Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the top video editing apps on the market. It’s a powerful tool, suited for everything from quick edits to advanced productions. As you work with an edit, it’s sometimes useful to know how to reverse a clip in Premiere.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to reverse a video in Premiere Pro and some key advantages of this technique. The skills you’ll learn will work for any video clip that you edit. It’s an easy, fun edit that you can complete in seconds.
Let’s get to it!
How to reverse a video in Premiere Pro
Learning how to reverse a clip in Premiere Pro is easy. But first, let’s ask “why.”
What are the benefits of playing videos backwards? Why should you learn how to reverse video in Premiere at all?
Here are some key advantages:
- Creative flair. Playing video clips in reverse is a creative, eye-catching cinematic technique. It captures the attention of your audience.
- Emphasis. Want viewers to see something, and then see it again? A quick rewind brings them back to the spot you want in your footage.
- Smoother motions. Moving forward and backward creates a symmetrical effect with motion in your videos. Think of it as balanced playback.
Knowing how to reverse a video in Premiere Pro is a cool and simple skill. Now, let’s learn how to do it, step by step.
1. Import your footage
Let’s begin by adding a video clip that you want to play in reverse. When you have a project open in Premiere, take notice of the app’s layout.
At the top of your screen, you’ll see the Program Monitor. This is where video footage is previewed in the app. It lets you monitor edits and changes in real time.
Below the Program Monitor is the Timeline. As the name suggests, this is where you control how and when clips start and stop in Premiere Pro.
The Timeline is the home of layering and other playback settings. What these do is control how multiple clips interact with one another.
In order to learn how to reverse a video in Premiere Pro, we'll use a clip with an evening view of a train crossing a railroad trestle. This is a stock video clip from Envato.
To add footage in Premiere Pro, find the video that you have stored on your computer. Then, drag it over the timeline and drop it into place. Use one of the Video tracks, like V1 in this example.
2. Launch the Speed/Duration menu
With a clip in place, let’s look at how to reverse footage in Premiere. It’s done by a handy, quick feature that you’ll find on the Speed/Duration menu. What this menu does is control the speed of playback of a clip.
For example, you can use it to add dramatic slow-motion effects. Or, you can accelerate a video to play faster without having to crop.
Let’s open the Speed/Duration menu. To do that, find your video clip in the timeline. It will appear as a purple bar.
Then, right-click on the clip to launch a menu with a long list of options. Among these is Speed/Duration. Click once to open it.
3. Reverse Speed on a video clip
The Clip Speed/Duration menu opens in the middle of your screen. On it, you’ll see a few options. To play the clip in reverse, click the checkbox next to Reverse Speed.
Then, click OK in the lower right corner of the menu box.
You're well on your way to learning how to reverse video in Premiere. Your video is now ready to play in reverse!
4. Preview the reversed clip
Now, you can give your video a quick preview.
Click and drag the Playhead to the far left side of the Timeline. This places it at the very beginning of your reversed footage. Now, press the Spacebar on your keyboard.
Watch as the video clip previews. Now you can see Premiere Pro reverse the clip. The train is now moving backwards across the bridge, in seamless quality.
You’ve just learned how to reverse a video in Premiere Pro. As you can see, it’s a fast and quick process. In just a few clicks, you can choose to play any clip backwards.
Reverse Premiere Pro video clips now!
In this tutorial, you learned how to reverse a clip in Premiere Pro. Simply click Reverse Speed from the Clip Speed/Duration menu. Your videos will play backwards!
Do you want to take your videos to the next level? Try Premiere Pro templates, royalty-free audio, video footage, and more creative assets from Envato. For a flat monthly rate, you can download and use as many as you want.
You know how to reverse a clip in Premiere Pro. And it works with every clip you download from Envato!
Think of how to use your new skills in your next video project. Now, it’s time to get to work! Start using Premiere to reverse video clip footage.
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