PricingWhat a speed ramp and a velocity edit are
A speed ramp changes a shot’s speed smoothly while it plays: it rushes into a moment, hangs in slow motion and snaps back out. A velocity edit strings ramps together over music, slow on each hit and fast in between, so the footage seems to move with the track.
In a timeline editor you draw that speed graph by hand for every clip. In Shorty the director draws it for you from the brief.
Real edits with speed ramps
Shorty edits from the Discovery gallery, each made from one request. The caption says what the saved brief asked for; open the original footage to compare. Turn the sound on.
The Alps
Ten seconds from Alps footage. The brief asked for punchy speed ramps, quick punch-in zooms and flash or whip transitions, cut on the beat of the clip’s own audio.
Vietnam, day to night
Twelve seconds from day to night. The brief asked for speed ramps, flash and whip transitions and quick punch-ins, cut on the beat of the clip’s own audio.
Tokyo after dark
A neon night vlog in a reference’s style, made punchier. The brief asked for cuts locked to the beat, speed ramps, and whip-pan and zoom-punch transitions.
How Shorty decides where to ramp
Since 15 October 2026, Shorty’s director can change a shot’s speed along a curve instead of playing it at one speed. It picks the curve from what each shot has to do, a trick, a reveal or a beat drop, and fits it exactly to the time that shot has in your edit. Ramps can be wrapped in whip transitions, so a ramped cut lands the way it would in a hand-made edit.
Behind the scenes the director works with the curves editors know by name: Montage, Hero, Bullet, Jump cut, Flash in and Flash out, plus landing and launch shapes that settle into a pose or leave one, and custom curves for everything else. It chooses one for each shot. Below, each curve plays on the same 2.5-second snowboard carve; the graph under each clip traces the speed.
Sources: Speed curves, motion blur and stabilization · Speed ramps, text plates and exact durations. Shorty News release notes for these features.
Montage curve
A snowboard carve played with the Montage speed curve, with its speed graph.
Hero curve
A snowboard carve played with the Hero speed curve, with its speed graph.
Bullet curve
A snowboard carve played with the Bullet speed curve, with its speed graph.
Jump cut curve
A snowboard carve played with the Jump cut speed curve, with its speed graph.
Flash in curve
A snowboard carve played with the Flash in speed curve, with its speed graph.
Flash out curve
A snowboard carve played with the Flash out speed curve, with its speed graph.
See speed curves in a finished edit
This test edit has four looks, each ramped with its own curve. Every slow dip is optical-flow slow motion, and every speed-up carries motion blur.
A test edit with four looks, each with its own curve: Bullet, Hero, Montage and a custom shape. Every dip is smooth slow motion, and every speed-up has motion blur. Watch the film
Smooth slow motion and motion blur come with the ramp
When a curve dips slower than your footage has frames for, the director fills the gap with optical flow: new in-between frames, so the slowest part of a ramp is the smoothest rather than the choppiest. Footage shot at 60 or 120 fps keeps its extra frames, so slow-motion beats can use real frames from your camera.
Every stretch that plays faster than real time gets motion blur automatically, blended from the frames it rushes past, while real-time stretches stay sharp. The same update steadies shaky handheld footage.
Hero and Bullet on the same clip. Top: the slow dip made from repeated frames. Bottom: smooth slow motion with optical flow. Watch the film
Ask for it in the brief
You do not need the vocabulary. “A hype reel of my snowboard trip” is enough for the director to decide which shots ramp. If you have a move in mind, name it: “bullet time on the trick” works too. People who are talking stay at their real speed.
Make a 15-second vertical hype reel from my clips, cut to the music. Speed-ramp into the jumps and tricks with smooth slow motion on the biggest moment, bullet time on the best trick, and fast, blurred moves between them. Keep anyone talking at normal speed.
Footage that ramps well
A ramp needs a moment worth slowing down for. Before you upload, collect:
- Shots with a clear peak: a jump, a trick, a reveal, a catch or a turn.
- Some run-up before the peak and some follow-through after it, so the curve has room to rush in and out.
- Footage shot at 60 or 120 fps where you can; 30 fps works, with optical flow filling the slow stretches.
- A soundtrack with clear hits if you want a velocity edit: attach your own track or ask Shorty for music.
Where Shorty fits and where it does not
Shorty fits when you have your own clips, such as sport, travel, cars, dance or fashion, and want ramps chosen and timed for you inside a finished edit. Revise by naming the shot and the change, for example “slow the landing more and keep the rest”.
It does not give you a speed graph to drag point by point. If you need frame-exact manual control of every curve, use a timeline editor’s speed or time-remapping tools. Rendering an edit needs an account and credits; check current plans on the pricing page.