Reference: StudentFilmmakers Magazine, May 2007. Using Transitions: The Dissolve and the Cut by Lew Schatzer. Pages 28.
Many editors will tell you the only transitions you need to make a great video are the dissolve and the cut, and maybe not even the dissolve.
Today, it is so easy to throw in all kinds of 2D and 3D transitions that often it is done because it can be done. In the past, such effects were difficult and often expensive to achieve. But, does using them help tell your story?
Before you throw a transition on the timeline, ask yourself why you are doing it. What is the motivation for having that transition there? To be honest, most transitions beyond the simple wipe usually look cheesy.
A question I often hear from new users: “Is there a way to put random transitions at every edit?” The answer is no! No professional quality editing program should let you do this. If you are truly an editor, then you should think long and hard about what you are putting on your timeline.
While at times complex transitions and wipes can be useful, they should be used very sparingly and in ways that fit the situation. As an example, the clock wipe for passage of time makes sense. A 3D squeeze, zoom, rotate, or perspective color-change probably does not.
So, in most cases, all you really need is the dissolve and the cut. Cuts are dramatic and give a sense of immediacy. Short dissolves are soothing and make the video flow. Beyond that, use your good judgment.
I often suggest that editors take a good look at the transitions Orson Welles used in Citizen Kane, especially those going from exterior to interior shots near the beginning of the film. They are brilliant. You don’t realize what he did until you carefully look at them.
So, unless you are making commercials for used cars (where probably anything goes) or music videos (where anything does go), try and work with dissolves and cuts, except if you can truly justify using something else. You will make much more polished videos that way.
Happy editing.
Lew Schatzer is a video editor, and edits the nationally syndicated, “Terry Madden’s Watercolor Workshop,” which runs on hundreds of PBS stations around the country. He is currently completing a six-part, half-hour home improvement program to be run locally on broadcast stations in South Florida. As a writer/producer/director, Lew has done major projects for the Air Force, many corporate projects, particularly in the medical and technical fields, political commercials, and much more.
