Hello everyone,
and welcome back to this FCP tutorial.
In todays video we’re going to learn
to fine tune and perfect your video edit,
by applying some speed effects.
This is part nine of my series.
In parts one through eight, I built a rough cut,
got some feedback on it
and used that feedback on my second pass.
I’ll link the videos in my description,
and in the top right corner.
My video is really starting to come together,
but there’s still a few kinks to iron out.
Before we get started,
I would like say thank you
to all the people watching this series.
As of this video,
my channel has just hit 100 subs.
I know its not that much, but to me it feels huge.
I’d also like to thank everyone
for the positive feedback in the comments.
Makes me want to keep on going.
As always, if you enjoy these videos,
hit the like button and don’t forget to subscribe.
200 subs, here we come.
First thing I’d like to go over today
is retiming clips.
FCP makes it very easy to
slow down your clips for some cool slow motion,
speed up to get to the point spooner
and make some cool time lapses,
or even reverse your clips and play them backwards.
First, I’ll show you how to apply
a constant speed change to a clip.
In one of my first video clips,
I’m going over a beautiful bridge.
It takes a couple minutes to cross it,
but watching for two full minutes is very boring,
so I’ll speed it up.
In order not to mess up all the timings
I’ll lift this clip out of my storyline,
ripple trim out the whole clip
and click and drag it to the top layer of my project.
Now I’ll trim off the parts before and after the bridge.
With the clip selected,
click on the timing menu button.
Since I want to speed up my clip,
I’ll select fast, and choose 2X.
A retime editor bar appears at the top of my clip,
the clip plays two times faster
and the duration is cut in half.
Lets review the clip to see how it looks.
It’s better, but its still taking up too much time.
I’ll click on the timing menu button again
and select custom.
Here you can manually enter the rate of playback,
or a duration you want your clip to be.
Lets try 300 % and see how it looks.
Getting better.
Another way you can change the speed
of your clip is by clicking and dragging
the retime editor handle at the edge of your clip.
I’ll zoom in on why timeline for more precision
and set the playhead at the end of the gap clip
created when I lifted my clip from the timeline.
Now I’ll click and drag the retime handle
towards the playhead.
The retime editor bar shows me
the rate of playback for my clip.
I’ll drag this clip back down into my timeline
and get rid of the gap clip.
I’ll zoom out and review my project,
much better.
Now, lets try slow motion.
I’ll select a clip I would like to slow down,
and instead of using the timing menu button,
I’ll use the keyboard shortcut Command R.
A retime editor bar shows up on top of my clip,
where I can select a few speed options.
I’ll click on the dropdown menu,
choose slow and 50 %.
My clip is slowed down
and plays back at half the speed.
It looks a little choppy, but thats because
of the frame rate this video was recorded at.
I’ll make a video in the future
discussing frame rate options and how to get
silky smooth slow motion playback, but for now,
this will work just fine.
So that was a constant speed change,
thats applied a full clip.
FCP has another retiming effect,
the variable speed change,
which applies at least two different playback rates
within a single clip.
Lets try it out.
I’ll select one of my clips towards the end of the project.
I want the start of it to play back at normal speed,
but then speed up the second half.
Since it will play back faster,
I can use more footage of this clip.
Like I showed you before I can
click and drag the end point
of this clip to make it longer,
but there’s another way to do it.
With the clip selected press Control D.
The clips duration is displayed in the dashboard.
Lets make this clip about 20 seconds long.
I’ll enter 20, period and hit enter.
FCP extends my clip so its exactly 20 seconds long.
I’ll cue the playhead to about
half way through my clip, where i want to speed it up.
With the clip selected,
press the timing menu button and select blade speed.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift B.
The clips retime editor bar opens up,
indicating the two speed segments I created.
I’ll select fast & 4X for the second segment.
Instead of just abruptly changing playback speed,
FCP inserts a speed transition
between the clips where the playback slowly ramps up.
You can adjust the timing of the speed transition
by clicking and dragging the transition edges.
Lets see how that looks.
If, after reviewing the edit,
you decide that you bladed at the wrong point,
you can still adjust it.
Double click the junction between the two segments
and a speed transition menu box opens up.
Here, you can deselect both sides
of the transition if you don’t like it.
I like the way it looks, so I’ll leave this box checked.
Now, I’ll click the source frame edit button.
The source frame editor appears as a film-frame icon.
This is where you can pick
the exact frame where your transition takes place.
I’ll click and drag the source frame icon to the right,
until the frame where I want the speed change to happen,
just as I go by the road sign.
I’ll double click the source frame icon to close the editor.
You can blade speed your clip
as many times as necessary at different points.
Lets go back and look at the first riding clip in my project.
Notice the black bars on each side of the screen?
I shot most my clips on a GoPro camera,
and if you ever used one before,
you know most of them don’t have
viewfinders to frame your shot.
Even for the ones that do have one,
if the camera is mounted to your helmet,
it’s kind of hard to get the framing perfect.
Thats why I set it to 1440p resolution.
It gives me a taller 4x3 picture,
and when editing, I can crop it down to 16 x 9,
pick the best frame,
and still have full 1080 resolution.
I can also stretch it I need
to keep everything in my frame.
So, lets crop it down to fill the screen.
I’ll place my playhead over my clip and select it.
Now, click on the transform menu button and select crop.
When I choose the crop option,
a 16 x 9 frame that will fill todays TV screens is highlighted.
I can click and drag it to select the frame I want to keep.
A yellow line in the middle helps keep your clip centred.
If you drag the clip to the side, it disappears,
and when you return to the middle, the yellow line reappears.
It only acts as a guide,
and you can still choose whatever part of the frame you like.
Once I pick the part of the frame I want to use,
I’ll click done.
FCP crops the top and bottom parts of my picture,
and zooms in to fill the frame,
getting rid of the black bars.
If your footage is in a lower resolution,
zooming in like this might make it appear a little blocky.
I’ll make a video and explain video resolutions
once this series is done.
I’m going to go through my video
and crop all the clips that have black bars in them.
You can do this earlier on in your project,
but I like to leave it to near the end,
when I have settled on which clips I use in my video.
Next week I’m going to add a few video effects to my clips,
to make them look a little more artistic.
If you haven’t yet, hit the subscribe button
and turn on notifications so you don’t miss it.
Post any questions you may have in the comments
and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Also, if you see a question or a problem
someone else has in the comments,
and you have the solution,
feel free to answer it.
We can all learn something from each other.
And, if you have a better or more efficient way to edit,
or any other tips and tricks, let me know.
Just like you guys, I’m always trying to improve.
I’m looking forward to reading your comments,
so don’t be shy,
and I hope you come back next week.