How to create a slow-motion video with CapCut

You’ve edited an action video with CapCut. You’re ready to share, but … it just needs something more. How can you make a video more cinematic and inspiring? It can be really tough to come up with ideas. And if you’re not a video production expert, what can you do?

Slow motion settings CapCut — In this tutorial guide, you’ll learn how to add slow-motion effects to CapCut videos.

Thanks to CapCut, you have a great tool to make your video exciting. It’s the easy ability to add slow-motion effects. In this tutorial, I’m here to show you how to create a slow-motion video with CapCut. Right inside CapCut’s mobile app, you can make these amazing edits in mere seconds. They add eye-catching elegance to all of your action videos.

Let’s get started!

Why add slow-motion effects to my CapCut videos?

Think back to movies and TV shows that you enjoy. Odds are, you’ve run across slow-motion in these productions. However, it’s sometimes tempting to take them for granted. You might see slow-mo without really thinking about it.

So how can slow-motion effects make your videos stand out? And why should you add them with CapCut?

Slow mo CapCut timeline — Slow-mo features like this let you edit your own videos in CapCut quickly.

In fact, the benefits here are many. Consider this:

Slow-motion heightens emphasis. Slow-motion directs audiences to focus on specific visual elements. It’s a great way to call attention to key details in your footage! Plus, you can emphasize after the fact. Think back to slow-mo replays that you’ve seen during a sporting event. In these cases, slow-mo gives viewers more time to process and react to the action on-screen.
You can build drama and suspense. When you share a video, you don’t need to always be in a hurry. In fact, slow-motion helps you put your audience on alert that something big is about to happen. They’ll be on the edge of their seats with your creative use of video slow-motion in CapCut.
Smoother transitions are possible with slow-mo. Slow-motion unlocks new possibilities for transitions. Their effects help you move from scene to scene more smoothly and elegantly.
CapCut is free and easy to use. CapCut stands out for its intuitive, mobile-based interface. It’s also free. You can download the app and add your own slo-mo styles completely free of charge.

The advantages are clear. Ready to get rolling? Below, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about adding and working with slow-motion video effects in CapCut.

How to create a slow-motion effect in CapCut (step by step)

With CapCut, you can create slow-motion styles in just a few quick steps. As I mentioned, it’s simple thanks to the user-friendly interface. We’ll demonstrate below using CapCut on an Apple iPhone.

Android user? Not a problem - you can find CapCut for free on the Google Play Store. Plus, there are Mac and Windows versions available if you prefer editing on your computer. The steps are very similar across all platforms, but may vary slightly.

The video we’ll be making slow-motion came from Envato Elements. You can click here if you’d like to download and practice using the clip to learn the art and science of slow-motion.

1. Select footage to slow

To get started adding slow-motion effects in CapCut, open a video project. What’s a project? The grouping of working files used to create a finished video! In a CapCut project, all of your multimedia is stored together. This includes your video clips, music, visual effects, and more.

In the upper center of your CapCut window, you will see a video preview. It’s here that you can see your edits in real time! This becomes important later: you can see slow-mo in action before you save and share your video. It’s an instant look at any changes you make.

CapCut Menu for footage — In CapCut, your videos are previewed at the top of your screen. At the bottom is the toolbar, where you’ll launch effects and make edits like slow-motion changes.

Below the preview is the Timeline, where you can navigate through a CapCut video frame by frame. It’s here where you can choose an individual point to edit. And finally, at the bottom is the CapCut toolbar. It’s on the toolbar where edits, effects, and other creative options live. Whenever you want to make a change to a CapCut video, the toolbar is where you will start.

Find a video in a project that you want to slow down. Here, we’ll use the video of the runners. As a video editor, keep a couple of rules in mind.

First, action videos are the best candidates for slow-motion. Why? Because something needs to be visually moving for slow-motion to make any difference! Slow down a video of a static object, and odds are, no one will notice. In fact, they might become bored by a lack of action.

Second, consider the footage that you’re using. For best results, use or record footage at a high frame rate. The higher the frames per second (FPS) of a video, the more you can slow it down without the video becoming choppy. Consider a 60fps video: slow it down by half, and you’re still seeing silky-smooth 30fps motion. But if a video is already jerky, making it slow-motion can rapidly make things worse.

Think about what slow-motion is really doing. It’s changing the default speed of a video to something slower. The default speed is how your video was recorded. And it means that CapCut’s Speed button is where you’ll find the ability to create slow-motion styles!

