Transitions are an important part of the visual communication language, or the language of film. In the language of film, transitions can have meanings unto themselves.
The word transition can be used as a noun or a verb and although there are shades of meaning, generally to transition means to go from one thing to another.
In written communication, transition words are words such as: however, additionally, furthermore. Those words take you from one idea to another.
In the case of video production, a transition means to go from one shot to another. Stylistically, there are endless ways to make a transition.
Every single time you go from shot to shot, you use some kind of visual transition. The most common transition is the plain cut. In a cut, you instantly go from one shot to the next. No matter what TV show or movie you are watching, I bet 90% of it is put together with cuts.
Cuts often seem boring to students of film production. However, long timers in video production usually have the opinion that a cut is the best way to go the vast majority of the time. The long timers would tell you that most of the other transitions, except for the dissolve, are too flashy and distracting. As you watch TV and movies, take notice of the transitions. Which ones are used frequently?
A dissolve is the second most common transition after the cut. With a dissolve, the first shot fades out while another fades in. One of the oldest transitions in the history of filmmaking, a dissolve, was primarily used to indicate a passage of time.
Cuts and dissolves make up the vast majority of all video editing transitions you will see in professional video production.
Fading up or Fading to Black
Fading up from black, or back to black, is similar to a dissolve, except that the second image is pure black. Virtually every movie ever made begin with a fade up from black and ends with a slow fade back to black. So, fading up or back to black came to mean the story, or scene, is beginning or ending. This, too, is a long held tradition. Internet videos usually do not follow this tradition. Internet videos usually cut in and end on a freeze-frame.
When editing became digital, the number of possible transitions exploded. Now, one could choose a wipe that indicate a fantasy or dream sequence, an explosion, a water ripple. I’ve even sheep bleating wipes. Some wipes look like bow ties, hearts, stripes, squares, circles, squiggles, jagged edges, you name it, a computer editor can do it. The still frame below from the program AVS shows a portion of the available transitions in that particular program.
Most software video editing programs give you choices of fifty or more visual transitions. Some brag they have 1,000. That seems to be a bit of overkill. Most professional editors would instruct a newcomer to be careful when selecting transitions. Too many can make your show seem to be a mess.
Digital wipes are easy to obtain with any computer video editing program. Even the freebies allow you to simply drag and drop icons for a wipe onto your video timeline. Place the icon between the two shots that you are transitioning between.
Although transitions are fun, do yourself a favor and be prudent in your selection of wipes. Select one, maybe two, and use them consistently throughout your project. This is especially true if your video is designed for a serious professional audience, not just friends and family.
Hidden Cuts
One cool trick that can immediately make your production seem more sophisticated is the hidden cut. This is a trick where the cut is hidden from the audience because the frames that are cut together look identical. For example, black is often used for hidden cuts.
Here is an explanation of how it’s done. The first shot will focus, pan, or tilt from its subject to a full frame of black that is somewhere in the picture naturally, such as someone’s black shirt. Then the second shot begins on a full frame of black, pulling out to reveal the subject.
Because the frames cut together look identical (or very close to identical) the cut will get lost, and the viewers will get the impression it was all one shot.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT QUESTIONS
- Define the word transition as it applies to film and video production.
- What are the two most common transitions?
- Explain your opinion on using a variety of transitions. You do not have to agree with the article, but you need to have reasons that support your argument.
