Premiere Pro has a lot of fantastic tools for editors, but there are some that you may never find unless you’re told they’re there. Every editor has a different workflow, but you can’t be sure you’re maximizing your productivity without knowing all the tools. Today, Motion Array will show you 4 incredible underrated tools you can use for your work, including Premiere Pro’s Rate Stretch tool.
Premiere Pro’s lesser-known tools and why you need to use them
Little is more important in video editing than getting things done fast and efficiently. Yet many editors get stuck in familiar routines, missing out on powerful tools that could revolutionize their workflow because they don’t know how to use them — or, possibly, that they’re there at all!
Premiere Pro has several hidden gems that need to be used more. Among these unsung heroes are the Rate Stretch, Slip, Slide, and Ripple Edit tools. Each is a potential game-changer in its own right.
These tools offer unique solutions to common editing challenges. They empower editors to manipulate time, fine-tune cuts, and adjust clip placement. By mastering these tools, you can save valuable time and boost the quality of your work.
For example, the Premiere Pro Rate Stretch tool allows for quick tempo adjustments without the need for complex time remapping. Meanwhile, the Slip and Slide and Ripple Edit tools in Premiere Pro provide fine control over clip positioning and content.
If you’ve ever dreamed of crafting seamless sequences with ease, you need to know how to work with these superstars. Don’t forget that you can also create keyboard shortcuts for these tools to make editing even faster.
As you look at each of these tools below, you’ll see how they can streamline your editing, spark creativity, and help you fix problems quickly. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, these underused tools will make a world of difference. It’s time to harness the full power of Premiere Pro!
How to use the Rate Stretch tool
Premiere Pro’s Rate Stretch tool is an incredible time-saver when you want to speed up or slow down clips. It functions similarly to the Trim tool, however, rather than cutting the ends of your clip, it only adjusts the speed to your desired durations. This is helpful when you don’t want to change the speed by an exact percentage.
Premiere Pro’s Rate Stretch tool is fantastic for adjusting the speed of your footage, but it’s also super handy for quick fixes. For example, if you’re editing footage for music, you might have gaps between your clips where they aren’t long enough — the Rate Stretch tool can help you close those gaps.
If you need to slow down your footage a lot, it can look strange because individual frames are stretched over a longer duration. If your footage is shot at 50 fps, you can quickly slow it down to 50% with no reduction in quality. For footage shot in 24 fps, you might struggle below 75%. Brush up on what frame rates are if you aren’t sure what that means for your project.
The tool’s Optical Flow settings are fantastic for blending out clips that need to be slower than the frame rate allows. The Optical Flow effect creates new frames to blend with the existing ones. You may be familiar with it from making slow-motion videos.
The Premiere Pro Rate Stretch tool is also fantastic for creating time-lapse videos from your video clips. A time-lapse is usually created in the camera by taking stills at regular intervals, but by using the Rate Stretch tool, you can speed up shots to create stunning compositions.
How to use the Slip tool
The Slip and Slide tools in Premiere Pro offer you even more versatility. Let’s look at the Slip tool first. The Slip tool is a powerful function ideal for precision-editing individual clips.
Let’s say you’ve got a clip in your timeline that fits perfectly between two others, but the part of the clip you’ve used could be better. Many editors will delete the clip, choose new In and Out points, and replace them in the timeline. That’s a lot of work! Instead, the Slip tool allows you to change a clip’s In and Out points from its place within the timeline. Much easier, right?
The Slip tool in Premiere Pro is great for making fine adjustments to the portion of a clip the viewer sees. It can also be really helpful when using transitions between your footage.
Occasionally, when you try to add a transition, you might be told there isn’t enough clip available. This is because the transition needs more frames. Using the Slip tool, you can nudge the In and Out points to add the transition without editing the timeline or surrounding clips. The Slip and Slide tools in Premiere Pro are also helpful if you’re removing objects from your footage.
How to use the Slide tool
The Slide tool is useful when you want to replace or swap clips on your timeline, but don’t want to trim or retime all of your footage. It allows you to (literally) slide clips along the timeline, adjusting the surrounding clips to enable them to fit. The Slip and Slide tools in Premiere Pro are often used together to great effect.
The Slide tool looks at 3 clips: the one you want to slide, the one before it, and the one after it. For example, if you wanted to slide a clip further up the timeline, the position of the clip would be adjusted by trimming back the one before it and adding to the one after it.
Imagine you have footage spread over 2 tracks. Moving a clip on the top track will change what you see of the clips below it. The same is true for the Slide tool, except the edit occurs on the same track. The Slide tool is excellent for editing B-roll footage in your timeline, letting you adjust the order and position of your clips to accommodate talking heads.
How to Use the Ripple Edit Tool
The Ripple Edit, often called the Ripple tool in Premiere Pro, is a super-handy function that can save you time and frustration by closing and creating gaps in your timeline.
In Premiere Pro, you can trim the ends of your video to shorten them, but it will leave a gap between your clips. Similarly, you can lengthen the clips by dragging out the ends, but it will overwrite the following clip.
Using the Ripple tool in Premiere Pro allows you to lengthen or shorten a clip while seamlessly moving the rest of your timeline to fit. Shorten a clip and the rest of your footage will move up the timeline to close the gap. Lengthen one and the rest of your footage will be pushed down the timeline to give you more space.
Once you feel confident with the Ripple tool in Premiere Pro, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it. It’s a great skill to boost your workflow and help you work smarter, not harder.
Editing is a skill learned over time with practice and experimentation. Premiere Pro offers a range of tools to create your compositions, but how you use them is up to you. Now you know about the Premiere Pro Rate Stretch tool for changing the duration of your video clips, why not check out this guide for the Audio Remix tool to change the duration of your music tracks? With the Slip and Slide tools in Premiere Pro to help you make faster, smarter edits and the Ripple Edit tool to help you keep your timeline clean, you’ll soon be editing like a real pro.
