Edit creative video transitions in your film.
Fade in, fade out, cutaway — creative video transitions are the thread that stitches a film together. Maintain a smooth flow and keep your viewers hooked from one scene to the next by learning how to add a transition in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Transition into your next big project.
Explore the different types of video transitions in Premiere Pro, learn how to apply and customize them, integrate custom transitions from Adobe Creative Cloud, streamline your editing with default transitions, and get answers to common questions in our FAQs.
What’s a transition in film vs. cut?
A cut is a type of transition, and it’s the most common and basic one. Transitions are made up of a wide range of ways that connect scenes or shots — this includes cuts, wipes, dissolves, fades, and more.
When you jump from scene to scene in a film, or even between cuts, the way you transition can make or break a scene. Conceptually, film transitions convey a passage of time, character movement, pauses, storylines, and silence. They structure the film from the first shot to the last and contain several common forms: the wipe, the dissolve, the split cut, and many more.
Practically, transitions are how film editors move a scene from one video clip to another. Transitions don’t necessarily have to be visual. They can also be conveyed with music or sound effects. The effectiveness of cuts and transitions in your films comes down to how well you can fit different shot sequences together, and that often depends on the pre-production and shooting process. Now that you understand the difference between transitions and cuts, let’s explore types of cuts in film.
Learn different types of transitions in Premiere Pro.
Transitions are essential in post-production because they shape the structure, pacing, and emotional impact of a film, helping to engage viewers and enhance storytelling.
Video transitions in film editing are techniques used to move from one shot to another, guiding the flow of the narrative and creating a smooth viewing experience. The type of transition can help create a certain mood, make it less jarring, or set a specific tone, influencing how the audience connects with the story and shaping the emotion and pacing of the film. Choose and use the right video transition to signal scene changes, show the passage of time, enhance the mood, and amplify the impact of your storytelling.
We’re going to cover the following types of transitions:
- Dissolve transitions
- Fade in transitions
- Wipe transitions
- L cuts or J cuts with sound transitions
Other types of “special effects” transitions that use creative video effects like zooming, distortion, or spinning the frame to transition — often to add a comedic effect — are well-suited for high-energy sequences.
1. Dissolve transition.
A common transition that can add some classic Hollywood flair, dissolve fades a shot into black or white or blends two scenes together. Ideal for montages, a dissolve transition signals to the audience that they are entering a new scene and time has passed.
While an additive dissolve transition can involve brightly flashing into the next frame to disorient the audience and convey a hard shift, a cross dissolve is when one shot is blended smoothly into the next. Some of the most iconic cross dissolves are in Citizen Kane. In one of these, a character leaves through swinging doors, and the audience is brought slowly into the next scene, hovering over a printing press. The dissolve and camera movement blend together the two moments, so they feel conceptually linked, in spite of the audience jumping through time and space.
In Premiere Pro, the Effects workspace offers many dissolve options that you can drop onto a clip and adjust in the Effect Controls panel. While cross dissolves can be effective, experiment with fading to black or white to see what works best for your shot.
2. Fade-in transition.
A fade-in transition is an opening shot or transition technique used in film editing to ease viewers into new imagery rather than using a sudden cut from scene to scene. A fade-out does the same thing but for closing shots or moving viewers smoothly out of a particular scene. Often gradually fading one clip to black or white, this type of transition is typically used for starting or ending scenes and signaling emotional shifts.
3. Wipe transition.
Most famously used in the original Star Wars film, a wipe transition can help move between different locations. As the name suggests, this type of transition wipes one clip off the screen to reveal the next with horizontal, vertical, circular, or other patterns. The wipe transition is great for showing dramatic changes or new locations.
4. J cuts and L cuts using sound transitions.
Some cuts and transitions can be so visually jarring that they need sound to accompany the leap. Action sequences are an example — poor sound mixing can create a cacophony of sound and motion. Ensure that each shot leads into the next for both visuals and sound.
For instance, if a character is running down train tracks with the camera pointed at their back, one way to build tension is to layer the train whistle over the running shot and then cut to a train barreling down the tracks. Using the same sound effects across both sequences keeps them conceptually linked.
These types of video transitions are referred to as J and L cuts. This refers to the shape of the audio and video tracks overlapping in the edit. In a J cut, you hear the audio from the following track in the current track, like in the train example above. In an L cut, the sound from the previous shot overlaps into the next shot. The L cut is less common but can also work to great effect.
How to add video transitions in Premiere Pro.
Premiere Pro provides a list of transitions — from subtle crossfades to more stylized effects — that you can apply to a sequence to move a scene from one shot to the next. Let’s take a look at how to add video transitions in Premiere Pro:
- Under the Window tab, open the Effects panel.
- Open the Video Transitions folder and select the transition you want to apply.
- Drag and drop the transition between the two clips where it should appear.
- Customize the duration and alignment of your transition using the Effect Controls panel.
