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This Stabilization Hack in Premiere Pro Blew my Mind

Jordy Vandeput 187K views

In this Tutorial you will learn a simple trick using Warp Stabilizer in Adobe Premiere Pro to get a natural handheld look to static b-roll shots.

Why do we use fake handheld Motion

There are many cases why you would use fake handheld on your shots. For example, you have a VFX shot and want to add some life to it. Instead of having a static shot it now moves like someone was holding the camera. Giving it less of an artificial look. Next to this it can also hide small mistakes by drawing the attention away from them.

No handheld
Fake handheld

The second reason is for story telling. We all know camera movement can enhance the feeling in your shots. The less shaky it is it could mean the subject is in control of the situation or the environment is relaxed. A lot of shake can show that your subject is losing it, he is getting stressed. You can notice this a lot in war movies where they play a lot with going from a calm handheld to a heavy shake.

Saving Private Ryan Tom Hanks
Little camera shake: The subject is concentrated
Saving-Private-Ryan-Matt-Damon
Heavy camera shake: The subject is scared and lost control of the situation

Jordy Vandeput

Founder of Cinecom · 2.75M+ subscribers on YouTube

Jordy Vandeput is a Belgian filmmaker who has taught practical filmmaking to millions through Cinecom. He breaks professional techniques down into clear, repeatable steps you can use on your very next project.

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Miratouch 6 years ago

awesome! you guys keep rocking.

David 6 years ago

Short, but sweet, tutorial. I've seen a similar effect done in AE by applying camera tracking from another shot to footage. Handheld movements can be more organic and realistic than a motion preset because most motion presets don't include the Z axis (which I guess could be added).

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