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Color Grading in Premiere Pro CC - Get Pro Film Look

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Quickly color match multiple clips with Adobe Premiere Pro #shorts

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More detailed colour correction tutorial in Premiere

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More detailed colour correction tutorial in Premiere

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How to color correct like a PRO! | Adobe Premiere Pro 2022

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Color Correction & Color Grading Hacks | Premiere Pro Tutorial

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This is very technical but the beginning is a good introduction to the key principles, with good examples

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Color Grading 101 - Everything You Need to Know

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Shooting GREEN SCREEN on an iPhone - Beginner to Pro

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Includes master and basic triangle set up example for multi camera

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How to Shoot a Scene Using Basic Coverage

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Shot-Reverse Shot: Techniques to Improve Dialogue Scenes

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This is a good article about fading to black. The article discusses the context of trailers, too.

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On Fading to Black: The Hows, The Whens, and The Whys

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Fading to black is the smoothest dissolve transition there is, but it’s good for more than just endings. Let’s take a look at what it can do.

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Cinematic FRAMING & COMPOSITION in Film | Cinematography & Filmmaking Part 3

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Cinematic CAMERA ANGLES Explained | Cinematography & Filmmaking Part 2

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All Camera SHOT SIZES Explained | Cinematography & Filmmaking Part 1

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Cinematic CAMERA MOVEMENTS Explained | Cinematography & Filmmaking Part 4

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Lighting for different genres/ effects

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Sound Design Tutorial For Film: Audio & Pre-Production

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7 Editing Tips That Are Simple And Beautiful

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Add visual interest and alter the impact of your images with masks and vignettes, two creative compositional elements that every DP should have in their bag of tricks.
Top image: Casino via Universal Pictures
Masks and vignettes are compositional elements that occur in a variety of forms in the history of motion pictures. A vignette is a gradual darkening of an image around the edges of the frame, whereas a mask has harder edges. The mask will be considered in its more circular, iris-like forms in this article.

Masks and vignettes can be accomplished during production or post-production. The result adds visual interest while closing in the rectangularity of the motion picture frame. Let's have a look at some ways that vignettes and masks can be put to use in modern moviemaking.

The Iris

The iris shot, or pin-hole zoom, is a well-known masking technique of closing or opening the field of view during the shot. The effect can draw focus on an important element in the frame while adding a note of romance and obsession.

The iris shot is more commonly used as a transitional device to begin or end a scene and has been used by both Paul Thomas Anderson (seen above in Punch-Drunk Love via Sony) and Martin Scorsese (as seen below in a compilation video by Filmscalpel). You'll notice that Scorsese uses both masks and vignettes in his iris shots.

If the iris mask effect seems a bit over the top, there are subtler uses of the technique. In the early days of cinema, cinematographer Billy Bitzer, working with D.W. Griffith, would use the iris to soften the edges of a shot. This effect can be see in the two frames below from Intolerance (via Triangle).

In The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Mark Cousins attributes Griffith and Bitzer's iris technique to the use of a "collar," which is basically a lens hood.

Voyeur Masks

Another popular use of the iris mask is as a voyeuristic point-of-view shot. An early use of this voyeur mask can be seen in the assassination scene from the 1915 film, The Birth of a Nation (via Epoch), which is a controversial film text one should draw inspiration from with care.

Once again, Bitzer and Griffith use the iris shot as a point of view on John Wilkes Booth before he assassinates President Abraham Lincoln. The effect suggests a world closing down around the soon-to-be killer, Booth.

The voyeur mask can suggest claustrophobia and impending doom for the individual framed within the shot. The effect also aligns the audience's perspective with that of the voyeur. This act of sharing perspective can implicate the viewer in the on-screen happenings.

The voyeur mask can be seen in the shot above from Body Double (via Columbia) and as the popular binocular view, seen below in (via Paramount)

The classic opening to Halloween (1978) wouldn't be the same without the subjective camera perspective as viewed through a mask. The perspective forces the audience to share the narrow, murderous viewpoint of a slasher, Michael Myers.

Uses of the voyeur mask can swing wildly between serious and light-hearted subject matter. Like the pinhole zoom, the voyeur mask can have a certain old-fashioned playfulness when it is put to use in modern films. For example, Wes Anderson and Robert Yeoman use the device cleverly in Moonrise Kingdom.

The voyeur mask is also a technique wide open for satire, as evidenced in (via Paramount)

Filter Vignette

When the hard lines of an iris or voyeur mask are too much, the vignette is a great alternative. The vignette is often subtle and can appear in both circular and non-circular forms.

The effect is popular enough to be included on almost all of the latest photography apps. However, it's a little too easy to add a vignette in post-production. Instead, a good, old-fashioned physical filter can offer a far more unique and organic vignette to your video production.

