Smooth slow motion with old VHS footage

[stantheman1976]

I've got a small clip from some old VHS family movies I want to slow down. I'm using Vegas Pro 8.

Are there any tips or tricks to make it play back a bit smoother when I stretch the clip.

[guns1inger]

You have two methods in Vegas for slow motion.

One is to ctrl+Drag the clip to alter the length. This has the advantage of time stretching the audio as well to keep everything in sync (although the audio does tend to artifact the more you stretch the clip). The disadvantage is you have little control, and the effect aplies across the whole clip.

The other is to apply a Velocity Envelope to the clip, and vary the speed across the clip as required using adjustable points. The Velocity Envelope does not affect the audio, so there is no audio sync. What is does allow you to do is ramp effects, whereby you can slow a clip to a complete stop, hold it for a second ot two, then accelerate back to normal speed.

I suspect both use the same method for interpreting new frames, so neither will produce smoother images than the other, however the Velocity Envelope gives you a far greater degree of control, and the ability to do localised feects without having to cut the clip into pieces and suffer abrupt changes to the speed.

[stantheman1976]

Sound doesn't matter. It's going to be intercut with photos and other clips in a slideshow I'm making for my family. I'll play with the velocity envelope some more.

[edDV]

With "Velocity Envelope" you can also go backwards. This is helpful for effects work where you can recue while the video is hidden.