Playing Clip Backwards in Final Cut Pro
How to play a clip backwards or in reverse using Final Cut Pro.
Final Cut Pro allows you to change the speed of a clip directly from the timeline. You can use the speed change function to reverse a clip, by clicking on the (reverse) checkbox.
The process is simple. Control click on the clip segment within the Final Cut Pro sequence and select (speed) for the contextual menu. If you have a two button mouse, you can right click on the clip segment instead of holding down the control key. Using a two button mouse is a good idea, particularly if you are editing on a laptop.
If you wish to play a clip backwards at more than or less than full speed, there are a couple of tricks to make this happen, especially if you already have existing clips in the Final Cut Pro timeline.
First, lock all of your tracks, except for the track that contains the clip you want to slow down. This an important step, because Final Cut Pro will attempt to keep everything in sync and may give you an error 'Unable to complete command. A conflict occurred during a trim operation.'
Second, if you are going to slow a clip down, make sure there are no other clips to the immediate right. It is best to place your clip at the end of the timeline so there is room for it to expand outward. Then you can measure how much room you need for the clips original placement.
