Speed, zooms and motion
Speed up or slow down any part of a video from 0.25× to 4× with voices at natural pitch, zoom into exactly the region you name, make one zoom travel between targets, freeze a moment with text, and snap cuts to the beat of your music, all by describing it.
Change speed
- Name the section and the speed
For example: “Speed up 2:10 to 2:40 to 2×” or “slow the jump at 0:42 to 0.7×.”
- Let Valmera re-time the rest
Voices keep their natural pitch, and music, captions, zooms and effects re-anchor to the new timing automatically.
- Review the preview
Watch the change and the moments around it. Slow motion below 0.6× visibly steps, so 0.6× to 0.8× reads best.
- Adjust or remove it
Ask for a different speed, or “back to normal speed” for that section.
- Speed up the unboxing from 2:10 to 2:40 to 2×.
- Slow the replay from 0:42 to 0:48 to 0.7×.
- Speed up the screen-recording scene 2× instead of cutting it.
- Put that section back to normal speed.
Type these in Studio chat, or ask Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another assistant connected to Valmera’s MCP server. More in the prompt library.
Speeding up an inserted clip keeps the whole clip and shortens its block, so nothing is lost. For talking footage, removing dead air usually tightens a video more naturally than a blanket speed-up; see cuts and cleanup.
Zooms
| Zoom | What it does | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| ease (default) | A smooth ramp in and back | Most emphasis, UI targets |
| push in | A continuous drift toward the subject | Building tension, reveals |
| pull out | A continuous drift away | Releasing tension, endings |
| punch | An instant snap in | The single biggest moment |
Aim it: name the region (“zoom into the error message”) and Valmera frames that area with a margin, or pin a point to magnify around it. It looks at the frames first, so the zoom lands where you pointed. Valmera doesn’t sprinkle zooms by default; for a well-framed talking head, no zoom is often the right call.
- Zoom into the error message at 1:04 for three seconds.
- Slow push-in on the product from 0:20 to 0:26.
- One hard punch-in on “and that’s the whole trick.”
Zooms that move
One zoom can hold, travel and visit several targets in turn, settling at each one: “follow the cursor from the menu to the Save button”, “stay zoomed and move to the next message.” It works on any footage, including screen recordings you made yourself, and it stays attached to its footage when you cut elsewhere.
For screen recordings, Valmera can also place the clip with a zoom on each click, make a small or jittery cursor bigger and steadier, and add click ripples. See website recordings.
Punch-ins on emphasis
Ask “punch in on the words I stress” and Valmera measures vocal stress in your delivery and adds a sparse set of punch-ins on those words, aimed at the face when one is detected. It only does this when you ask for it.
Freeze frames
Freeze a moment for two to four seconds, optionally with big centered text over a blurred, darkened still and a slow drift so it doesn’t sit dead. By default the video pauses and everything after shifts later. Ask to “keep the audio running” to hold the picture while the speech continues.
- Freeze at 1:12 for three seconds with the text “The moment it worked”.
- Freeze the frame at 0:31 but keep the audio running.
Cut to the beat
With music in the edit, “cut to the beat” slides each internal cut to the nearest beat (within about a third of a second) and skips any move that would land mid-word. It needs a clear pulse. If the track has none, Valmera says so instead of guessing, or you can tell it the tempo: “it’s 120 BPM.” It moves existing cuts; to cut on every beat, ask for a montage built on the beat.
- Cut this montage to the beat of the music.
- Line the cuts up with the beat; the song is 120 BPM.
Push into a screen
Filmed a laptop or phone showing your product? “Zoom into the laptop and continue with the screen recording” pins the recording onto the device’s screen, pushes in, and hands off to the full-frame recording without a visible cut. The move takes about 1.2 seconds by default. Valmera refuses if it can’t measure the screen or the screen is too small in the frame.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Slow motion stutters | Below 0.6× frames repeat visibly. Use 0.6× to 0.8×. |
| A zoom lands on the wrong spot | Name the region: “zoom into the top-right panel.” |
| A zoom cuts out and back in | Ask for one moving zoom that travels between the targets. |
| “Cut to the beat” was refused | The music has no clear pulse. Tell Valmera the tempo, or use a track with a steady beat. |
| Captions or music look off after a speed change | They re-anchor automatically; point to the moment that looks wrong and ask for a fix. |
| A freeze frame paused the speech | Ask to keep the audio running during the freeze. |
| The screen push-in was refused | The screen is too small or unclear in that shot. Use a closer shot or a regular cut. |
Limits
- Speed ranges from 0.25× to 4×. Slow motion repeats frames; there’s no AI frame interpolation.
- Zooms follow the targets you name; they don’t track moving subjects on their own.
- Beat sync needs a clear tempo and moves existing cuts.
Tools behind this page: set_speed remove_speed set_insert_window add_zoom remove_zoom add_zoom_path remove_zoom_path punch_in_on_emphasis suggest_emphasis add_freeze_frame beat_align_cuts get_audio_analysis add_screen_takeover remove_screen_takeover · Full toolset reference
Frequently asked questions
Can I speed up or slow down part of a video?
Yes. Any section can play from 0.25× to 4×: “speed up 2:10–2:40 to 2×.” The rest plays at normal speed, and music, captions and effects stay in sync.
Does changing speed change the pitch of voices?
No. Voices keep their natural pitch at every speed, so a 1.5× section sounds faster, not higher.
How smooth is slow motion?
Valmera slows footage by repeating frames rather than generating new ones. Down to about 0.6× it looks natural; below that the motion visibly steps.
Can a zoom follow my cursor?
Yes. Ask for a moving zoom (“follow the cursor from the menu to the Save button”) and one zoom travels between the targets with eased stops. For a pointer that's hard to see, ask Valmera to make the cursor bigger.
Can Valmera cut to the beat of the music?
Yes. With music in the edit, “cut to the beat” moves each cut to the nearest beat without landing mid-word. It needs a clear pulse, or tell it the tempo (“120 BPM”).
Can I freeze a frame and add text over it?
Yes. “Freeze at 1:12 for three seconds with the text ‘The moment it worked’” holds a blurred, darkened still with big centered text, then the video continues.