Ridley Scott and his cinematographer, Frank Tidy, relied on the graduated neutral density filter for many of the outdoor shots in the 1977 film, The Duellists, seen above (via Paramount). The grad filter is a partial neutral density filter that can help keep areas of your frame from overexposing. Along with this very practical use, the grad filter adds a noticeable, but subtle darkness to a portion of the shot. This vignetting can be seen at the top of the still above from The Duellists.

Grad filters need not be limited to skies. Darren Aronofsky and Matthew Libatique put the grad filter to stylish, non-traditional effect in the film Requiem for a Dream. The filter can be seen repeatedly throughout the opening of the film at odd angles. The grad filter is visible on bottom section of the frame below (via Artisan).

Grad filters aren't the only way to create a physical filter vignette. Krzysztof Kieslowski and cinematographer Slawomir Idziak used green filters to create a vignette effect in A Short Film About Killing (stills below via Kino). As with John Wilkes Booth, the use of filters in A Short Film About Killing seems to suggest a world closing in around the murderous main character.

You can buy grad filters to fit your favorite lens or employ a matte box, which is a very helpful tool for more reasons than filtration.

In Conclusion

Masks and vignettes are an alternate way of adding visual interest into your compositions. The result softens the hard edges of a rectangular frame and draws a clear focus within your shot. The effect of masks and vignettes can be playful and self-aware or it can be deadly serious. It all depends on your subject matter.

These days you have options to use masks and vignettes as digital effects or as in-camera techniques. Whether you use masks and vignettes during production or post-production, the effect is stylish and memorable.

What are your favorite examples of these cinematography techniques? Share them in the comments below.

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Top image: Casino via Universal Pictures Masks and vignettes are compositional elements that occur in a variety of forms in the history of motion pictures. A vignette is a gradual darkening of an image around the edges of the frame, whereas a mask has harder edges.

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Want to take your editing game to the next level? Then you'll definitely need to know about these important transitions.

One of the first edits you'll ever make is what? A simple cut, right? It's incredibly straightforward; just find a juicy spot in your clip, cut that thing in two like it's a friggin' pastrami on rye, and then slide another clip right next to it. Boom! You're done. But if you want to be an editor that can add flair and functionality to your edits, you'll want to know about all of the cool tricks the pros use in their work. In this video from Shutterstock, you'll learn about nine transitions that are essential in every editor's toolkit. Check it out below:

There are many other techniques that come in handy when editing, but Shutterstock's list is a great primer that will give you a sturdy foundational knowledge of how to move through your edit with transitions. Here are the cuts mentioned in the video:

Standard: This is your basic cut. It's literally putting two clips side by side. You'll most likely use this more than any other kind of cut.

J-Cut: This is a big one, mostly because it offers a smooth transition from one shot to the next by having the audio of Clip B play at the tail end of Clip A. In other words, as you watch the first clip play, you begin to hear the audio from the next clip before you see its visuals.

L-Cut: It's a J-cut in reverse. Instead of transitioning into Shot B with Shot B's audio, you're transitioning with Shot A's audio. So, as you watch the first clip play, you see the next clip as the audio from the first clip overlaps it. This is used all the time with dialogue scenes.

Cross-Cutting: Also known as parallel editing, this technique can get a little hairy if you're not careful, mainly because what you're doing is editing two different stories so they play side-by-side. You see this all the time in action movies, but my favorite example of this comes from Silence of the Lambs. Watch how director Jonathan Demme and editor Craig McKay use this technique to mislead the audience.

Jump Cut: These transitions are interesting because they fracture time in a very noticeable way. To pull it off, just take one of your longer clips, cut bits and pieces out of it, and put the fragments you want to include in your timeline back together. It'll look like the clip is "jumping" around through time.

Cutting on Action: To put it simply, Cutting on Action just means cutting in the middle of your subject's action, whether it's a punch, a head turn, or even someone reaching for a doorknob in one shot and then opening the door in the next. Mastering this cut is crucial because it helps hide edits that occur during an action.

These stylish cuts are a great way to highlight your editorial creativity. On a technical level, it's a standard cut (from one shot to another). However, what makes it special is how it matches the similar actions of both shots. A great example of this is the shower scene in Psycho, where we see the shot of the water circling down the drain and then crossfades into a close-up of Marion Crane's eye, which is roughly the same size and in the same position within the frame as the drain.

Cutaways: These kinds of cuts are helpful if you want to add shots that give more information and context to a scene, like shots of the location to establish the setting or shots of props and other objects that a character is referring to. Because many editors use them to incorporate supplementary footage, it might be helpful to think of cutaways as "b-roll cuts."

