Academy / Edit video in Design
Lesson 2 of 6 · 5 min
Trim, split and speed
Quick recallYou want a film with words already moving in. Where do you start?Think of your answer, then open.
Videos in the row of kinds, then Use template. Video templates come with the movement built in. You change the words and photos.
A phone clip is usually too long. Three tools do almost all of the cutting: Trim, Split and Speed.
Trim: keep the best part
- Click the clip on the page. Press Trim.
- Drag the left handle to where the page should start, and the right handle to where it ends.
- Press Play to check.
Autotrim takes the silence off the start and the end. It listens to the sound, so a clip with no sound has nothing to go by. Undo brings the silence back.
Split: cut one clip into two
Move the playhead to where you want the cut and press Split, or Cmd+B (Ctrl+B on Windows). The film looks the same, because the second page plays on from where the first stops. Each part must be at least half a second. Now you can change one part: make it faster, add a transition, or move another clip in between.
Speed: slow and fast
Pick the clip, press Speed, and choose from 0.25x to 4x. The sound keeps its pitch. A slow pour at 0.5x looks rich. A busy rush at 2x feels fun.
Speed curve, under Speed, changes the speed while the page plays. Slow middle is good for a splash. A curve plays without the clip's sound.
If a slow speed makes a page longer than 30 seconds, the end is cut and a message says so. Undo brings it back.
Under More, Backwards plays the clip from end to start, without sound, and Mirror flips it. Use them once, not on every clip.
Press Effects in the clip's tools to add a look or a move. Each tile plays itself, and None comes first.
Do it
- Trim your first clip to its best 2 to 4 seconds. For Bean There, start when the milk touches the cup.
- Split one clip in two.
- Slow down one of the parts.
Quick check · 3 questions
Check what stuck
Your clip starts with two seconds of nothing. What is the quickest fix?
Show the answer
Press Autotrim, or drag the left Trim handle. Autotrim takes silence off the start and end. Trim lets you pick the part by hand.
What does Split do to how the film looks?
Show the answer
Nothing at first. The second page plays on from where the first stops. Split gives two pages that look like the one before. Then you can change each part.
You set Speed to 0.5x. What happens to the page?
Show the answer
It plays the same part more slowly, so it gets longer. The same part of the video plays, so a slower speed makes the page longer. The sound keeps its pitch.
In this course
- 1Start a filmPick a video template or your own clips, read the timeline, and know the limits. · 4 min
- 2Trim, split and speedKeep the best seconds of a clip, cut it in two, and make it faster or slower. · 5 min
- 3Order, length and stock videoPut pages in story order, set how long each shows, add a transition, and use free stock video. · 5 min
- 4Music and cutting to the beatAdd a song, set its start and volume, and let Postfjord move your cuts onto the beat. · 5 min
- 5Words, a voice and clean soundAdd captions so the film works with the sound off, put a voice on it, and clean up noise. · 5 min
- 6Export the video and post itPick a cover, export the film as an MP4, and send it to a new post. · 4 min