iMovie '09 Tip: Speed Clips 2,000%

iMovie '09 brings back the capability to speed up or slow down clips, which went missing in iMovie '08. Select a clip and bring up the Clip Inspector by double-clicking the clip, clicking the Inspector button on the toolbar, or pressing the I key.

Just as with its last appearance in iMovie HD 6, you can move a slider to make the video play back slower or faster (indicated by a turtle or hare icon). The slider lets you choose several speeds: 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 100% (normal speed), 150%, 200%, 400% and 800%.

You can also enter a value into the text field to the right of the slider, and this is where things get interesting. You're not limited to the tick mark values on the slider, so you can set the speed to be 118% of normal if you want. The field below that tells you the clip's changed duration.

But you can also exceed the boundaries of the speed slider. Enter any number between 5% and 2000%:

Here's what 2000% looks like, turning this 23 second clip into a 4.5 second blur:

Tip: If you're not seeing a Speed slider, the video clip may need to be converted before iMovie can make speed adjustments. (This is the case with MPEG-4 video from Flip camcorders, for example.) In the Clip Adjustments pane, click the Convert Entire Clip button, wait a few minutes (because, as the button says, iMovie needs to convert the entire clip, not just the portion in your movie), and then the Speed slider is available.

Comments

[Claudia Frank]

For some reason I don't get the turtle for speed on my imovie 09. It's just "duration" and this just adds more of the clip I have edited not slowing the clip down. It's really frustrating.....And I don't see any reverse the clip option either. Can someone give me a tip?

[Jeff Carlson]

Claudia, iMovie may need to convert the clip before it can make speed changes. Do you see a Convert Entire Clip button in the Speed area of the Clip Adjustments window? If your clip is an MP4 file (such as from a Flip camcorder), that could be the reason you don't see the Speed slider.

(I just updated the post to reflect this, since I've gotten the question before. Thanks!)

Jeff

[aion kinah]

If you're not seeing a Speed slider, the video clip may need to be converted before iMovie can make speed adjustments.

[Katie Cotton]

i'm having a similar problem, only i do not see a convert entire clip option. Mine only shows the stabilization and then the done button.

[Katie Cotton]

ok, i see the convert clip button now, but i get an error message every time

[Clark Swofford]

Jeff,

I'm editing video from a flip camcorder in iMovie. When i convert the entire clip, i find that the video quality is dramatically reduced. Do you know if i'm just making it up or whether the conversion may be impairing the quality of my video?

[Jeff Carlson]

Clark, the video quality shouldn't be reduced, especially not "dramatically." Which model of Flip are you using?