Montage: You know what montages are, right? They're all over the place. A boxer wants to train for the big fight? Work out montage! A student needs to cram for finals? Study montage! A recent divorcée goes shopping before a big date? Fitting room montage! They are sequences of different shots that condense information, at least in the examples I just gave, but they also do the same for time and space (but that's more of the technical definition of montage).

What are some other important cuts new editors should know about? Let us know down in the comments.

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Cuts 101: Here Are 9 of the Most Essential Transitions in Editing

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Want to take your editing game to the next level? Then you'll definitely need to know about these important transitions. One of the first edits you'll ever make is what? A simple cut, right? It's incredibly straightforward; just find a juicy spot in your clip, cut that thing in two like it's a friggin' pastrami on rye, and then slide another clip right next to it.

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9 Cuts Every Video Editor Should Know | Shutterstock Tutorials

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Three point lighting, Video softbox lighting tutorial.

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How the standard 3 point lighting technique works for video, film and television, photography, etc.

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In this Archive Dive we take a look at six inspirational sound design examples who've created emotive, encouraging and inspirational campaigns using different forms of audio. Below are eight captivating examples of simple ideas turned it into a gripping pieces of communication.

These projects have been celebrated at the D&AD Awards for their brilliant use of music, sound design, innovation in radio or use of digital marketing.

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In this Archive Dive we take a look at six inspirational sound design examples who've created emotive, encouraging and inspirational campaigns using different forms of audio. Below are eight captivating examples of simple ideas turned it into a gripping pieces of communication.

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Sound design may be a less a recognized element of filmmaking than directing or acting, but it's no less important. Both DIY productions and major motion pictures require a thoughtful approach to audio to tell their stories effectively. Here are five superbly-crafted independent films that inspire us with their sounds.

Eraserhead (1977)

Director: David Lynch

From the man in the planet to the dancing lady in the radiator's song, Eraserhead's audio is as patently disturbing as its nightmarish premise. Industrial soundscapes, faraway organs and strange creatures make for one of the most surreal films of all time. David Lynch and sound designer Alan Splet dedicated a full year to creating the sounds for this film, at times layering as many as fifteen tracks of audio simultaneously for a single sound effect.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

This lengthy epic makes great use of sound in illustrating a fictitious vision of the 20th century oil business. Effects like the chug and groan of oil derricks were managed by Michael Semanick of Skywalker Sound, who says a major goal in production was making the environment sound perpetually "dangerous." The danger is definitely audible in one of the film's most intense scenes, in which an oil derrick explodes.

Barton Fink (1991)

Director: Joel Cohen, Ethan Cohen

Longtime Cohen Brothers collaborator Skip Lievsay considers Barton Fink a "crowning achievement in terms of sound design and effects." Lievsay relied on a highly abstract, non-naturalistic approach to sound to evoke the film's surreal atmosphere. He also worked extensively with composer Carter Burwell to make both score and sound design complement each other, going as far as hiring eight bass trombonists to create the sound of the hotel's deep plumbing noise.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

It's hard to find a film that matches Requiem for a Dream's emotional intensity, and sound plays a major role in emphasizing the hopes and struggles of its protagonists. Recurring themes like drug use, daydreaming and physical violence have their own sonic signatures, as evidenced in this montage. Aronofsky and sound designer Nelson Ferreira used out-of-place elements like airplane flyovers and wailing guitar chords to emphasize the rush of getting high.

Elephant (2003)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Elephant tackles the difficult topic of school shootings with a bleak, minimal approach. Long following shots and naturalistic, improvised dialog create an atmosphere that's both hyperrealistic and dreamlike. Music is used sparingly, with the exception of some chilling ambient beds during the shooting sequence that underscore the psychology of the killers. Sound designer Leslie Shatz favored an indirect, suggestive approach to sound, in which direct dialogue is sometimes obscured in favor of ambient noise and crowd sounds.

About Soundsnap: Soundsnap.com is a leading sound effects library visited by more than 30,000 film and audio professionals daily. We know that great sounds tell better stories, and it's our mission

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5 Independent Films With Great Sound Design - Raindance

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By Dan Powell of Soundsnap.com Sound design may be a less a recognized element of filmmaking than directing or acting, but it's no less important. Both DIY productions and major motion pictures require a thoughtful approach to audio to tell their stories effectively. Here are five superbly-crafted independent films that inspire us with their sounds.

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How to achieve a Film Look - DSLR film making

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Found this tutorial useful? Tip me by clicking on the top-right info button in the video and help me create more tutorials! Beginning to shoot film on your DSLR? This tutorial goes over some practical tips on creating a cinematic look with your DSLR footage.