To open the Speed menu, begin by tapping on the video that you want to slow on the Timeline. It looks like a horizontal film strip. This selects the video. Watch what happens on the toolbar - the default options disappear, replaced by those for video edits.

speed panel settings — Tap a Timeline video to select it. Then, go to the toolbar menu at the bottom and choose the Speed button.

Second from the left is the option that you are looking for: Speed. Tap Speed, and the toolbar transforms once again. You now have two options: Normal and Curve. Both are great ways to add slow-motion effects, and we’ll demo both. For this step, tap Normal. To learn more about the Curve option, read on to step #4.

3. Slow video speeds with the slider

When you tap Normal, you’re on CapCut’s primary speed adjustment panel. It’s here that you can transform a full video clip and render it in slow-motion. As you can see, the panel itself is controlled by a slider bar at the bottom. By default, the slider is set at 1x speed. This is “normal” speed, or how your video was filmed originally.

Want to add slow-motion to this clip? Pull the slider from the 1x position to the left. A value of less than 1.0 implies slow-motion. Going to 0.5, for example, doubles the playback length of your clip.

Slow motion normal settings CapCut — On the Speed > Normal menu, pull the slider to the left in order to add dramatic slow-motion effects to your selected video.

Found a setting that you like? Go ahead and tap the Checkmark icon on the right. Then, return to CapCut’s main Edit view. Play your video back from the beginning. As you watch on the preview, you’ll see that slow-mo is applied.

As I mentioned earlier, be careful here. If you go too slow, your videos will look choppy and jerky. The trick is to balance an obvious slow-motion effect with a natural look and feel. Your clips should be noticeably slower. But they should maintain smooth, fluid motion.

It takes some finesse and some practice, and the “right” setting will differ between videos. But remember: you can always return to the Speed > Normal panel to make changes. Full flexibility is always yours!

4. Get precise creative control with slow-motion curve effects

Above, you learned how to make an entire CapCut video slow-motion. But what if you want to slow only a section of a video? For this enhanced control, undo your original edits and return to the Speed panel.

This time, choose Curve. Curves let you control and vary the speed of a clip over time. Here, for example, you can slow a clip down, and then return it to normal speed. This really ramps up the drama, by creating an arresting cinematic effect sure to grab viewers’ attention.

On the Curve panel, you’ll see a row of menu buttons. To create curved slow-motion in CapCut, double-tap Custom. When you do, the Custom curve slider will appear. By default, a video will show as a horizontal yellow line. On the far left, you’ll see a playhead (illustrated with a vertical white line). With the playhead, you can drag across your video until reaching a point to add slow-mo.

Curve effects — On the Curve panel, choose Custom, and craft razor-sharp slow-motion effects.

When you find your starting point, move the closest dot onto the playhead by dragging it with your finger. Then, pull downward on the next dot to the right. Watch what happens to the curve: you’ll see it drop below 1.0 speed. By moving up, down, left, and right, you can precisely control the speed and duration of your slow-motion effects. End the effect by moving the next dot in line to the right. You’ll see a modified bell curve shape to illustrate your slow-motion designs.

When you’re finished adding slow-motion effects, it’s time to export and share your video with the world! Look in the upper right corner of CapCut’s screen. There, you’ll see the Share icon arrow. Ready to export? Tap Share.

CapCut will begin exporting your video. It may take a few moments depending on the length and complexity of your project. When finished, you’ll have a saved video file on your device. It works like any other video, as it’s ready to send, save, and share with others.

Export CapCut video options — Tap **Share,** and you’ll have a saved copy of your CapCut slow-motion video. You can also post straight to your favorite social networks.

But with CapCut, keep in mind that social media sharing is a popular use. Once your video is exported, you can share directly to popular social media apps. For example, you can link your TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and more. At the touch of a button, you can post directly to these platforms (and several others).

Learn more CapCut tips and tricks for better videos

CapCut has no shortage of editing tools and features. There are countless ways to bring your creative vision to life. Ready to boost your CapCut skills and build knowledge? Here at Envato Tuts+, we have tutorials to help you do exactly that.

Learn more about CapCut by exploring these top options from our vast tutorial library today:

Create a slow-motion video in CapCut today

In this tutorial, you learned how to create slow-motion videos with CapCut. We explored two options. First, you can easily slow down an entire video clip. Or, you can use Curve tools to add slow-mo effects to a chosen portion of any video clip.

Whichever option you choose, you and your audience will enjoy studio-quality cinematic visuals in your next video. Thanks to CapCut’s ease of use and mobile editing, there’s no steep learning curve or costly time investment. You can create slow-motion videos to stun in moments.