When editing video, every time you have an edit or a cut, there is a transition. The simplest transition is when you move from one scene to the next without any effect applied. This is the transition that experienced videographers use most often.
However, sometimes moving from one clip to the next without any special effect added can come across as awkward to viewers. In these cases, it may help to use an effect to create a more stylized transition.
Cross Dissolve is the default video transition used in Premiere Pro. It is a standard type of transition that can be used to smooth out a cut or to mix two clips to create a softer transition.
Premiere Pro also comes with 3 audio transitions: Constant Gain, Constant Power, and Exponential Fade. These are all considered to be Crossfades. Constant Power is the default audio transition. This transition decreases the audio for the first clip slowly at first and then quickly toward the end of the transition. On the second clip, it increases the audio quickly at first and then more slowly toward the end. Overall, it creates a smooth, gradual audio transition.
Let's add the default audio and video transitions to our sequence now. We'll want to make sure the Timeline panel is the active panel before continuing.
Step 1. To make the Timeline panel the active panel,
Click on a blank area of the Timeline
Step 2. To select everything on the Timeline, on the keyboard, press:
Control key+A
Step 3. To quickly add default video and audio transitions to this sequence, on the Menu bar,
Click Sequence, Click Apply Default Transitions to Selection
NOTE: If you didn't trim the ends of the clips in a previous exercise, or didn't trim enough off the end of a clip, you'll see a warning dialog box informing you that there are not enough extra frames to add transitions to some of the clips. We won't worry about this for this project, but you can see why having extra unused footage at the beginning and end of a clip is important.
Step 4. Zoom in on the timeline until you can see the transitions between clips better.
Step 5. Preview several of the transitions in the Program monitor.
Step 6. Save the project.