science Experiments! They are Unexciting without Slow-Motion Visuals
If you are completely in love with experiments and science, use slow-motion effects when recording the same. This will help you capture the minutest details that will definitely take your science experiment videos to an entirely new level.
Conclusion
Coming up with those aesthetically charming and gorgeous video shots featuring cinematic effects is not impossible. But to make things possible and easy in this context, you need to know the tricks of this trade.
Some tips that can help you create fast-moving or slow-motion cinema-quality visuals are resisting over-cranking, not overdoing, using audio, keeping a clean background, adding narration, and always previewing the final result. Follow these tips, and nothing can stop you from slowing down or speeding up your videos with complete ease. You can easily master editing the speed of a video by using different online video editing tools. These will help you in leveling up the quality of your video without going through any hassle.
