16mm Film Cutting

Optical Effects: Dissolves

 

There are several ways of moving from one shot to another besides cuts. In a dissolve (or mix as it is often called) one shot gradually merges with another until it replaces it. Another way of moving from shot to shot is to fade out one and fade in another. These effects, and others like them are known as optical effects. Only a cut can actually be made by you. All the other transitions have to be produced by a laboratory acting on detailed instructions supplied by you. How are optical effects prepared?

In a dissolve one scene merges with another and gradually replaces it. In essence it is a fade out and a fade in superimposed. The outgoing shot starts to fade out and, at exactly the same point, the incoming shot ...