How to shoot and edit time bending slow shutter video with Premiere Pro

This is an effect that seems to be becoming popular lately, particularly with music videos. I’ve seen it in movies before, often to suggest some kind of mental haze the protagonist in the story might be feeling at any given time. It’s an interesting effect, and the principle is quite simple, although it can take some practice to pull it off effectively.

Essentially, it’s a timelapse, but with the camera moving in a way you’d expect it to move for video. Not along a slider or something. In this video, Justin Odisho explains the basics of how to shoot this kind of footage, and then how to edit it in Premiere Pro with a few ways to integrate it into your realtime footage.

The tutorial was inspired by the effect as it’s used in this Travis Scott Jackboys music video, which combines it with realtime as well as slow-motion footage.

Musical tastes aside, the effect itself can be used in a number of more cinematic situations. It’s a somewhat disorienting effect. As I mentioned above, I’ve seen it in movies to suggest some kind of mental haze. Something like intoxication or a shock realisation just hitting somebody and throwing them off-balance. This is where such a disorienting effect can play a big part in the narrative of a sequence to draw the viewer in.

The only real prerequisite for shooting this effect is that you use a camera which offers manual exposure control. Justin demonstrates the effect with just a Canon G7X Mark II. Essentially, you’re just shooting slow shutter images as the camera moves and then playing it back at whatever speed makes sense for the look you’re after. But understanding the principles of how and why the effect works will allow you to produce better results, particularly with practice.

Editing the images together in Premiere Pro is quite simple. You just need to bring your shots into Premiere either individually for short clips or as an image sequence and drag them onto your timeline. Then you can use whatever transitions feel most appropriate to bounce between these time-bending clips and your realtime footage.