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Top 15 Mistakes Beginner Filmmakers Make

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Welcome to little Hollywood, our stop on the road to the land of cinema dreams.
In the following article, we'll introduce you to both basic and advanced knowledge that is essential to video editing. We'll be paying especially close attention to the question of how one goes about turning raw video footage into impressive movie scenes.

All you need to give your footage that special Hollywood feel is video editing software, such as Movie Edit Pro, and a few creative ideas.

Takes

The term "take" has several different meanings. On the one hand, it can refer to shots of a subject which are filmed from various perspectives. But it can also refer to shots with slightly different details (such as the lighting or background elements).
In any case, takes are variations on shots which provide you with a wealth of options when it comes time to start editing. Having more to work with during the editing process is good for your movie and is highly recommended. In order to keep track of your footage later on when you're going through it for editing, it's absolutely necessary to be able to tell which takes are which. This means being able to know at a glance if the footage you're watching is a repeat take or a different shot. This is what clapperboards are for.
You should film your subjects from lots of different angles and using different arrangements. If you can, it's best to film several different takes so that you'll have plenty of material to choose from later on.

From Takes to Scenes and Sequences

When you edit a movie, you're essentially moving through a structural diagram from bottom to top. First you cut the takes out from the raw material and begin piecing scenes together step by step, cut by cut. Cuts are transitions between shots.
The next category above the takes are the scenes. A scene is a meaningful unit in filmmaking. It normally consists of material that belongs to a single location and time continuum, but doesn't necessarily have to be shown in an unbroken fashion. Scenes normally consist of several different shots.
An instance of dialogue, for example, will normally be shown using multiple shots that alternate between showing the speaker, the listener, and both together, while the audio tracks plays uncut. These elements are combined to form a dialogue scene.
A change of scene in a movie represents the introduction of a new meaningful unit. The transition between the last shot of the current scene and the first shot of the next scene is typically different- and more noticeable-than the transitions that take place between shots within a single scene.

In what follows, we will show you how to make the right choices when trying to decide between the unlimited range of options when it comes to piecing scenes together. When we say "right," we mean two things here: firstly, this means editing your footage in a such a way so that it corresponds with the way most viewers perceive movies and what their expectations are. Essentially, how to make a movie that someone can understand and that can get recognition from viewers. On the other hand, we're talking about editing in accordance with your own feelings and intentions. Editing is a crucial element of cinematic language. It's how you choose which cinematic "sentences" to use in your message. As the director, you're the one who's speaking. You get to choose what you want to say.

Cuts and Transitions

Editing-a cut-causes time, locations and perspectives to change. The continuity of what's happening in the movie is interrupted. But there are ways to make these cuts inconspicuous for the viewer. This is known as "continuity editing."
Continuity editing isn't about creating actual continuity, but about giving the viewer the impression of continuity by using cuts that he or she is unaware of.
On the one hand, you need to find the right spot to make a cut (e.g. define what sections of material should be used). The starting and ending points for each shot need to be defined separately. On the other hand, you need to decide where one shot ends and the next begins, that is, where the transitions between individual shots should go.
Transitions take the viewer from one shot to the next and in doing so create a narrative context, anticipation, and suspense. The question as to where you should cut a given shot always depends on the shot that follows it.
The issue of how long to make a shot can also only be addressed once you know how long the preceding and following shots are.
By assigning lengths to your shots in relation to each other, you create a cinematic rhythm which allows you to control the dramatic effect of how the story is being told. Once again, it comes down to context. And while this might seem like a vague explanation, there's no need to worry. There are more specific answers to the question of how and when to make cuts that have been developed throughout the course of cinematic history.
Editing professionals are in disagreement about whether these are universal laws, recommendations, or even totalitarian pretension. But we don't need to concern ourselves with this ongoing discussion. The classical rules of editing are the result of many years of professional editing work. Learning about these principles can only enhance your technical skill. So, where should you make cuts? We're going to focus on the two most important principles here:

Cutting on action:

the first principle is to always cut mid-action. For example, if you have a close-up and a long shot of a person lifting a glass and drinking from it, you want to cut in the middle of the movement, that is, when the subject is lifting the glass.
The idea behind this principle is to make the cut as inconspicuous as possible. The viewer can already anticipate the end result of a movement as it's happening. He or she already knows that the glass is going to arrive at the subject's mouth. So, the viewer is aware of the narrative arc of the action, so to speak. Making a cut in the middle of the action results in a transition which is less noticeable for the viewer, as opposed to cutting after the action has been completed and introducing a new, unfamiliar arc.

No empty frames:

Shots should be cut before the subject has left the frame. Unless you have a special reason for doing otherwise. You can, in fact, transition between scenes and sequences using empty frames in order to bring the arc of suspense to a conclusion. But empty frames should be avoided within individual scenes.

