Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual

Chapter 6. Add Transitions

Filmmakers use transitions in a movie to switch from one scene to another. Transitions between scenes can smooth the narrative flow of a film or add to its emotional impact. In Premiere terms, adding transitions means you insert an effect where the end of one clip meets the beginning of another.

You’ve seen these effects—they include everything from a simple dissolve between scenes to the more elaborate turning page or spinning cube. Some transitions subtly bridge the visual jump from one scene to another, while others end up calling attention to themselves and taking the viewer’s attention away from the content—witness the infamous Star Wipe.

Premiere gives you dozens upon dozens of between-scene transitions to work with, as you can see in Figure 6-1. That’s more than enough to make a really cheesy movie.

This chapter explains how to use and customize transitions, along with advice on how to keep a tight reign on them so you don’t overdo it. But if you’re just experimenting and having fun, go crazy.

Choose a Stock Transition

Watch most feature films, and you may be surprised at how few transitions they use and how unobtrusive they are. Transitions are part of the language of film and, for the most part, they communicate a message about time. For example:

Fade in from black (Swap and Delete Transitions in the Sceneline). Most movies start off by fading in from a black background. This is the filmmaker’s version of “Once upon a time.…” You understand that things ...