Lesson 15 of 22
Transitions and the squish
A transition has to go TO something. Otherwise it's a gimmick with a sound on it.
Using one transition on every cut is an amateur tell. But the bigger error is subtler and extremely common.
The squish
A whoosh or whip bridging a shot to ITSELF — a zoom of the same footage — is a squish. It reads as a gimmick because nothing was revealed. Every transition must land on new content: different b-roll, a different location, or a graphic. If there's nothing to cut to, don't add the transition.
| Transition | Mechanic | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Blur-whip | zoom + heavy blur across the seam (~0.14s) | cutting TO different b-roll or a new location |
| Zoom-punch | quick scale-in-and-settle on the incoming shot | emphasis on a keyword or claim |
| Flash cut | 1–2 white frames | a fast, snappy jump |
| Hard cut | no effect | between talking-head shots |
Read that table as a set of jobs, not a menu of effects. Each one is doing something specific to the viewer's attention. Picking by which looks coolest is how you end up using one everywhere.
Takeaway
If the transition doesn't reveal new content, delete it. That's a squish.
Course outline
Progress
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Chapter 1
Start here
Chapter 2
The script
Chapter 3
The frame
Chapter 4
The clip
Chapter 5
The edit
Chapter 6
Judging it honestly