To do FX Transition or not?

RajinAsian · Post by **RajinAsian** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:58 pm

I have made about 15 music videos with my Magix Movie Maker Pro. The system works well enough that I can get a product done roughly in two days and refine it over my boredom time of a month.
However, when I started I saw it as a mantra to use as many special transition effects as possible. Even effects. To the point that my video was bouncing screens, kaleidoscopes, and negative pictures that came down like a cartoony tidal wave.

Now I rarely do transition effects and purely just switch over to the next scene during the creshendoes and immediate drop beats and at times quick 1.5 second fades.

Anyone just do cut scenes and forget about the sloppy beginner use of transitions? Or is their a method to the mayhem?

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:02 pm

Other than the normal "cross dissolve", transition can be considered as effects. Thus use them as effects - only when they fit.

amvwizard · Post by **amvwizard** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:04 pm

I think special effects are good, but none at all is good too. Being simple isn't bad. Just look at Koopiskevas Waking Hour Video. Compare that one to one like Euphoria. He used an assload of effects in Euphoria and then hardly any in Waking hour. And yet Waking Hour was just as good.

Poetic_Kaos · Post by **Poetic_Kaos** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:51 pm

I scoff at most transitions. Especially the transitions that you simply drop into the timeline, those are lame. Barndoors, iris, checkerboard whip, etc, all fail, fail miserably.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:03 pm

STAR WIPE!

Zarxrax · Post by **Zarxrax** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:14 pm

Transitions are crap unless you are an experienced editor and can design and make them yourself.

Rev. Takahashi Fan · Post by **Rev. Takahashi Fan** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:17 pm

I don't know I only use a transitional effect when I feel it is needed.

JaddziaDax · Post by **JaddziaDax** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:52 pm

if my mood for an aMV is cheezy then ill use cheezy transitions... otherwise i dont touch them...

i do like some of the disolve transitions though, but only when they feel right.

in other words look at your mood and see if it fits,

on a side note: if youre doing a romance please dont touch the "heart" transition, it kills the mood.

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:45 pm

I tend to use them only if I'm being a smartass. But then again, my videos suck. Exception: additive dissolve, or dissolve with flash. Can't break that addiction. But I did use many more of them as a newb, so I think I know the feeling.

I think "just because you can" is usually a bad idea, unless you're aiming for excess on purpose.

yowza · Post by **yowza** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:33 pm

I'm fairly new to vids but I agree with everyone else. Transitions that come with software are usually pretty tacky except for simple things like fade and should probably be left alone. Let the footage & editing speak for itself i say.