How do you make a video go backwards?

pokeplayer984 · **on:** April 21, 2010, 10:35:53 AM

I've been looking into making a video that goes backwards. However, I'm not even sure how to do that, and trust me when I say that a Google Search is strangely not helping.

So, can anyone tell me how to do it? Because I really want to try it.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #1 on:** April 21, 2010, 10:39:37 AM

You cannot make a video go backwards using Windows Movie Maker. It doesn't have the capability to do so. Instead you need to use another program. Sony Vegas can do it. I think Adobe Premiere also has that capability.

However there is a trick in WMM you can do to make a video run backwards, although it is time consuming. It worked for a friend of mine.

What you need to do is zoom in as far as you can on the video, cut the portion you want to run backwards into as small sections as possible, and then rearranging them in the opposite order, so instead of the video's starting point being from left to right, it'll be from right to left, and when run, it'll be backwards. I'm not sure how efficient this would be, but it's the only way I know of to make WMM run vids backwards.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #2 on:** April 21, 2010, 04:38:09 PM

I've only used Adobe Premier. Sorry, but that program costs a pretty penny.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #3 on:** April 21, 2010, 05:26:54 PM

Yeah. Both Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas Pro are quite pricey. There is the Sony Movie Studio HD version which costs around $40 but I don't know if it has the reverse capabilities. There may be other video editors that can do the job but I reckon they also be pretty costly. There might be a free program out there you can get to reverse clips, but I'm not so sure.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2010, 01:13:39 AM

Okay, I've concluded one very simple thing after a VERY extensive Google Search, and it's that there seems to exist NO FREE Video Editing Program that has this one little feature. I have to go paid program if I want to do this.

Another thing I found is that the method of WMM that DH pointed out is not a guarantee. In the end, my attempt at a 4 second clip made it look like bits and pieces of it going forwards rather than seeing the WHOLE thing going backwards. It just didn't work.

So yeah, I have to go paid. *sighs* Yeah, just beautiful. -_-

DarkHououmon · **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2010, 01:17:24 AM

Well there is one other alternative you can go for. Why not have someone else who has such a program do it for you? Maybe someone you know could take the clip you want to run backwards, reverse it, and send it back to you?