DaVinci Resolve · Cutting and the timeline
How to make a freeze frame in DaVinci Resolve
The short answer
Park the playhead on the frame you want on the Edit page, select the clip, and press Shift+R (Freeze Frame). Resolve holds that frame for the rest of the clip; blade the clip to set how long the hold lasts.
5 steps
In DaVinci Resolve
01
Pick the frame
On the Edit page, park the playhead on the exact frame to hold. Use the left and right arrow keys to step a frame at a time.
02
Isolate the hold
If you want the clip to play on after the freeze, blade it (Cmd+B or Ctrl+B) at the playhead and again where the hold should end.
03
Freeze it
Select the section and press Shift+R. Or right-click and choose Change Clip Speed (R) and tick Freeze Frame.
04
Or use Retime Controls
Press Cmd+R (Mac) or Ctrl+R (Windows), open the speed menu at the playhead and choose Freeze Frame. Drag the hold's edge in the retime bar to set its length.
05
Extend if needed
In Trim Edit mode (T), drag the end of the frozen section to make the hold longer.
Good to know
Before you start
- Note 1
- To use the frame as a still elsewhere, grab a still on the Color page (right-click the viewer > Grab Still) and export it from the Gallery.
Eddie AI
Do it in Eddie
Eddie makes still-frame pauses in one case: audio description.
Ask Eddie to "Make an audio-described version of this edit." It writes the descriptions, voices them and adds still-frame pauses where the picture needs explaining. For a stylistic freeze frame, add it in Resolve after the hand-off.
Back to Resolve
Open the edit, click Export and choose Resolve. The default is a Resolve project (.drp) that opens with the timeline built; behind the arrow is a Resolve FCPXML you bring into the project you have open with File > Import > Timeline. In the desktop app, Send to DaVinci Resolve builds the timeline in the Resolve you have running, through Eddie's script (Workspace > Scripts > Eddie AI AE).
If you imported the footage through the desktop app, the timeline points at your original camera files. If you uploaded on the web or pulled from cloud storage, it points at Eddie's proxy media: relink to those in the Media Pool with Relink Selected Clips, not to the camera originals.
FAQ
Questions
- What is the freeze frame shortcut in DaVinci Resolve?
- Shift+R freezes the frame at the playhead on the selected clip.
- Why does my freeze frame run to the end of the clip?
- Resolve holds the frame for the rest of the selected section. Blade the clip where the hold should end first.
