Trouble with transmitions HELP!

The only time a transition will alter the length of the video is when you have no "handles" on the clips.

This means that you are using the complete clip with nothing cut from the beginning or end.

Normally every clip an editor uses in the timeline will have had at least a second cut from both ends.

This will always happen If you are using complete clips straight from the camera.

You must trim the front and back of the clips (by using In and Out points or the Blade tool) if you don't want it to occur.

Your replies have enlightened me. Thanks.

If you are editing properly, like the professionals, this problem never occurs.

Professional editors never (or almost never), use the complete clip, and amateurs should be the same.

We take such care to shoot good video and we are so pleased with most of it, that we can't bring ourselves to discard even the tiniest bit.

This results in our movies becoming long and slow moving and boring . . . . at least to everyone else who is unfortunate enough to have to watch them!

We, of course, regard them as the best things since sliced bread.

So generally speaking, every clip should be drastically pruned to a maximum of 5 to 10 seconds.

Many clips could be cut down to a couple of seconds.

If you watch a professional feature film you will find that many clips are only 2 - 3 seconds and some are actually under a second.

This gives them pace and life.

Under these circumstances, the editors always have clips with plenty of handles, but here's the irony, professional feature films hardly ever employ transitions!

Hello Ian, greatly pleased to see your reply.

Editors, who happen to be pressed for time, having deadlines to meet, must be surely getting jealous of the vast amount of 'leisure time' you have at your disposal! I say this after reading your reply in the thread related to 'disappearing timelines video' about which you had said you could spend the whole day watching it!

Is the observation you have made : that professional feature films hardly ever employ transitions in any way related to the deadline-pressure under which professional editors are working in? Slipping in transitions for clips of 1 to 3 second durations may not also be visually appealing.

No, I am referring to Hollywood type films where no expense or time is spared.

If they wanted they could include all the transitions in the world, but they don't.

Almost every film in the last 50 years has been made with almost no transitions.

Occasionally simple dissolves or wipes may be used but 99% of the time it's a matter of straight cuts.

The only places you will usually see exotic transitions are in amateur videos where the creator mistakenly believes it will spice up an otherwise boring film.

Thanks for all this information Ian.

My watching of movies, Hollywood and non-Hollywood, has been few and far between when I was young; Now I don't watch movies.

I guess your teaching on this subject is along these lines: careful planning at the video capturing stage to minimise excessive needless footage and a minimal and need-oriented inclusion of transitions.

Could you please send a link to any video of yours from which we could learn?

DR.SOMANNA

I'm afraid it's a case of "Do as I say and not as I do". 😝

Many of my videos are too long and contain unnecessary transitions and effects.

I was only using Hollywood movies as an example. What I wrote applies to pretty well any professional film, video, movie, documentary or programme on the TV, cinema or anywhere else.

Thanks for being so transparent and considerate! In the rare case of your having a less than 5 minute video, I would like to view it.

I have the reverse problem. I want the transition to happen, and I don't care if the movie is shortened by half a second or so.

(I have a movie compilation of about 50 independent clips in sequence, and I want to transition from each one into the next; I'm not fussed about losing a few frames at each top and tail.)

This used to be possible, but seems to have been removed under 10.0.5

Is there a quick way to do this without laboriously shortening all my clips one by one?

MST

You ctrl-click between the 2 clips and select Add Cross Dissolve.

A window will appear saying you have not enough media but you can click Create Transition and it will do so, pinching a few frames.

No, that's my point. I used to be able to do this under 10.0.4, but the option to shorten my project by automatically creating handles seems no longer to be there under 10.0.5.

Is this just me, or has Apple 'improved' it again? And if the latter, is there a workaround?

MST

Select two clips. Press Cmd-T. What happens?

It works for me for clips with no handles.

<Deleted. I posted a reply which was rubbish. Test before you post, Martin>