TRANSITIONS

Transitions are the various methods by which one shot or scene changes to the next. They include cuts, dissolves, fades and wipes:

FADE IN:

THREE GIANT PUMPKINS

baking under a Texas sun.

DISSOLVE TO:

LITTLE BOY

Striking a match.

CUT TO:

SCARECROW

Burning brightly. The boy watches.

WIPE TO:

300-POUND FARMER

has the boy by the ear, dragging him toward the woodshed.

FADE OUT.

With the exception of FADE IN, all transitions are typed 6.0″ from the left edge of the page.

Fades

A fade in is a gradual transition from a solid color, usually black, to a filmed image. A fade out is the reverse, a gradual transition from a filmed image to black. FADE IN: is typed at the left margin for direction in all capital letters, followed by a colon:

FADE IN:

FADE OUT. is typed 6.0″ from the left edge of the page in all capital letters followed by a period:

FADE OUT.

Feature film scripts usually begin with a FADE IN: and end with a FADE OUT., but they don’t necessarily have to.

Television scripts are usually divided by several act breaks representing commercial breaks, and each act typically begins with a FADE IN: and ends with a FADE OUT.

FADE TO BLACK can be used as an alternative to FADE OUT:

FADE TO BLACK.

When a transition consists of a fade from a filmed image to a white screen write, “FADE TO WHITE”:

FADE TO WHITE.

Cuts

The cut, an instantaneous shift from one shot to the next, is the most common transition:

CUT TO:

When no transition is indicated, a cut is assumed. An entire script can actually be written without any transitions being indicated at all and the reader will assume that every transition is a cut.

Why then would a writer ever specify a cut?

Some writers use “CUT TO” to establish a sense of rhythm or pace by placing a CUT TO: after every shot in an action sequence. A CUT TO: also creates white space on a page that might otherwise look too dense. And a CUT TO: added at the end of a sequence can give a heightened sense of finality, a more distinct sense that one thing has ended and a new thing has begun.

Note that CUT TO: is typed in all capital letters and followed by a colon.

Cuts come in various flavors, including the hard cut, which describes a transition that is jarring:

Jenny smells the rose.

HARD CUT TO:

SCREAMING LOCOMOTIVE

bearing down on her.

The quick cut is not one that happens faster than any other, but one that happens sooner than it otherwise might:

And just as Jason turns toward the blinding light —

QUICK CUT TO:

A time cut emphasizes that time is passing from one shot to the next:

Far above the surf, Sweeney dozes on dry sand.

TIME CUT TO:

SAME SCENE — TWO HOURS LATER

A wave washes over Sweeney and wakes him, sputtering. The tide has come in.

A match cut specifies a cut in which the image in the first shot either visually or thematically matches the image in the following shot:

The fat lady opens her mouth to sing.

MATCH CUT TO:

LITTLE SALLY SALTER

Screaming like a banshee.

A cut to black (or white or any other color) can be used in lieu of a fade to black for dramatic effect, and is followed by a period:

Dr. Drake positions the bone saw over Jimmy’s leg.

CUT TO BLACK.

Dissolves

A dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. It often implies a passage of time:

Sister Margaret sits down outside the courtroom to wait.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. COURTHOUSE — LATER

Hours have passed and Sister Margaret is still here, still waiting.

Like cuts, dissolves come in a variety of flavors. There are slow dissolves, fast dissolves and the wavy effect known as a ripple dissolve, often used to suggest a transition into daydream or imagination:

Slim sits in his wheelchair and stares at the horse.

RIPPLE DISSOLVE TO:

HEAVENLY PASTURE

Slim rides at a full gallop, like the cowboy he once was.

If the transition is so long that it extends beyond the right margin and wraps to a second line, back it up so that it all fits on one line:

Josh and Heather stand hand in hand on the beach, staring out to sea.

UNBELIEVABLY SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

SUNSET OVER PACIFIC

Wipes

A wipe is a stylized transition in which the new image slides, or wipes, over the top of the old one:

BATMAN AND ROBIN

leap into the Batmobile. TIRES SPIN, flame spews —

WIPE TO:

EXT. GOTHAM CITY POLICE HQ — DAY

The BATMOBILE SKIDS to a stop and the dynamic duo dismounts.

Breaking a page at a transition

When breaking a page at a transition, always break after the transition, not before. If the transition must be moved to the following page, some part of the preceding scene must go with it. With the exception of FADE IN, a page must never begin with a transition.