Video Transitions

Video transitions are used to join 2 seemingly disparate scenes in a smooth way so that viewers do not feel that they suddenly “jump” from one place to another. Below is a list of 5 common transitions used in film and advertisements, I deliberately excluded the Cut because it is so widely used and can be used virtually anywhere that there is not much room for bringing in opinions.

1. Cross Dissolve – By far the most widely used transition in my opinion, can be used anywhere. Most effective use with camera pan to close distances.
2. Dip to White – Bringing closure to a climactic scene, opens for post climax scene especially when sadness or relief is the primary emotion. Also for flashback.
3. Dip to Black (also known as Fade in and Fade out) – Ending of scene usually to depict end of a certain day and next scene is the day later. (e.g. The Shawshank Redemption)
4. Wipes – Rarely used, only found in Star Wars movie when there is transition between planet surface to space and back. Gives the impression that the next scene is happening very far away. (e.g. Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith)
5. Slides – Rarely used in movies but the exciting and fast nature of these transitions made them popular in advertisements where they need to grab the attention of the viewer. Used when multiple photographs are shown sequentially. Slide is also used in TV comedies.
6. Zoom – Zoom as a transition is also used in certain movies. Quite often the camera will zoom in an object in the foreground and then zoom out to show a different scene. This transition is often used when there is a change from reality to a dream analogous to the act of staring at an object and losing oneself in his/her own thoughts. Alternatively zoom can also be used to "zoom out" into splitscreen to show another scene going on at the same time.

Now how do I cut those video clips from the movies....

(Hey Julian if you're reading this, I uploaded the video clips to the server because I cut them from movies and they are copyrighted bla blah blah...)