Lost Video Island

Brooke · Expert Vidder Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 24129

I am horrible with transitions. They look really sloppy when I try to do the additive dissolve. I honestly don’t think I know what I am doing. When I do it, it seems to bleed together, and not hit the transition on the beat that I want it to hit and it often just looks like lights flickering on and off.

I have seen in videos, I have no examples to show, but I have seen in some videos where only one section flashes, for instance the face. It’s one of the reasons why I usually stick to songs with less beats to avoid doing loads of transitions.

Am I doing something wrong?

Aislynn · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject:

Additive dissolve works better with some footage and not as good with others, so it may just be that the scenes you're putting it on are one of the "not as good" ones (or they become "not as good" once they're combined together in a certain way

). Have you also tried playing around with the other types of dissolves to see if they give you more of the look you're hoping for? And, of course, the length of the dissolve can greatly effect how it looks (the more the two clips are crossedfaded together, the longer and slower the transition appears, if the clips are just barely faded together, the transition will go by in a blink).

Also, a lot of times additive dissolve is used specifically for the "flickering lights" look, so maybe that's not really what you're looking for? It all basically depends on your music and your personal preference, IMO.

I find that a lot of times that, unless the music seems to really call for it, you're better off to use hard cuts (changing a clip on the beat without any transition). Of course, the exception is if you have a song full of beats and treating them that way would turn it into one long rolling set of quick cuts!

Also, utilizing the motion in a clip (Kate slapping Jack, for example) is another great way to use the beat without relying on just transitions. Mixing them all up together often is very helpful in giving your vid powerful beat use.

Again, though, it really comes down to personal preference on how you would like to see the beats handled. Sometimes it's better to just acknowledge the big beats and not overdo it with every single beat. Other times it looks just awesome to hit all of them. Sometimes it looks better to use transitions for beat use, other times just hard cuts, or maybe just doing fades looks better if the music has a sort of "soft" sound to it. It pretty much just all depends on the song, the theme of the vid and your own artistic vision for it. But there's not any one certain way that it has to be done. If you don't like the way additive dissolves are looking in your vid, then it's usually best to go with something else that gives the look you're hoping for.

Brooke · Expert Vidder Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 24129

Thank you so much. I really really apperciate you going through all that with me. Sometimes I like what additive disolve does, and sometimes I feel it's over done in my videos. I like the use of the clip IE slapping for the beat. I do that a lot with Sawyer hitting Jack and Vice versa. Also changing the clip for a beat.

And yes, playing around with. It's how I learned to do a lot of things with Sony Vegas.

Thanks again.