Transitions

I am looking for "typical" transitions used in TV promos.
The ones offered in FCP don't seem to be great.
As an example the audio fx "whoosh" is a "typical" sfx found in 90% of promos
If people working on promos read this, they'll know what I mean.

if i understand what youre looking for - most of those are either commercially purchased or hand created alpha+graphics... look at digitaljuice.com or other such places...

Thanks for the link.
However I am looking for simpler transitions. Not so much gfx and vfx.
I also guess you're right. Most of these transitions are hand created.
I guess I need someone to share their "how to's"

youre going to have to give us more description of what you are wanting before we can really help you...

what youve asked is EXCEEDINGLY subjective
- "how to" WHAT?

Graeme Nattress has a glow dissolve that is no longer included in his packages (I don't think), but he e-mailed it to me (a freebie -- that Graeme, what a guy!), and it is my TV Promo transition of choice.

I also use a lot from the CGM suite, but I recall it being expensive. Wind blur is a favorite of those.

My house whoosh comes from VideoHelper, which also ain't cheap. But there are probably similar wooshes in Garage Band or Soundtrack Pro. The woosh isn't an effect, just an element in the timeline.

If you're trying to re-create good promos, watch good promos -- Oprah, Phil, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, anything on Bravo, A&E... and just steal things one at a time. You can get a long way with what is included with FCP. Mattes, gaussian blur, layers, color washes, text, crop, simple motion -- even cuts and dissolves are valuable.

Best of luck.

Cool tips, Mike.
I actually work in a post house where I am assistant editor. I watch the editors but they work essentially on kids programming. The transitions are very clean and simple.
I like your advice of watching good promos, or the ones I like and try to reproduce one at a time.
It gets so overwhelming when you stare at a 15 s promo and try to retain everything.
One at a time!
Thanks for your time

Record them. Go through them frame by frame. Look at the composition of every alleged jump cut, and look at what it does for your eye.

Remember, you are TVPromoBoy. You're not cutting some sissy feature film.

Hey Wayne,

I meant how to make your own transitions.
As far as being more clear, I am talking about promos, in general.
I know that like in anything else there are trends and you need to "follow" the trend when you want to fit, at least to start out.
I am just curious to know if people like Mike have tips to share.
Thanks

are there such things as sissy promos?
:-)
Thanks again

[The transitions are very clean and simple. ]

We used to call them "cuts."

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:
Set Video In & Out separate from Audio with Control I & O !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

> [The transitions are very clean and simple. ]
> We used to call them "cuts."

Ha ha. Touché, Loren. Why do producers have so little patience with cuts now? It's still the fastest and least distracting way to get from shot to shot.


www.derekmok.com

[Why do producers have so little patience with cuts now?]
Producers want more than 'regular' cuts because the clients want more, because the viewer wants more.

> Producers want more than 'regular' cuts because the clients want more, because the viewer
> wants more.

I disagree on that one. I think many producers underrate the viewer, thinking s/he doesn't have patience for cuts and classical "invisible editing". Because many producers don't realize they're watching films like producers and not audience members. They're looking at techniques because they are in the process of putting the scene together. When they watch a scene for the fourth time, they're looking at the cuts themselves...which nobody watches; it's like looking at the letterbox bars. And eventually, that starts to get boring and they try to put in more and more extraneous editing techniques because they're bored with the scene, not realizing that a first-time viewer probably isn't. The same reason why most films, especially independent and short films, overuse music.

The really good producers, of course, are masters at story, character and watching TV/films with a feel for what the audience needs. I wish I could meet more of them.

The majority of the audience doesn't look at techniques; they look at content -- story, acting, emotion, mood, exposition. Cuts and transitions are what they watch if they're not engaged in the content. 300 was a hit, yes, but Domino wasn't. Flashy techniques could never even come close to saving a film...unless those techniques were driven by narrative. That's the difference between, say, The Matrix and Matrix: Revolutions. The former is "less is more" -- one "bullet-time" 270-degree dolly wows us out of our seats. The latter is "more is less" -- by the 45th mind-numbing, effects-filled minute, we're bored to tears and hoping Trinity would just die already.


www.derekmok.com

I totally agree with the fact that yes, promos are over-thought.
After watching a cut 3-4 times, producers and clients start to not watch the cut itself.
I see cuts being tweaked and re-tweaked to finally come back to where it was to start with. And in the meantime so much money and time have been spent.

[The majority of the audience doesn't look at techniques; they look at content -- story, acting, emotion, mood, exposition]
I don't think we live in the same country.... :-) I don't think that main stream america cares about content... If only. Just go on a Saturday in a movie theatre that shows movie "with content" and you'll see who cares about it. I do and you do.

Finally I was laughing last night watching a promo. There was absolutely NO content.... Just tones of gfx and crazy transitions. It was so 'ESPN football night'.... but unfortunately it was HBO, a channel which tries to care about content.