Choosing the right dissolve or fade in Video by Zaweba

Dissolves and fades are the quietest transitions and the most used. Where a straight cut says "now this", a dissolve says time has passed, or that two things belong together, and a fade to black says a chapter has ended. Video by Zaweba has a full family of them: cross, additive, film, non-additive, blur, flash and luma fade dissolves, dither, and dip to black, white or a colour.

The dissolves, one by one

A cross dissolve blends the outgoing shot evenly into the incoming one. It is the standard, and when in doubt it is usually right.

An additive dissolve adds the two pictures together during the blend, so the middle of the transition gets brighter. It can feel warm and dreamy, but on bright shots it can wash out.

A film dissolve imitates how dissolves looked when they were made with film, which tends to feel more natural than a straight mathematical blend, with darker and lighter areas mixing in a gentler way.

A non-additive dissolve shows whichever picture is brighter at each point, so bright parts of the incoming shot appear first. It has a graphic, layered feel.

A blur dissolve blurs the outgoing shot as it fades and brings the new one in from a blur, which suits dreamy moments and changes of focus. A flash dissolve passes through a burst of light, good for memories, photos and sudden revelations. A luma fade dissolve brings the new shot in by brightness, with dark or light parts appearing first, which can be striking with high contrast shots.

Dither breaks the change up into a fine pattern of pixels rather than a smooth blend, a retro digital look.

Dips to black, white or a colour

A dip fades the outgoing shot to a solid colour and then fades up the next. Dip to black is the classic end of scene, and also a gentle way to start or end a film. Dip to white feels lighter: dreams, flashbacks, heaven, the glare of a memory. Dip to a colour lets you match a brand colour or the mood of the piece.

Getting the timing right

The length of a dissolve changes its meaning. A short dissolve of a few frames softens a cut without drawing attention, which helps when two shots don't quite join. A long one, a second or more, makes the audience feel time passing.

Transitions in Video by Zaweba have length settings, and alignment on a cut can be centre, start at or end at the cut. Centre is normal. Start at the cut keeps the outgoing shot intact until the edit point, and end at the cut keeps the incoming shot intact from it. Choose based on which shot has frames to spare: a dissolve needs extra footage beyond the cut on at least one side.

Edit, then Default transition applies a chosen transition to every selected edit at once, which is handy when you want many identical dissolves.

Dissolves for jump cuts

A short dissolve is one traditional way to soften a jump cut in an interview. Video by Zaweba also has a smooth jump cut transition that blends two takes of the same shot using an optical-flow morph, which can hide the jump far better than a plain dissolve.

When to leave them out

Most edits should be straight cuts. Dissolves on every edit make a film feel slow and uncertain. Save them for where they mean something: a passage of time, a change of place, a link between two ideas, the end of a section.

Mixing too many kinds is another trap. A cross dissolve here, a flash there and an additive somewhere else looks random. Pick one or two styles for a project and use them consistently.

Fades are simple, but the right one, at the right length, does more for a film than almost any other transition in Video by Zaweba.