How to Reverse Footage in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2017)
Reversing footage is useful for a lot of situations. Maybe you need a rewind effect for a flashback. Maybe the subject is walking in the wrong direction and you need them going the other way to match the next shot. Or maybe you filmed something cool (like a glass shattering) and want to show it reassembling itself. Premiere Pro gives you two ways to reverse: flipping the direction horizontally, and reversing the playback speed. Let’s go through both.
Method 1: Flip the Direction (Mirror Horizontally)
This method flips the footage left to right, like looking in a mirror. A person walking left to right will now walk right to left. The footage still plays forward in time, just mirrored.
- Place your footage on the timeline.
- Go to the Effects panel and search for Horizontal Flip (under Video Effects > Transform).
- Drag it onto the footage. Done. The image is now mirrored.
Alternatively, you can use the Transform effect for more control:
- Go to Effects and search for Transform (under Video Effects > Distort). Drag it onto the footage.
- In Effect Controls, find the Transform effect and uncheck Uniform Scale.
- Set Scale Width to -100. This flips the footage horizontally while keeping Scale Height at 100.
The Transform method is useful if you also want to add motion blur to the clip, since the Horizontal Flip effect does not support that.
Method 2: Reverse the Playback Speed
This method plays the footage backward in time. Everything that happened plays in reverse: people walk backward, objects fall upward, etc.
- Find the clip you want to reverse on the timeline.
- Right click on the clip and select Speed/Duration.
- In the dialog box, check the Reverse Speed checkbox.
- Click OK. The footage now plays backward.
You can also change the speed percentage at the same time. Setting it to 50% with Reverse checked creates a slow-motion rewind. Setting it to 200% creates a fast rewind.
When to Use Each Method
| Method | What It Does | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Horizontal Flip | Mirrors the image left to right | Matching movement direction between shots |
| Reverse Speed | Plays footage backward in time | Rewind effects, reassembly, creative transitions |
Tips
- Matching motion direction is more important than you think. If one shot has movement going left to right and the next shot has movement going right to left, it creates a visual jump that can disorient the viewer. Flipping one of the shots to match the direction makes the edit feel smoother.
- Watch for text and logos. If you flip footage horizontally, any visible text or logos will be mirrored and unreadable. Check for this before committing.
- Reverse speed works with audio too. If the clip has audio, it will also play in reverse. If you don’t want reversed audio, unlink the audio (right click > Unlink) before applying the speed change.
- Combine both methods for creative effects. Flip the footage horizontally and reverse the speed at the same time for a completely disorienting rewind look.
- Use slow motion with reverse speed for dramatic impact. A slow-motion rewind of an action sequence looks incredible.
That is how you reverse footage in Premiere Pro. Two simple techniques that open up a lot of creative possibilities.
