Digital Video Editing: The Grammar of Editing (page 2)

Special FX

Digital Video Effects (DVEs) are transitions with attitude. These wipes, flips, page-turns, etc. come in literally hundreds of styles, and every one of them yells "look at me!"

That's an important difference. Cuts and fades are designed to be invisible; you pay no more specific attention to them than you do to the period at the end of this sentence. Effects, by contrast, are intended to be noticed.

To resume our theater comparison, DVEs are like a vista: set changes in which the transformation from one scene to another is done in full light with the curtain up. Turntables spin, wagons rumble in and out, flats fly up and down until, ta-DAAAA! the peasant hut has transmogrified into a palace. In this style, the transition itself is part of the entertainment.

Normally, DVEs are more at home in short, snappy programs like commercials and music videos; but they can also be useful in more sober applications.

In Figure 4, for instance, you need to cut some material from an on-camera interview. The transition is tricky because the outgoing and incoming images are so similar. A direct cut would make a clunky jump in the picture. A dissolve would produce a slightly queasy impression, like a Star Trek character going in and out of phase with space/time. But a simple horizontal wipe signals an honest gap in the footage without calling attention to itself.

In writing, periods go at the end of sentences, commas break sentences, and apostrophes knit contractions together. In the same way, visual grammar dictates appropriate use of cuts, fades, and effects. Poor visual grammar renders your video unreadable. Good grammar creates a visual masterpiece.