Like meets like

All your transitions should match the extent of change in place and time. For example, when you move from the dining room to the living room, the change is pretty minor. Here you might use a dissolve, or a simple motivated transition, discussed later in this chapter. But you shouldn't fade to black and then fade back in to the dining room scene because a fade to black suggests a very significant change in place and time. However, if the entire birthday party sequence, from start to finish, was part of a longer video, you might fade to black at the end of the party and then fade in from black at the next major scene: Thanksgiving or that trip to Disneyland.