Create a Jacob’s ladder effect

Last updated on Jun 24, 2025

Learn how to create a Jacob’s Ladder effect - a visual lightning effect that mimics the behaviour of a real Jacob’s Ladder electrical device.

The Jacob’s Ladder effect in Premiere Pro creates a visual where a lightning bolt, after being pulled in a specific direction, snaps back to its original position along the starting line.

  1. Locate the Lightning in the Effects panel, then drag and drop it onto the clip in the timeline.

  2. In the Effect Controls panel, select the triangle next to Lightning to expose the properties controls.

  3. Experiment with different combinations of settings for these three controls.

    • Stability
    • Pull Force
    • Pull Direction
    Premiere Pro Effect Controls panel is open, and it has Stability, Pull Force, and Pull Direction highlighting. Other settings for the Lightning effect are exposed for adjustment and a dramatic lion video with Lightning effect is in the Program Monitor.
    Adjust the value for the stability property to allow the lightning to arc before snapping back.

    Note:

    A Stability value that is too low doesn’t allow the lightning to be stretched into an arc before it snaps back. A value that is too high lets the lightning bolt bounce around.