Both of these principles are basically variants on the same theme: scenes should function as narrative units. An empty shot or completed action tell the viewer that the narrative arc is coming to a conclusion.

Enough about where to place cuts, let's talk about combining shots. How should you arrange adjacent shots? Again, there are some classic solutions to this problem.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is the easiest, most frequently used and most effective editing technique in the business.
Imagine a person on the street who is entering a building. They approach the door and open it. Upon entering, a reverse shot cut is made to show the same person from the interior perspective as he or she closes the door behind them, takes off their coat and hangs it up. Editing these two shots together creates the impression of a natural sequence of events. There's no doubt as to whether the interior space the person has entered-the one we see in the second shot-is indeed the same space behind the door the person entered in the first shot. Although, in reality the two space are most likely unrelated.

Or consider a dialogue in a movie: you see and hear a close-up shot of an actor speaking, yet suddenly you're shown the face of the person listening to the speaker as he or she continues talking. You're actually being shown something that has no direct relationship to what you're hearing-a motionless face. Without requiring an explanation, the viewer understands the new, silent mug to be that of the person listening. Without continuity editing, the shot of the listener would be understood simply as some face. The reverse shot is what turns it into the face of the listener and subsequently gives cinematic meaning to his or her facial expressions. Perhaps the expressionless face
suddenly reacts to what the speaker is saying: a display of attentiveness, skepticism, or even rejection...
The entire plot of the movie is built cut for cut upon meaningful sequences such as these. The viewer automatically places the edited scenes into a cinematic context. Shot reverse shot is just one of many editing techniques, some of which are variants of it.

Other Editing Techniques

Editing is primarily about creating a narrative context out of unrelated shots.

Cause-and-effect cutting:

In this case, the edited shots share a causal relationship. The second shot cannot be understood without the first shot. Example: A man gets into an argument and then leaves the room in the next shot, slamming the door behind him. Or someone aims a revolver and pulls the trigger. In the next shot we see someone fall over dead.

Cross-cutting:

Two story lines or events are shown in parallel. The editing cuts back and forth between the two. By gradually shortening the scenes, suspense is generated, leading to a climactic point. Imagine a flight passenger talking to the person sitting in the adjacent seat. Meanwhile, a family drives to the airport. Both of these sequences can be stretched out and interwoven. Shortening the time between cuts creates a sense of increasing suspense.

Associative editing:

Arranging scenes in such a way so as to create an association between them. However, this association is not directly mentioned or shown. Example: A man is playing the lottery. In the next shot, he's shown at a car dealership looking at expensive cars.

Replacement-cutting:

The results of actions which cannot or should not be shown are replaced with visual analogies. Examples: A child is born, but instead of seeing the actual painful birth, we are shown a blossoming bud. Or two lovers are rolling around in bed, and the replacement shot is of exploding fireworks.

Contrast-cutting:

Highly contrasting shots are editing together using contrast-cutting, for example, to draw the viewer's attention to an opposition or contradiction. Example: A tourist is shown on a beach. In the next shot, we see beggars. Contrast-cutting is often used at the end of a long, subdued scene to wake the viewer up and tell them that the main plot is now moving forward. Imagine an actor looking pensively at a photo. In the next shot, a train suddenly enters a station with a thunderous roar.

Formal juxtaposition:

This is where two shots are juxtaposed because they have certain formal aspects in common (e.g. the same imagery, colors, shapes or movements). Examples of this could be a pair of red pants and a red rose, a soccer ball and the globe, defenestration and falling feathers. The perhaps most well-known example of formal juxtaposition in film is in the opening scene of Stanley Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey in which the ape throws the bone into the air, and, in the next shot, we see a satellite orbiting earth as a continuation of the movement presented in the first shot. Meanwhile, four million years have gone by. In this example, it becomes clear how editing can be used to generate meaning: the two shots have but a single movement in common. The editing, however, sets in motion a search for context, a relationship between the two (e.g. that the use of bones as tools marks the beginning of the rise of man, the ultimate expression of that developmental process being the age of space exploration).

Acoustic brackets:

Certainly you've heard of this one, too. It's evening, the subject is reading a book in silence when suddenly the hectic sound of voices and a ringing telephone are heard. And before you have time to ask what all the racket is about, another scene-this time at the police station-has begun. This technique is sometimes called "acoustic brackets." This effect can be created by having the soundtrack start playing before
the accompanying visuals are shown. In this case, the audio and video tracks are offset.

