Dissolve
One shot fades into another. Says: time passed. Or: these things are connected.
- COINED
- 1900s
- TAXONOMY
- EDITING
- RELATED
- 4
- TEMPLATES
- 0
A dissolve fades one shot into another. The two images overlap for a beat. It says: time passed. Or: these things are connected, blended, dreamed.
Dissolves carry old-Hollywood DNA. Every "passage of time" montage in a black-and-white film stitches together with dissolves. Modern editing reaches for them less - they read as slow, sometimes nostalgic. But they still have specific work. Documentary uses them constantly to bridge interview cuts. Music videos use them to suggest dream-states. Wedding videos lean on them because the audience expects beauty over rhythm.
The rule of thumb: use a dissolve when the cut would feel too abrupt and a fade would feel too final. Length matters - 12-24 frames is a soft cut, 60+ frames is a deliberate atmospheric move.
Passage of time. Documentary interview transitions. Dream sequences. Memory.
In rhythm-heavy edits - they slow everything. In comedy or action. In modern fast-cut social content.
Terms next to this one.
Black to image. The first thing the audience sees should earn the silence before it.
Image to black. Use it as punctuation. Don't overuse it as periods - every paragraph has one, but not every sentence.
Software-assisted morph between two similar frames. Hides jump cuts in talking-head edits.
Cut hidden inside motion, a whip pan, or a black object passing camera. Long-take fakery.