Removing Transitions

Think of transitions as clips that are placed on top of the video track, rather than wedged between the other clips. This enables you to delete them without worrying that you're destroying any underlying footage.

To delete a transition:

1. Select the transition in the Clip Viewer or Timeline Viewer.

2. Press the Delete key, or choose Cut or Clear from the Edit menu. The sections of clips that were used by the transition are restored (Figure 11.12).

   Figure 11.12. A transition acts like a regular clip most of the time, but when you delete it, the pieces of footage it used are returned to the nearby clips.

   

Most Valuable Transitions

In most situations, you'll find yourself using only a handful of transitions: Fade In, Fade Out, Cross Dissolve, and Overlap. I'm also partial to Wash In and Wash Out, in the right context. The others, to me, are usually too flashy for regular use.

One of the best uses of the subtle Fade In and Fade Out transitions is to pair them back to back to intercut a series of short scenes or still images: the picture goes from black to full strength (Fade In), runs for a second or two (or even shorter), then dissolves to black again (Fade Out), only to start again with a different scene (Figure 11.13). I've created an example and posted it at www.necoffee.com/imovievqs/.

Figure 11.13. Using several Fade In and Fade Out transitions, these two images appear, then disappear quickly and smoothly (the QuickTime version is a better representation, believe me).