Understanding Video Editing Software Transitions

Using Video Transitions can drastically improve the overall look and feel of your production.  Transitions can play a pivotal role in building up emotion or tension, but can also degrade your video if used incorrectly.  Ensure you don’t spoil your production by following our tips to Video Transitions.

Almost all Video Editing Software will have the facility for you to use transitions, including free software such as Movie Maker.

Using built in transitions is usually a similar process in all Video Editing software, with a simple drag and drop interface.  To integrate, you simply place 2 clips side by side on your  timeline, and drop the transition between them – that’s it.

The difficulty is however, not integrating your transitions, but where to integrate them for maximum effect.  So, let’s take a look at the most common type of transition.

Types of Video Transitions
Your Video Editing Software will most likely come bundled with at least 50/80 different transitions.  To keep your movie looking professional, you are going to have to ignore around 77 of them.

The most commonly used and professional transitions are:

Dissolve – The dissolve transition is one of the most wide spread transitions used in professional Movie Making.

The way the dissolve works is quite simple.  The last few frames of the closing shot overlap the first few frames of the new shot, thus providing a dissolve.  The audio also dissolves, providing a fade effect rather than a sudden cut.

The dissolve transition is used mainly to soften up jump cuts, but can also be used to add emotion to a scene, and are a great addition if you are editing to a slow music track.  Dissolves are also used extensively in Wedding Video’s, giving the production a softer and more romantic feel.

Fade to Black – Another commonly used transition is the fade to black, or dip to colour.  Again, this is used widely across the media, but perhaps not as extensively as the dissolve.

In essence, the fade to black does exactly what is says on the tin – dips to black.  The end of one scene gradually darkens until it disappears and then the second scene gradually fades in.

The fade to black is a great transition to use if you want to represent the passage of time or change of location.

This transition was one of the very first transitions to be used in film, and can still be used to great effect today.

Wipe – The wipe transition is a common transition, but is one that should not be widely used.

The Wipe transitions come in a variety of formats including left wipe, right wipe, up wide and down wipe.  Basically, the transition moves the entire frame in the desired direction, with the subsequent shot following on.

The wipe transitions can be great for introducing on screen graphics, perhaps a name slug for example.  However, use sparingly as repetitive usage will look amateurish.

Conclusion
As stated, your Video Editing Software will come bundled with a lot more transitions than the three motioned above. 

There are no rules set in stone when it comes to their usage, but try and avoid transitions which fly around on screen or do anything out of the ordinary, as it will spoil your production – full stop!

If you stick with the Dissolve, Fade and Wipe, you shouldn’t go far wrong, and using them in the suggested context will help further enhance the flow of your video.

Experiment and try different techniques, you will get there in the end.  Above all though, have fun!