Jump cut:

Finally, we have the jump cut-an editing technique that goes counter to all the others we've mentioned so far. Its primary purpose is actually to interrupt the sense of continuity. Jump cuts are meant to irritate the viewer by making them aware of themselves. There are many ways to achieve this effect, but in each case, the cut is experienced as a jump. Jump cuts are considered a modern technique and are used ubiquitously (e.g. even in personal portraits in which an interview is shown in a chopped-up fashion by means of quick cuts).

The 180-Degree Rule

If you've ever seen a movie in which a character is shown walking from left to right through the frame and then, in the next shot, suddenly from right to left, what you're seeing is called "jumping the line." It's irritating and makes it difficult to know where the character is going.
The line that has been jumped is called the "axis." The axis is an imaginary line that cuts the space in a scene in two halves. The side of the line where the camera is located features an equally imaginary half circle that is defined on the one hand by the position of camera itself, and on the other hand by what's happening in the scene. Hence the name "180-degree rule." The 180-degree semi-circle provides the viewer with spatial orientation, much like his or her field of view or a stage.

The 180-degree rule says that shots may only be juxtaposed if they are shot within the semi-circle.
An example: Two characters are talking and looking each other in the eye. In this case, the axis is defined by the directions in which the characters are looking. The camera can show both actors in profile, at a frontal angle, or, in extreme cases, it can take a frontal shot of one actor from over the shoulder of the other at the very limits of the axis. (This is known as the "over the shoulder shot" and is very popular, since it connects that outside perspective of the viewer with that of the character.)
Each of these shots can easily be juxtaposed. However, once the camera crosses the axis, the characters switch places in the frame. The character who was left in the frame will now be on the right, and vice versa. The line has been jumped.
Jumping the line is a problem which first appears during editing. If the axis is crossed in a continuous, uncut shot, then the line hasn't been jumped at all. The axis has simply been moved, and the viewer can reorient him or herself on account of the visual continuity.
The axis is typically set by the direction in which the actor is walking or looking. A new axis is set when the actor turns to look at something different, to walk in a new direction, or when something new is introduced into the frame from the outside. In this case, the 180-rule can be broken because the viewer's orientation-and with it, the axis-has been changed.

Fades

Finally, a question of formality: should cuts be soft or quick and painless?
Fades tell us how two shots are connected. So-called "hard cuts" are the standard in movie-making and are actually marked by the absence of a fade. They're a clean and simple connection between two shots-no frills, no effects. Quick and painless.
Some scene transitions also use dissolves and soft fade-outs and fade-ins. Dissolves are gradual transitions from one image to another.
Dissolves are the standard for slideshows, since the images in them tend to be still shots. Dissolves are meant to announce the arrival of the coming cut and make the transition easier on the viewer.
Normally, filmmakers want to establish a continuum, and this means creating transitions that are as inconspicuous as possible. Fades, by contrast, tell the viewer that a scene change is about to happen. They draw attention away from the continuity and towards the transition.
Fade-outs create an even more powerful transitional effect in which the end of a scene is faded out and followed by a black frame before introducing the next scene (often preceded by a fade-in). The fade-out gives the viewer a chance to catch his or her breath and prepare for what's to come. It's comparable to closing your eyes for a long time, the start of a new chapter in a book, or a closing theater curtain. For this reason, the fade-out usually marks the end of an entire chain of related scenes in a sequence.
There are of course other powerful fades that are used in movies. Sometimes the last frame of a scene flies off in a spinning motion or is slowly transported away from the viewer into a tunnel. However, you should use transitions like these sparingly since they distract the viewer from what's going on in the movie.

The editing table in Hollywood has been replaced by the computer for years now. It's much more efficient and comfortable to move virtual scenes around on a monitor with a video editor and a mouse than to cut and tape everything by hand. Movie Edit Pro is the perfect video editing software solution for bringing video projects to life. Try it out for free here.

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Video Editing: An Overview of Essential Techniques

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Welcome to little Hollywood, our stop on the road to the land of cinema dreams. In the following article, we'll introduce you to both basic and advanced knowledge that is essential to video editing. We'll be paying especially close attention to the question of how one goes about turning raw video footage into impressive movie scenes.

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POV Special Effects Slow Motion Panoramic Traveling Horizontal Traveling High

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DSLR Rig & Gear for Video Production & Filmmaking

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Top 20 Amazing Cinematic Techniques Part 1

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SEE BELOW FOR FEATURED FILMS & TECHNIQUES* PART 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb5Ohh... PART 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdJhQ... http://society6.com/Oscarfeiven http://ofeiven.wix.com/oscarfeivenart Follow me on instagram @oscarfeiven Like * Subscribe * Share for more. Remember view my channel to find list of links to all my online material! I created this montage of clips as part of a project for University.

