Beginning videographers often have the most difficulty with editing, which can be technically
challenging.
One aspect of editing that beginners may overlook is using transitions between video clips,
but good transitions can make a big difference in how professional your video looks.
In this tutorial, I’m going to show how to apply transitions between video clips using
the screencapture application ScreenFlow
and go through a few specific examples such as transitioning between mismatching segments
of a speech.
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Screenflow is a video editing and screen recording application for the Mac, and I’m using version
9.0.5.
O.K. I’ve got my Screenflow workspace open.
Let’s first take a quick look at how to add a transition between video clips using
a video I made about scientific writing tips.
In this clip, I’m speaking to the camera but at this point, I have to stop and reset
the teleprompter because I made an error.
I want to cut that part out plus the segment with the mistake
First, select the clip, which is indicated by a yellow outline.
Then position the playhead where the first cut will be and tap the T key.
You can also go to Edit and select Split.
Now the clip is split.
I find the end of that segment which is where I begin speaking again.
But I want to leave a little bit of buffer for the transition overlay.
Now all I have to do is select that cut segment and tap the delete key.
When I close up the gap and play the video, you can see where the two clips don’t exactly
match up.
We can hide this abrupt jump with a transition.
Hover the cursor over the clip and you’ll see a gear.
Click it and scroll down to add beginning transition.
Now you see the transition at the start of that segment.
Double-click on the transition and all the types of transitions appear.
If you hover the cursor over each one, you’ll get a preview.
The default, a cross dissolve, is selected, but we can switch to one of the others.
You can change the duration of the transition by dragging this line.
Now when we play the clips, the jump between clips is less jarring.
We can do one more thing that makes this transition look planned rather than a coverup of an error.
And that is to rescale the second clip like so.
Select it and drag a corner to resize.
And then reposition so that my eyes are in the same position in the frame.
Now when we play the clips, the transition and slight zoom in seem planned.
One problem you might encounter when there’s not enough of a buffer at the beginning or
end of a clip to accommodate the transition is loss of the audio.
…here will help you see what needs to be accomplished in writing your manus…
As you heard, my last words in the first clip were essentially cut off by the transition.
But there is an easy fix.
Remove the transition by clicking the gear and select remove.
Then select detach audio.
Now you can see the audio waveform below the video file.
Now add the transition to the video file.
When we play it, the transition occurs but the audio volume is not affected.
…will help you see what needs to be accomplished in writing your manuscript…
If you have enough buffer on both segments, you can create a transition by simply sliding
one clip over the other one.
Double click the transition to select something other than the default.
This works well when the speaker hasn’t changed position in the frame.
OK.
I’ve got one more tip for using a transition.
And that is when recording a Powerpoint presentation on your computer screen along with your image
in a smaller window.
Instead of showing your image throughout the talk, which can be distracting, fade it out
after a few seconds, long enough for your viewers to see what you look like.
To do this, you would configure Screenflow to record your desktop along with the video
from your camera, which will record your image.
And, of course, you would also record the audio from your microphone.
Begin recording your powerpoint presentation as you normally would, moving from slide to
slide and explaining each one.
When you stop recording the two video files will appear in the timeline.
The first thing to do is to resize and reposition the frame showing your image.
Make sure the clip is selected and then drag the corner to rescale.
I’ll put it in the left hand corner, but you can position it however works best with
your introductory slide.
Next, detach the audio by opening the menu and selecting that option.
Now you see the audio waveform below the video file.
We can now modify the video clip without altering the audio.
I’ll shorten the video clip to a point I want my image to fade out.
Then, I’ll add an ending dissolve transition as we did before.
Let me replay with the sound turned on.
Hi.
I’m Karen McKee, retired scientist and author.
Today I’m going to be talking about writing mistakes that may get your manuscript rejected.
As an author, I know how disappointing it is to have a paper rejected, especially when
you’ve work so hard to conduct the study and to write the manuscript.
So that’s a way to create a Powerpoint presentation to show your image, but only in the introduction.
You can also turn your image back on for the conclusions or perhaps for questions.
Well, those are just a few ways to use transitions in Screenflow to enhance your videos.
Thanks for watching.
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