Flash and Glitch transitions for fast, bright cuts

Flash and Glitch are the two loudest groups in the Transitions tab. Flash dips the picture through bright light. Glitch bends the color of the picture as it crosses the cut. Each style still overlaps the two clips by the Duration you set.

Flash

The Flash group has four tiles.

• Streak smears each picture sideways as it leaves and arrives, and a white flash covers the switch between them. The outgoing picture smears fast on its way into the flash, and the incoming picture clears as it settles.
• Warm light, Cool light and Rose light dip through a soft tinted light with a little softness in the focus. Warm light is a pale gold, Cool light a pale blue and Rose light a pink.

Streak suits beat-driven edits, sport and travel. The three lights suit a gentler glow: golden-hour footage, weddings, beauty and lifestyle shots.

Glitch

The Glitch group has two tiles.

• RGB split cross fades the clips while red and blue copies of the picture pull apart toward the middle of the move and come back together.
• Negative cross fades the clips and holds the picture inverted through the middle of the move, so light areas turn dark and the colors flip.

Both suit tech, gaming, music and any video with a digital edge. On a wedding film or a cooking video they pull the viewer out of the mood.

Match the light to the footage

Look at the color of the two shots before you pick a tint.

• Golden sunset, skin tones and warm interiors take Warm light well.
• Water, snow, night and screens take Cool light well.
• Soft, pastel and portrait footage takes Rose light well.

Time the peak with a sound

Every style in these two groups peaks around the middle of the overlap. For Streak and the lights, the peak is the brightest moment of the flash. For RGB split it is the widest gap between the color copies, and for Negative it is the stretch where the picture is inverted. The round button on the timeline sits at the middle of the overlap, so that is where the peak lands. A short whoosh or hit from the Sound FX tab, placed at that point, sharpens the cut.

Use a bright style once or twice

A flash or a glitch is an event. It works at the strongest moments, such as the drop in a song, the reveal of a product or the jump to a new location, and each repeat makes the next one weaker. Pick one style from these groups and give it only the biggest cuts. Leave the rest as plain cuts or a Cross fade.

Flash your biggest beat

Open DepCut, find the biggest beat in your edit and give its cut Streak. Play the cut with the sound on, and then try Cool light or RGB split on the same cut to compare.