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elegant_doer15D5
Known Participant
February 24, 2026
Answered

Cut 58 seconds out of every minute on a long clip?

  • February 24, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 27 views

I’m making a time lapse of the recent blizzard.  Unfortunately the time lapse feature of my little surveillance camera failed, so I have downloaded the micro SD card from the camera and assembled one long 24 hour file out of hundreds of files (the camera records one file every minute and has a crazy directory structure). 

With the one long clip, I can just adjust the speed (more than once if necessary) to make a conventional time lapse, but what I’d really like is to have a process that goes through the 24 hour file and skips 2 seconds, cuts 58 seconds, skips ahead two seconds, cuts 58 seconds, skips ahead two seconds, etc.  The result would be a time lapse of the storm but showing the full speed video and audio of many 2 second moments of the storm. 

I did something like this many years ago but had to do it manually which I don’t want to do.  Is there an automated process that will do this, or a keyboard shortcut or macro I could create and press 1000 times or something? 

 

Thanks!

 

John

    Correct answer PaulMurphy

    Create the Main Sequence

    1. Add the 24-hour clip to a new sequence.

    2. Name this sequence Sequence A.

     

    Create Offline Placeholder Clips

    Create a 58-second placeholder:

    1. Choose File > New > Offline File.

    2. Set Timebase to match the clip frame rate.

    3. Set File Name to Cut.

    4. Set Media Duration to 00:00:58:00.

    5. Click OK.

     

    Create a 2-second placeholder:

    1. Choose File > New > Offline File.

    2. Set Timebase to match the clip frame rate.

    3. Set File Name to Keep.

    4. Set Media Duration to 00:00:02:00.

    5. Click OK.

     

    Build a Repeating Pattern

    1. Create a new sequence with the same settings.

    2. Name this sequence Sequence B.

    3. Add the 58-second offline clip to Sequence B.

    4. Add the 2-second offline clip after it.

    5. Repeat this pattern until the sequence reaches 24 hours:

      • Select all clips, Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac).

      • Copy, Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac).

      • Paste, Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac).

     

    Select the 58-Second Sections

    1. Make sure Sequence B is active.

    2. Choose Edit > Find (Ctrl+F (Windows), Command+F (Mac)).

    3. Enter Cut in the search field.

    4. Click Find All.

    5. Copy the selected clips, Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac).

     

    Remove the 58-Second Sections from the Original

    1. Switch to Sequence A.

    2. Paste, Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac).

    3. Confirm the Cut clips are selected.

    4. Choose Edit > Ripple Delete (Alt+Delete (Windows), Option+Delete (Mac)).

     

    This removes each 58-second section and leaves only the 2-second segments every minute.

    3 replies

    Mathias Moehl
    Community Expert
    Mathias MoehlCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 25, 2026

    Hi John,

    yes — this is absolutely possible with Automation Blocks 🙂

    I’ve created a small custom tool for you that does exactly what you described. You’ll find it attached to this post.

    Here’s how to use it:

    1. Download the script to your computer.

    2. Install Automation Blocks (the Trial version works fine).

    3. Open Automation Blocks and load the script.

    4. In the Inputs panel (of Automation Blocks), enter your desired Keep and Skip times (in seconds).

      • Keep = how many seconds should be inserted

      • Skip = how many seconds should be skipped before the next snippet

    5. In the Project panel, select exactly one clip (your 24-hour file).

    6. Run the script.

    The tool will then fill track V1 of the active sequence with repeating snippets from the selected clip according to your Keep/Skip pattern, continuing until the end of the source clip.

    This should give you the “2 seconds in full speed, skip 58 seconds, repeat” effect fully automatically — no manual cutting required.
    Since it is a one click operation once everything is set up, you should be able to play around with different timing settings very quickly.

    Let me know if anything is unclear or if you’d like to extend it further.

    I also added this script to our Community Library now in the section

    Sequence/Populate/

    Mathias Möhl - Developer of tools like BeatEdit and Automation Blocks for Premiere Pro and After Effects
    E
    elegant_doer15D5Author
    Known Participant
    February 26, 2026

    Thanks!  I’m a bit swamped but will give this a try soon.

    John

    P
    Community Expert
    PaulMurphyCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 25, 2026

    Create the Main Sequence

    1. Add the 24-hour clip to a new sequence.

    2. Name this sequence Sequence A.

     

    Create Offline Placeholder Clips

    Create a 58-second placeholder:

    1. Choose File > New > Offline File.

    2. Set Timebase to match the clip frame rate.

    3. Set File Name to Cut.

    4. Set Media Duration to 00:00:58:00.

    5. Click OK.

     

    Create a 2-second placeholder:

    1. Choose File > New > Offline File.

    2. Set Timebase to match the clip frame rate.

    3. Set File Name to Keep.

    4. Set Media Duration to 00:00:02:00.

    5. Click OK.

     

    Build a Repeating Pattern

    1. Create a new sequence with the same settings.

    2. Name this sequence Sequence B.

    3. Add the 58-second offline clip to Sequence B.

    4. Add the 2-second offline clip after it.

    5. Repeat this pattern until the sequence reaches 24 hours:

      • Select all clips, Ctrl+A (Windows) or Command+A (Mac).

      • Copy, Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac).

      • Paste, Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac).

     

    Select the 58-Second Sections

    1. Make sure Sequence B is active.

    2. Choose Edit > Find (Ctrl+F (Windows), Command+F (Mac)).

    3. Enter Cut in the search field.

    4. Click Find All.

    5. Copy the selected clips, Ctrl+C (Windows) or Command+C (Mac).

     

    Remove the 58-Second Sections from the Original

    1. Switch to Sequence A.

    2. Paste, Ctrl+V (Windows) or Command+V (Mac).

    3. Confirm the Cut clips are selected.

    4. Choose Edit > Ripple Delete (Alt+Delete (Windows), Option+Delete (Mac)).

     

    This removes each 58-second section and leaves only the 2-second segments every minute.

      E
      elegant_doer15D5Author
      Known Participant
      February 26, 2026

      Thanks!

      Peru Bob
      Community Expert
      Peru BobCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 25, 2026

      Automation Blocks might:

      https://aescripts.com/automation-blocks-for-premiere-pro/?srsltid=AfmBOoovIghEPTJhPL_sTsFD75DwikktvijSlTDAOHBtsxnZQELQ1v8H

       

      ​@Mathias Moehl can it do this?

       

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