Basic Editing Question

I have two clips with no "handles" and a short, default cross dissolve between. How do I lengthen the cross dissolve? (I've read the manual, looked at tutorials, searched FAQ and read Ken Stone's article on Transitions). Thanks.

-Chip

Without handles, you don't. Period. In order for transitions to work, you have to have some footage past the edit point out of the first shot and some footage before the edit point into the edit point of the second shot.

Think of it like you're trying to glue two pieces of paper together. You can't butt the pages up edge-to-edge and expect them to stick. You have to have some overlap, to give the glue something to stick to.

> Think of it like you're trying to glue two pieces of paper together. You can't butt the pages up
> edge-to-edge and expect them to stick.

Jeff is correct, but the analogy is flawed. Because a transition looks like a piece of tape between two clips, it can mislead you into thinking that it would stick.

However, remember that if a one-second transition is set to "middle" orientation between two clips, the first clip would no longer end at the cut point. Instead, to complete the second half of the transition, the first clip now needs to last beyond the cut point by half the length of the transition -- for a one-second transition, you'd need 15 frames (in 29.97fps) extra on the first clip, and 15 frames extra on the second clip.

If you have no handles, you'd have to change your edit. It's also possible in some cases (depending on your editing decisions) to slow-mo the shots as they're near the transition so that you have more clip to play with. It's a heavy-handed technique (John Woo style), but it can work in some cases.


www.derekmok.com

Leave it to Derek to muck up my beautiful figurative language with accuracy and precision and correctness.

Sorry...it's Year of the Ox, so we pick on the monkey! (By the way, ever read the "Monkey King" legends? They are what Dragonball is based on.)

And it's worth mentioning that while many transitions are "done" with the first clip by their midpoint (for example, Fade In Fade Out and Dip to Color Dissolves, Flashes, and 3D Spins), FCP still won't let you have no handles beyond the midpoint. It just doesn't compute.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks for the replies. I still want to make the cross dissolve transition longer. Now my questions are, how do I make handles on the clips? Do I have to delete the transition that is there? How do know how much of a handle to make so that I will have the length of transition that I want? Thanks, again.

-Chip

In order to "make" handles on your clips, you have to make your edit shorter. If you want a 30 frame transition, you need to extend the out (tail) of the previous clip 15 frames and extend the in (top) of the following clip 15 frames.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

> In order to "make" handles on your clips, you have to make your edit shorter. If you want a 30
> frame transition, you need to extend the out (tail) of the previous clip 15 frames and extend the
> in (top) of the following clip 15 frames.

Around three years ago I started using only video transitions that are "Start on Edit".

When you double-click to open a transition, at the top of the Viewer window there are three buttons: "Start on Edit", "Center on Edit" and "End on Edit". If you use a "Start on Edit" transition that's one second long, then you will need one second of handle in the first clip, and no handle at all in the second clip, because the transition will begin only at the In point of that second clip.

It makes it easier to spot which frame is the first frame of the transition, to roll the transition back and forth, and to calculate necessary handles. Also, to my eye, visually a Start on Edit transition in the timeline represents what's happening to the image better, except for a Fade In Fade Out, which definitely works better as a Center on Edit.


www.derekmok.com

One other option- if you have handles at the front of the first clip or at the end of the second clip, and you're not set on the ins and outs of the clips, you can do a slide on the clips to give you handles on the other end.

----
www.JamesNWeber.com - Socially Aware Media

and introducing-
www.FCPTutorials.com - One source for all Final Cut Tutorials

Or, if it's a short trasition I've used a 10 or 15 frame freeze of the first frame of the clip to give me a little more meat to work with. Can't do this all the time of course, very situational (is that a word?)

you cant "make" handles. all handles are is time in your clip before (and after in the end clip) the transition occurs. if you dont have it. you dont have it. nothing you can do about it. except maybe slow your clip down to add time. but that will introduce other creative roadblocks...

This is what I did to fix a problem of no handles--

First make a Freeze frame of the first frame of the incoming clip

Make it 2 to 3 frames long -
Then I added in a frame or 2 that had movement in them

Then make a freeze frame of the next frame
and add in into the timeline 2 or 3 frames -

Then I added a frame or 2 of movement -

then make a freeze frame of the next frame --

Do this over and over till you get the length you need-

Then ether make it a Nest or use the Range select
to add what ever transition or effect you need--

It take a while to do this but the results look perty good--Jay--