Guide: Speed Ramping in Premiere, DaVinci Resolve & Final Cut

Speed ramping is a video editing technique that dynamically adjusts the frame rate during a clip, creating a dramatic slow-motion or fast-forward effect. Sometimes referred to as The Matrix effect, it creates a stylistic transition between scenes and adds visual interest.

This article demonstrates how to create speed-ramping effects in Premiere, Davinci, or Final Cut Pro.

How to do Speed Ramping in Adobe Premiere.

Speed ramping is also known as time remapping in Adobe Premiere Pro.

The video below, by YouTuber Tech Infusion, is very easy to follow and shows how to use speed ramping in Adobe Premiere Pro. I’ve created a helpful recap below if you prefer to read the instructions instead.

Step-by-step guide to speed ramping in Premiere Pro:

1. Right-click the clip you want to speed up or slow down, and select the Time remapping option, then click Speed.
2. Drag the video clip out so it is tall enough on your timeline to see the time-remapping keyframes (it appears as a straight line). You can then drag the line upwards to speed up the clip or downwards to slow it down.
3. When you want to set a keyframe, drag the play head to the spot where you want to start the speed ramping, then click the little diamond to the left of the clip to set a keyframe. Drag your play head to the part of the clip where you want the speed ramp to stop, then set another keyframe.
4. With your two keyframes set, you can drag the bar up or down to speed the clip up or slow it down. Remember that as you slow down the clip, it will get longer, so make sure you don’t have any other clips placed too close to the one you are mapping.
5. Once you have mapped the section you want to speed up or slow down, you can drag the handles on your keyframe to gradually “ramp” the time change effect.
6. The further you drag out the handles, the more the transition slopes, with longer inclines happening more gradually and shorter inclines happening more abruptly.

How to do Speed ramping in Davinci Resolve.

To add a speed ramping effect to your footage when editing in Davinci Resolve, we found this video by Youtuber MrAlexTech very helpful. Check it out below, as well as our short recap.

Step-by-step guide to speed ramping in Davinci Resolve:

1. Select your clip and the Retime controls option (you can also use the shortcut Control + R). Now, a speed change filter will overlay your clip on the timeline.
2. Move your play head to the moment you want to start your speed ramp. Once placed, click the drop-down on the overlay next to 100% (which indicates the speed of your clip) and select the option to Add a speed point.
3. Whenever you add a speed point, you create two clips to adjust the speed separately. As MrAlexTech points out, if you want to create one fast section and one that is slow, you section them off with multiple speed points.
4. Once you have set all your speed points to create your separate clips, click the drop-down again and select the option to change speed, then set the percentage you want the clip to play at. If you want faster, choose a higher percentage; if you want slower, choose a lower percentage.
5. You can also manually adjust the length of your speed points by dragging the lower handle on each one or manually adjust the speed of the speed points by dragging the upper handle.
6. If you want to add a gradual fade between your speed points, you can left-click your video clip and select the option Retime curve. You will be looking at a window called Retime Frame, so click the retime frame dropdown and check it off. Check Retime speed instead, then adjust the keyframes to add a slope/fade to your speed ramps.

How to do Speed Ramping in Final Cut Pro.

Another popular editing software is Final Cut Pro, and thankfully, YouTuber Tech Talk America put together this video on how to speed up the ramp using Mac-based software. Check it out, as well as our recap, below.

Step-by-step guide on how to do speed ramping in Final Cut Pro:

1. Select the clip in your timeline and press the shortcut Shift + B. This will create a speed ramp overlay on your clip.
2. Instead of adding keyframes to your clip, move the play head to the end of the clip to create separate speed ramp frames where you want to adjust the speed and press Shift + B again. This will create two separate speed ramp frames to adjust separately.
3. To adjust the speed of your separate clips, click the dropdown next to the speed percentage (the default is 100%) and choose either the Fast or Slow option. If you select fast, you can start by speeding the clip up 2x to 20x faster, then drag the handles to speed up or slow down.
4. You can also adjust the gradual slope/fade of the speed ramp by dragging the handles of the gray bars that act as transitions between your clips of varying speeds; drag them closer to shorten the transitions or further away to make the transition more gradual.
5. If you want to change the placement of the speed ramp effect itself, double-click the gray bar handle that appears between clips and select the option Source frame: edit. You can then drag and adjust the length of the different clips.

Closing Thoughts

Speed ramping is a dynamic and versatile video editing technique. Just don’t overuse it!

For more about speed ramping and when you might want to use it in your videos, check out How to Edit Slow Motion Footage here.