Open and close a video with fades, entrances and exits

The first and last seconds of a video do a lot of work. The opening sets the tone, and the ending tells the viewer it is over. DepCut gives you two tools for these moments. One fades the whole video. The other gives a single clip its own entrance or exit.

Fade the whole video

The simplest option is a project-wide fade.

1. Open the Details tab on the left.
2. Find the Video section at the top.
3. Drag Fade in to fade up from black at the start.
4. Drag Fade out to fade down to black at the end.

Each slider runs from 0 to 2 seconds in steps of a tenth, and reads Off when it sits at the left edge. The fade covers the picture, titles, captions and the sound mix together, so everything arrives and leaves as one. The fade belongs to the whole video, so it stays at the start and the end when you rearrange clips.

Give one clip an entrance or an exit

A transition normally sits on a cut between two clips. It can also sit on an open edge: the start of a clip with nothing before it, or the end of a clip with nothing after it. There is no second picture to blend with, so the style plays as that clip arriving or leaving. At the start or end of the timeline, the clip arrives from black or leaves to black.

To place one:

1. Open the Transitions tab.
2. Drag a tile to the very start of the first clip, or the very end of the last clip.
3. Watch for the dashed slot that shows where it will land, then drop.

The new transition is selected, so the Transitions tab shows its Duration slider at the top. A new one runs for half a second. To change the style later, drop another tile on the same spot and it replaces the first.

How each style behaves on an edge

With no second picture, each style becomes the closest entrance or exit:

• The Fade styles, the Flash styles, RGB split and Negative play as a fade.
• Cross zoom, Zoom blur and Delay zoom play as a zoom.
• Circle open, Circle close, Split open and Split close play as a pop.
• Push, Whip, Wipe and Mirror right play as a slide in the direction of their name.

Gaps work the same way

Clips on either side of a gap each have an open edge. The clip before the gap can leave with its own exit, and the clip after it can arrive with its own entrance.

Which one to use

Use the project fade when you want the video itself to begin and end softly. A slow Fade in and a short Fade out make a simple, tidy pairing for most videos. Use an entrance or exit when one clip needs its own moment, such as a closing shot that slides away or a first shot that slides into place.

Try it

Open a project in DepCut, set a Fade in and Fade out in Details, and add an entrance to your first clip.