How to Slow Elements Down in Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro 25/11/2018 2 min read

Let’s take a look at a situation you may have come across from time to time. It’s when you want an animation or an element like a title card or lower third to last for a longer amount of time than it exists in its current format. How can you slow elements down? In this tutorial, you’ll learn two ways to hold elements in an animation using Premiere Pro CC. 

How to Hold Elements in an Animation

Option 1: Add a Frame Hold to Pause the Animation

Let’s say your animation comes into frame, stays for a second, then leaves the frame. But you want it to hold for a little longer. How do you do that? 

You might consider slowing down your whole clip. But don’t do that. This will mess around with the frame rate and make it choppy. Instead, find the point at which the animation isn’t moving, and add a frame hold. 

  1. Find a point in the middle of the clip where the animation is not moving.
  2. Select the Blade Tool and make a cut, splitting the element in two.
  3. Make a second cut nearby the first, and move the second half of the clip back to make space on the timeline.
  4. Bring the playhead to the point at which you want the freeze frame to hold.
  5. Right-click the clip, and select Add Frame Hold.

This will turn the split clip into a single still frame which you can extend (or reduce) for the duration you like. Ten seconds? Ten minutes? Then, simply join up the two elements on the timeline and your animation will continue to play from where it paused in the frame hold.

Option 2: Use Time Remapping to Extend an Animation

If there’s nowhere convenient to pause the frame because you have continually moving elements, you can try speed ramping down just a little bit. When you do this, your footage more gradually slows down instead of instantly stopping, making the change less noticeable.

If your elements are exported at a low frame rate (like 24fps), it’s worth noting that the end result will look worse. But if elements are at 60fps, for example, then slowing down can actually retain a nice look even if you drop the speed by 50%. 

  1. Find the point where the entrance animation has stopped or is moving the least.
  2. Go to Effects Controls > Time Remapping, and set a keyframe.
  3. Drag the keyframe slider back a few frames.
  4. Bring the second half of this keyframe to your desired speed. Give 50% a try to start. 
  5. Add another keyframe before the exit animation. 
  6. Do the same process in reverse, bringing it back up to 100% speed.

This should leave you with an animation that will stay on screen for longer but which still retains movement within it! 


So there you have it! You’ve now learned two straightforward ways to slow down elements within Premiere Pro. It doesn’t matter what the project is or how complex your timeline; there will always be a solution to the problems you face in post-production. Tutorials like this for frame holds and time remapping should help you build the toolkit you need to improve your editing and your videos overall.