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Fancy transitions—are they really used?
I note that Sony Vegas (and other editing programs I’ve tried) seems to be just chock full of wild and fancy transitions, but everything I’ve been reading about good editing says that they shouldn’t be used, and the fanciest I’ve dared used myself is a simple wipe or page peel.
When, if ever, would you use exploding pizza transitions or any of the other elaborate transitions that the editor contains? I find myself using crossfades 99% of the time, followed by simple cuts, and maybe one or two of the aforementioned wipes or page peels. The stuff I’ve been reading implies that this is the right path, and it seems to echo what I see in movies and TV, as I can’t remember seeing much of anything more elaborate.
Is there a legitimate situation in which I’d want to use a very elaborate transition? Or are they perhaps traps for the noob, like all the fancy filters in Photoshop? I mean, one you’ve selected a transition that calls attention to itself (if that be necessary), then anything beyond that should be overkill … right?
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3 Replies
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[Anthony Atkielski] “When, if ever, would you use exploding pizza transitions or any of the other elaborate transitions that the editor contains? …Is there a legitimate situation in which I’d want to use a very elaborate transition?”
Monday Night Football (sports) and Commercials. That’s about the only place I’ve seen them used. Otherwise fades and cuts are the “stock and trade“. If you are George Lucas making Star Wars you’ll also need a healthy amount of diagonal gradient wipes. 😉
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
To me, fancy transitions are like a PowerPoint presentation done by amateurs.
That is, every single bullet point uses a different method of coming on screen.
I’m a big believer in following the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) when it comes to transitions.
Cuts and dissolves/fades have worked for Hollywood for a long time and they have a lot more money and skill than I do so if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. -
Well, I’m reassured. I haven’t found much use for fancy transitions, but given the vast numbers that are provided in Sony Vegas, I was worried that maybe there was some secret reason for using them that I had overlooked.
Yes, I do think I’ve seen elaborate transitions on sports programs, and sometimes on nightly news programs also, I think. Maybe this is a tacit admission that the subject matter really isn’t that interesting, so fancy transitions try to make up for it.
I’ve only used the wipes or page peels when something really big changes, like a complete change of location or time. I’ve also tried a fade to black followed by a page peel, sort of to emphasize that one part of the video is ending and something else is coming—I don’t recall seeing that in the books but it seems to work, and it’s still preferable to exploding pizza boxes, I think.
Thanks for the replies.
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