Soo transitions. It’s an essentially part to Episode stories. How exactly do you guys switch from one scene to another? And I’m not necessarily asking how to code it (I understand the basics of how to add a fade in/fade out transition) but I’m more so asking do you only fade in/fade out every time a scene ends/starts? Do you try to do clever zooms, or have one character calling another, then switch to the character getting the call to starts a new scene?
I’m also wondering with the basic fade in/out transition, what speed do you think is the best? I’ve only ever had my transition speed on 2, so in total it would be 4 seconds (fade out 2 & fade in 2 but I’m realizing it is quiet fast and doesn’t give the reader enough time to soak in what just happen in the previous scene, kind of like they are being whiplash.
Sorry for such long questions but I realized there isn’t many topics about the different ways and tricks to transitioning. Hopefully this can benefit us all (:
I do a lot more regular transitions (like fade in/out) than I’d like, but sometimes for dramatic effect I’ll do a zoom on a character’s face and then replace them with a character from the next scene and zoom out to reveal the whole set up, if that makes sene.
It might be a preference type of thing here since I’ve seen in some stories where they decide to use fade in and out every time a scene ends/starts and others where they don’t use it all the time. I’m also a person who doesn’t use it all the time, some scenes are better without it and some scenes are better with the fade in/out transition.
No, I don’t, buuut it really depends on the tone of the scene and what kind of story I’m writing.
For example, for most serious or normal scenes, I’ll normally use the black fade transitions or use an overlay (like the camera going behind something) to make a transition, but for a lot of comedic or lighthearted scenes, the scene changes are abrupt or I’ll make use of a colorful transition.
For flashbacks though or a character going through immense pain, I tend to use white fade transitions that are either reasonably slow or multiple ones in quick succession.
The sweet spot for me is 1-2 seconds, however for a lot of my slower cinematic openings and outros it’ll normally be more (around 4 seconds minimum).
Don’t know if any of this helps you, but regardless, good luck with your story!
For me, I don’t even use the fade in transition anymore… I just use fade out and it looks fine when I go to the next scene. Maybe that’s just me though.
Personally, if the scene is taking place right after the one which has just ended (e.g. MC is leaving one room to go answer the door) then I’ll use fade in/out) transtitions. If it is a time jump, (minutes/hours/days etc) I use fade out, then Iris in on the new scene to give the added time passing effect.
As for length of transitions, many people will give you different answers here. Some don’t mind them being long, other people hate them being drawn out.
Generally as a rule for me, I use fade out/in 0.5 -1 in immediate scene jumps (as mentioned above, depending on what the scene is like. If there is nothing to mull over as such, shorter the better. If there’s a little pause needed, 1 is fine as it will still be another 1 on the next transition for the new scene.
At the end of my episodes, (or if there is a particularly moving scene in the story where it needs a more lengthy fade out) I will up transition fade out to 2. But the following scene will fade/iris in on 1 again.
Though 2 doesn’t seem long in theory, having repetitive transitions lasting 4 seconds is tiresome to readers during long periods of reading. Transitions are dull moments when you’re wanting to get to the next scene, so I would advise you to keep them as short as you can, but being true to how you want the scene to appear. If it feels wrong, then change it, but bear in mind there are people who leave stories over long transtitions when they happen all the time.
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