Reflection Transition in Premiere Pro (Rain on Me – Ariana Grande / Lady Gaga)

Published on May 29, 2020

Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorials

Ariana grande, cut, fade in, fade out, invisible transition, premiere pro, transitions, visible transition

Why do we use transitions?

Transitions are a powerful tool in every filmmakers toolbox. These tools helps us tell a story, bring forth emotions, change in time or even convey an underlying message. You cant be creative enough and currently there are thousand different transitions where you can choose from to help elevate your videos.

Most used Transition

Believe it or not but the MOST used transition is one you even use daily! The basic cut is indeed a transition because you go from one clip to another. This cut usually means that not a lot of time has passed between the shots.

Visible VS invisible transitions

Most of the time you want to create your transitions as seamless as possible. You can compare video editing to cooking. Spices should help give your food some punch but should not become the center point. Same goes for video editing, transitions should help you tell the story and should go unnoticed by the viewer. At least most of the times.

These invisible transitions can be done through multiple techniques like cutting in a whip, Lens blocking, pass by, etc… Here you will hide the point of the cute by using, motion , light or blocking of the frame for a short period of time.

Next up are the Visible Transitions, These I like to divide in 2 categories.

Normal Visible transitions

With these I mean doing a basic cut. Depending how you perform this you can make the cut harder or more subtle. Using Point of Interest, going with the movement and changing framing will help make the cut less hard but still noticeable.

Like in this example you can clearly see the transition which is a basic fade in and out. Yet this brings a meaning to the story of showing passing of time.

Creative Visible Transitions

These transitions always give a WAUW feeling to the audience. These can be used to give extra meaning to the shot or the transition.

Like in this example right here. This transition gives you the feeling you are looking inside the brain of the person and see what he is thinking.

When to use which transition?

Honestly that totally depends on YOUR story. If you want to use invisible cuts like in for example the movie 1917 where the whole movie looks like single shot. Or visible cuts like in for example the star wars wipes. Use them thoughtfully and always motivate why. Because you don’t want your video to look like a transition promo pack.

Storyblocks Video

This video was sponsored by Storyblocks. It’s an enormous online library full of high quality HD and 4K stock clips, After Effects templates, collections and much more. We use the library on a weekly base to download overlay effects, like smoke, dust particles, flares,… You can download an unlimited amount of clips for only one price per year so it’s super useful to have.