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Top 10 Most Effective Editing Moments of All Time

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Cover image via

If your goal is to master the art of editing, you're going to need to know the essential cuts to use when editing a film or video. Let's go through eight of these and look at some examples of each. For said examples, we'll be using excerpts from various films - but keep in mind that you can use these same cuts in any editing session, be it narrative, documentary, commercial, industrial, or even animation.

Before we break down each individual cut and talk about how to do them and look at some examples, I thought we'd look at a video I made on this very topic!

1. The Standard

The hard cut is the basic type of cut in editing. This type of cut is utilized when you want to cut from clip to clip without any type of transition or where you cut from the end of one clip to the beginning of another. The only downside of the hard cut is that (out of all the cuts we'll talk about) this one gives the least amount of visual meaning. To provide you with a quick overview of the history of cutting, here is an excellent video from Filmmaker IQ.

So that seems simple enough, right? It's cutting from one shot to another, no added meaning, no fuss, just a cut.

The jump cut is a technique that allows the editor to jump forward in time. We see an early version of this technique in Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin, where the battleship fires a mortar round, and we watch the destruction as various angles jump cut from one to another. In this very early version of the jump cut, contemporary audiences were introduced to a new way of time passage in film. It gained traction and is one of the most used types of cuts today next to the hard cut. We'll look at many classic examples of the jump cut in some of your favorite films in the video below. We'll learn why they are significant and what they can do for your film.

Another great place to use jump cuts is during an interview, especially if you film the interview with multiple cameras. This allows you to jump from one angle to the other without it being jarring for the audience. In order to really grasp this type of editing technique, here is a fantastic resource from Vimeo Video School on the Understanding of Jump Cuts.

Now that we know a popular cut within a scene let's talk about a way to jump from one scene to another.

First, let's talk about the L Cut. This editing technique is used not only by narrative filmmakers but is also a favorite of documentary filmmakers and commercial videographers. What L Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we've moved on to another shot. So, the audience is looking at clip B but still hearing audio from clip A.

Here is a great example of an L Cut from David Fincher's , where Tyler recites the rules as various characters ready themselves to fight. Here, the audience is introduced to the voice, and then we are given visual information on the environment where the voice is located. This technique will keep your film or video flowing naturally while also giving your audience much-needed spacial information.

Again, this type of editing technique is used to help lead audiences along in the narrative by giving them spacial information and audio. L Cuts are also used to contextualize a conversation or give it a deeper meaning, as was done in during the museum scene with Q and 007. As they are talking, we cut to the painting of the old warship on the wall while Q continues to talk, explaining what they are looking at while also correlating 007s career to the warship in the painting.

See what they did there? I feel like we all learned something.

A J Cut is essentially the opposite of the L Cut. Here we hear the audio before we see the video. So, the audience is looking at clip A but still hearing audio from clip B. This type of cut is often used in all forms of filmmaking and videography, but you can often see it in content featuring an interview.

Just like with L Cuts, you can give your audience additional visual information to go along with the dialogue that is being fed to the audience. As was with the video above, this allows your audience to better understand the environment the character exists in. These cuts exist to guide your audience from one scene to another. Notice how I said "scene" and not "shot." These are designed to take two different sets and locations and bring them together. Make sense? Okay, moving on.

4. Cutting on Action

The technique of cutting on action is a huge component of action films. Of course, this type of cut can be used on less-explosive action. The basic idea of cutting for action is that the editor cuts from one shot to another and matches the action of the shots. Editing is all about motivation. Each time you cut to a new shot, you need to ask yourself: why? In the words of Videomaker:

Don't be tempted to wait for a pause and then cut, unless you have a good reason.

Your film will develop a better 'flow' if you cut on action instead of waiting for pauses. Think of the action in your scene as direction for the edit later on in post-production. One of the best examples of motivated cutting is . Watch the following clip closely and specifically look for instances of cutting on action. Almost every cut happens mid-action. This results in a much smoother transition and a more tense action scene. Again, each cut is a way to take you from one shot to another, so the action guides the whole thing.

One of the best parts about writing articles like this is the research I get to do on these topics. The video below is a prime example of the joy I get upon finding a video like this. It's simple and to the point, just like tutorials should be. Anyways, I will stop talking this up and show you.

See what I mean? Like the sweet old days of YouTube. Anyways, learning the "cutting on action" rule is essential for knowing how to edit your film. The technique provides a necessary groundwork for feeling the flow of an edit.

Cutaways take the audience away from the main action or subject. These are used primarily as transition pieces to give the audience a view of what is happening outside of the main character's environment. This also goes a long way in helping you emphasize specific details of the mise-en-scène and allowing you to add meaning to them. You can see this clearly in this breakdown of all the many uses of this technique throughout Hollywood favorite films. I just want to give some love to American Werewolf in London because I think it's a masterclass in filmmaking.

