How to Slow Motion Gopro Hero2 Video Footage

Check out my new site http://www.goproview.com for more tips! The new Gopro Hero 2 features new things that allow for stunning video edits. One new feature is the ability to shoot 120 frames/second versus the standard 30 and 60 frames/second. The format is in WVGA and the detail is stunning. In this article, I will explain how to simply slow down the footage using Adobe Premiere. It is possible to get super slow motion shots when you use the plugin Twixtor, but it can be quite expensive for a home-user to purchase.

The first thing you will want to do is obviously shoot your footage in 120fps mode on your Gopro Hero2. Be creative and shoot footage that will look awesome when slowed down. IE: Water splashes, dirt being thrown, snow falling and anything else where time warping will add a dramatic shift.

Once you have the footage, open a new project inside Adobe Premiere. You can use any editor to make the changes to your footage, including Final Cut Pro, Sony Vegas, and others. Since I will end up making this project a 720hd video, I start with a 720 24p project. Import your footage and drag a clip to the timeline. You will notice the video doesn't fill out the screen all the way. Click on the video preview window and stretch the wireframe to fill the screen with the video. You will lose some quality by doing this, but if you desire a 720 project, some loss will happen. You can create a custom project to be the exact size of the Gopro Hero2 footage, but for this example we'll go for 720.

Next, right click the video clip in the menu and choose MODIFY, then INTERPRET FOOTAGE, then under FRAME RATE, choose ASSUME THIS FRAME RATE. Make the new frame rate 24.00. By choosing 24 frames, you will not experience any frame loss. (24x5=120 fps, as originally recorded) Now when you play your clip on the timeline, it will be 5 times slower than the original, and will be very smooth.

Another way of slowing down the footage is to import the footage to the timeline and choose SPEED/DURATION and slow the percentage of the speed down. However, I like using the first method mentioned because of the perfect frame rate.

If you are experimenting with speed and start to notice the footage getting a bit choppy, try turning FRAME BLENDING on. To do this, right click the clip in the timeline, and choose Frame Blend. This will pull the clips together, and smooth things out somewhat. You may also experiment with choosing Field Options, then Interlace Consecutive Frames to help with blending slower footage. If your goal is super slow footage, then the Twixtor plug-in may be your need. I hope this article has helped you slow down your Gopro Hero 2 footage!