PremierePro

Freeze a frame

You can freeze one frame of a clip for either for a set time or for the entire duration of the clip (as if you imported the frame as a still image). If you freeze a frame for only a portion of the clip, you can also create a speed transition to or from the freeze frame.

Freeze a frame for a portion of a clip

  1. In the Timeline panel, click on the Clip Effect menu and choose Time Remapping > Speed. (The Clip Effect menu appears next to the filename of every clip in a video track. You might have to zoom in to make enough room in the clip to display it.)

    Choosing Time Remapping > Speed from a video effect control

    A horizontal rubberband that controls the speed of the clip appears across the center of the clip. The clip is shaded in contrasting colors above and below the 100% speed demarcation. A white speed-control track appears in the upper portion of the clip, just below the clip title bar.

  2. Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) on the rubberband to create a speed keyframe .
  3. Ctrl+Alt-drag (Windows) or Option+Command-drag (Mac OS) the speed keyframe to the place at which you want the freeze frame to end.

    A second keyframe is created at the place where you dropped the keyframe. The inner half keyframes, the hold keyframes, take on a squared appearance as compared with regular speed keyframes. You cannot drag a hold keyframe unless you create a speed transition for it. Vertical tic marks appear in the speed control track to indicate the segment of the clip that is playing freeze frames.

    Squared speed keyframes and vertical tic marks indicating the freeze-frame section of a clip

  4. (Optional) To create a speed transition to or from the freeze frame, drag the left half of the speed keyframe on the left to the left, or the right half of the speed keyframe on the right to the right.

    A gray area appears between the halves of the speed keyframe, indicating the length of the speed transition. The rubberband forms a ramp between the two halves, indicating a gradual change in speed occurring between them.

    After you create a speed transition, you can drag a hold keyframe. Dragging the first hold keyframe slips it to a new media frame on which to hold. Dragging the second only alters the duration of the held frame.

  5. (Optional) To make the blue curve control appear, click the gray area in the speed control track between the keyframe halves.

    Blue curve control in gray area between halves of a freeze frame speed keyframe

  6. (Optional) To change the acceleration or deceleration of the speed change, drag either of the handles on the curve control.

    The change of speed eases in or eases out according to the curvature of the speed ramp.

    Dragging a curve control handle to ease in a speed change to a freeze frame

Freeze a video frame for the duration of a clip

You can freeze on the clip’s In point, Out point, or at marker 0 (zero), if present.

  1. Select a clip in the Timeline panel.
  2. To freeze a frame other than the In or Out point, open the clip in the Source Monitor, and set Marker 0 (zero) to the frame you want to freeze.
  3. Choose Clip > Video Options > Frame Hold.
  4. Select Hold On, and select the frame you want to hold from the menu.
  5. Specify the following options as necessary, and then click OK:
    Hold Filters
    Prevents keyframed effect settings (if any are present) from animating during the duration of the clip. Effect settings use the values at the held frame.

    Deinterlace
    Removes one field from an interlaced video clip and doubles the remaining field, so that field artifacts (such as combing) are not apparent in the freeze frame.
    Note: If you set the hold frame on an In or Out point, changing the edit point doesn’t change the freeze frame. If you set the hold on Marker 0, moving the marker changes the frame displayed.