Check out this guided video tutorial for a step-by-step process.
If you want to quickly add a transition, right-click between the two clips and select Apply Default Transition. This transition will add a cross-dissolve effect that you can use for video clips and audio tracks.
Integrate custom video transitions in Creative Cloud.
You can expand your options with third-party plugins or custom transitions from Adobe After Effects/Photoshop and easily integrate them into your Adobe video editor using the Adobe Video Partner Finder for specialized effects like glitches, liquids, and smooth transitions.
Tips for editing transitions in Premiere Pro.
When editing in Premiere Pro, use several tips and techniques to make your transitions smooth and purposeful and elevate the quality of your video while keeping the audience immersed in the story:
- Get a handle on it. Handles are extra footage at the beginning and end of your clip, essential for seamless transitions in editing video. Capture ample handle footage during filming for flexibility and to avoid abrupt cuts or transitions.
- Limit transition use. Avoid using too many video transitions, as this can distract viewers and diminish your video's quality. Opt for a few well-placed transitions for a more polished result.
- Maintain consistency. Stick to consistent cuts and transitions throughout your video to ensure a smooth and cohesive viewing experience.
- Apply purposefully. Use video transitions strategically to enhance storytelling. Focus on cuts and transitions that mark significant changes or shifts in your narrative rather than using them unnecessarily.
What are the best video transitions to use in film?
This will vary depending on the project you're working on. Different tones and storylines require different types of transitions. A crosscut shot may be best if your film is showcasing different time periods or the same timeframe but in different actions. The correct transition also depends on whether or not you are using sound in certain scenes.
The most common transition in film is the straight cut. It’s the simplest and most straightforward method of moving from one shot to another, where one clip instantly replaces the previous one. Cuts are essential to the rhythm and pacing of a film and are used most frequently to maintain the flow of the narrative. While other transitions like dissolves, fades, and wipes have their uses, the cut is the go-to choice for most filmmakers because of its immediacy and effectiveness.
Tips and tricks for planning transitions.
While transitions are made in the editing room, their journey begins much sooner — first in pre-production and then on the shoot itself. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced filmmaker, reviewing the possibilities for cuts and transitions can help open new doors to your post-production editing process.
Start with a storyboard.
The storyboard is where the visual planning for your film begins. You don’t want to conceive of an action sequence or other complicated series of shots while you’re on set. Storyboarding, especially for complex scenes, will keep things moving. According to Bernstein, “For an action sequence complicated with chases, special effects, stunts, and explosions, you have to plan out everything in minute detail because you don’t want to shoot too much. But you also don’t want to shoot too little.”
Shoot more, experiment, and shoot with cutting in mind.
While storyboarding is important, you don’t have to be inflexible. Allow for improvisation in scenes when you’re shooting and capture extra head and tail for each scene. Thanks to digital technology, if you record extra footage on both ends of a shot, you have more room to cut and add transitions later. Give yourself plenty to work with when you’re shooting, and things will be easier to cut together later. Above all, experiment, take risks, and be brave — the results can often surprise you.
“You very often discover what shots you want to use when you’re in the cutting room. Get everything from lots of different angles, and decide when you’re editing which ones you're going to use,” says Bernstein.
Make space for your story.
Every film, whether a documentary or a high-budget thriller, contains a narrative. This narrative often has natural inflection points, where the viewer can experience a visceral or emotional reaction to what’s occurring. Transitions help facilitate this reaction by guiding the viewer and providing (or denying) space for their thoughts.
Organize your footage.
Creating compelling transitions starts with something a bit less exciting: organization. Luckily, Premiere Pro makes organization and categorization simple. Create a timeline with the rough sequence of your edit to help yourself organize clips and start figuring out a basic flow. Once you’ve done that, relabel clips for easy identification and create labeled folders for a solid foundation for your project.
Compelling transitions knit together your film, and when you start to explore different ways to cut scenes, you become the weaver. Learn more about other film editing techniques, and discover all the ways Premiere Pro can help video editors edit a film from the opening shot to the final cut.
Edit scene transitions like a pro.
Mastering transitions is critical to great video editing and creating a cohesive, engaging film. Whether using basic cuts like straight, jump, and match cuts, or more complex techniques like dissolves, wipes, and crosscutting, each type serves a specific purpose in guiding the audience through the story.
Premiere Pro offers a variety of tools to apply and customize different transitions. You can choose from hundreds of eye-catching effects and built-in transitions or get started with professionally designed templates and take advantage of time-saving AI features to get to the right cut fast.
Learn more about video editing software that’s a cut above the rest.
FAQs about cuts and transitions.
What are video transitions?
What is the best transition for a video?
What is an example of a cut in film?
What is the default video transition in Adobe Premiere Pro?
How can I prevent Premiere Pro from repeating frames in transitions?
Can I create transitions in Adobe After Effects or Photoshop and use them in Premiere Pro?
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