Another way to use cutaways is during dialogue sequences. A great example of this is during a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where Rooney believes he is talking to Ferris, only to be met with the realization that he is on another line.

Now we understand the hows and whys of cutting away; we can talk about doing this and then cutting back to what you just cut from. Does that make sense, or have I already lost you? Let's discuss.

The technique of the cross-cut, also known as parallel editing, is where you cut between two different scenes that are happening at the same time in other spaces. When done effectively, you can tell two simultaneous stories at once, and the information being given to the audience will make complete sense.

In the last ten years, probably no filmmaker has loved using the cross-cut technique more than Christopher Nolan. He's used this technique in several films and always uses it effectively to connect the various storylines in each film. In his 2010 film Nolan utilizes the cross-cut technique to aid the audience in keeping up with the various levels of the dream state. Obviously, that movie gets to be chaotic in structure, so it speaks to the power of this type of editing and how informative it can be for viewers. Nolan utilizes this technique pretty regularly for his films. His films often feel like they are just one long series of cross-cuts. For an example of this cut, let's look at how several of his movies can analyzed and broken apart. I love watching breakdowns of particular trademarks from my favorite director's filmographies.

Utilizing this type of cut, you'll need to be careful in structuring your multiple storylines. If not done correctly, you'll just confuse the audience more. I've always found it extremely helpful to get a separate pair of eyes on the edit when using the cross-cut technique. It may make complete sense to you as the editor, but it may go right over the audience's head. For other examples of this type of cut, all you need to do is look to other work by Nolan. He successfully uses this technique in Memento, The Dark Knight, and Interstellar.

Montage is another technique that has been around for a long time but isn't used as much as the previous cuts. The idea behind the montage is to use rapid cuts of imagery to help convey the passing of time or to help aid the context of the narrative. There are many different forms of montage, but one of our favorites is the rhythmic montage in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. During the three-way standoff, director Sergio Leone uses quick montage cuts to give the audience the facial reactions of all three characters. This works perfectly to heighten the tension of the moment.

As we said, montage is also used quite often to help get the audience through the passage of time. There are great examples of this throughout film history, but one of my personal favorite montages is from the movie Up. If you're familiar with it, the idea is simple - the sequences tells the story of a young couple moving through their entire marriage, all within the span of about 5 minutes. It's emotional and highly effective at conveying a ton of information about the characters and their respective motivations for the remainder of the film.

So how do you do it? Practically speaking, how do you edit one of these sequences on your timeline? Zach Ramelan shows us in one of our favorite PremiumBeat tutorials. Watch it below!

Here at PremiumBeat, we're fans of a good ole' fashioned montage. Especially the montages of the '80s and any action movie. So it only makes sense that we've written extensively about them over the years and published videos on how to make them. Go montages!

8. Match Cuts

The match cut is the technique of matching the movement or space of two opposite environments together. This technique has been used for many years. It's most effective when you need to move the narrative along, but you need to find a way to connect them seamlessly. Two particular films do this exceptionally well, and they are two of the most lauded films in history. The first film that we'll look at is 2001: A Space Odyssey, and how Stanley Kubrick found a way to move from the 'Dawn of Man sequence' to the 'Space Station sequence' in a second without continuity issues. He did this by showing the primitive man throwing the bone up into the air and then replacing it with a spaceship floating through space. This was highly effective and easily allowed the audience to move from one scene to another.

The second example comes from Lawrence of Arabia. After being introduced to Lawrence, director David Lean and editor Ann V. Coates needed a way to move from the space of the government offices to the deserts of Arabia. In this case, they used the blowing out of the match to jump us forward in time to the rising sun of the desert. This cut works because we have extinguished one light and the rise of another. Again, this keeps the flow and pace of the narrative going without disorientation to the audience.

I love that cut so much. Movies are awesome! Okay, that about does it. Hopefully, you have a greater understanding of these cuts and can start to use them in your next film!

Looking for additional industry insights, tips, and advice? We've got you covered:

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8 Essential Cuts Every Editor Should Know

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These essential cutting methods will help any editor transform their footage into a gripping, solid narrative.

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Pulling focus is a neat trick that you should definitely try sometime! It's a great filmmaking technique, and it's not that hard to pull off. http://www.thesubstream.com

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Filmmaking Tutorial: Head room, lead room & Framing

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More filmmaking tips on our blog at: http://www.lightsfilmschool.com/blog/ Or sign up for our online filmmaking course at: http://www.lightsfilmschool.com/ Learn more about framing and composition for filmmaking -- Head-room is the space between the top of your subject's head and the top frame of the composition Lead room is the space where dramatic energy is directed.