The zoom-in effect is one of the most popular things you can do in Premiere Pro. It’s one of the most remarkable effects, and you can include it in many videos, whether as a transition or to create a dramatic effect.
You can do it in two ways, depending on what you want from your video. Let’s go ahead and see how you can zoom in Premiere Pro.
Quick guide
The easiest way to zoom in Premiere Pro is by:
- Select your clip in the timeline
- Go to the “Effects Controls” panel
- Open the “Motion” drop-down
- Add a keyframe at the start of your clip by clicking the Stopwatch icon next to Scale.
- Set the Scale to 100.00 on that keyframe
- Add a keyframe at the end of the clip and set the Scale to 104.00
You can adjust the “104.00” number to suit your needs, as it would give a different effect depending on how long your clip is.
Method 1 – Basic zoom tool (no motion blur)
The first method is the fastest way of doing this. But there’s one downside: you cannot use motion blur with this method. You will need to go to method 2 to see how to do it with motion blur.
1. Open your project
In this step, you will want to open your project, load your video footage and add it to the timeline.
2. Go to “Effects Controls”, then click “Motion” and adjust the “Scale”
The next step is to go into the “Effects Controls” tab, under “Motion”, change the “Scale” value and adjust using key points to get the results you want.
3. Adding keyframes to animate the zoom
If you want to animate the zoom, you can use keyframes. Press the timer icon that’s next to “Scale”. This will open the keyframe settings.
- Set a keyframe at the point where you want the zoom to start
- Set another keyframe where you want the zoom to end
- Highlight both keyframes and right-click > use “Bezier”. This will smoothen the transition motion and make it look more realistic.
Method 2 – How to add motion blur with the zoom
The second method involves adding an effect to one of your clips, making the transition seem more realistic.
When zooming in Premiere Pro and using the “Transform” effect, you can add a motion blur which makes the zoom look more realistic.
1. Add the “Transform” effect
The first thing you need to do is go into your “Effects” tab. Open the “Video Effects” menu, go all the way to “Distort”, and then drag and drop the “Transform” effect to your video, or type “Transform” into the search box, and then drag and drop.
2. Adjust the “Shutter Angle”
After your effect is added, you should be able to see its controls under “Effects Controls”.
Adding the motion blur
For this zoom-in effect to create motion blur, you first need to uncheck the “Use Composition’s Shutter Angle” box and then work with the scale and shutter angle.
Set the shutter angle to “180”. This is the best to use if you want the usual motion blur. This means that the shutter speed will always be double your frame rate.
For example – 25fps footage filmed with a 180 shutter angle will be 1/50 shutter speed. This is the industry standard to get the proper motion blur when recording video. You will want to match the shutter angle on the effect to the shutter angle the footage was shot with so the motion blur is the same.
3. Adjust the “Scale” and add keyframes to animate the zoom
If you want to animate the zoom, you can use keyframes. Press the timer icon that’s next to “Scale”. This will open the keyframe settings.
- Set a keyframe at the point where you want the zoom to start
- Set another keyframe where you want the zoom to end
- Highlight both keyframes and right-click > use “Bezier”. This will smoothen the transition motion and make it look more realistic.
You can experiment with the other modes, such as Auto Bezier and Continuous Bezier, if you want.
4. Save a new preset
If you’re planning to use this new transition a couple more times, you can easily save it as a preset and have it on hand whenever you need it!
If you also pair it up with a custom sound effect, such as a camera shutter, your zoom-in transition will be perfect.
It’s not hard to zoom in on Premiere Pro, and you can create unique transitions in seconds. Remember that you can always contact us for any information you need.
