When I first started making videos on WeVideo, my instinct was to only use a few transitions for the entire video so I wouldn’t distract from my content. However, this just made my video feel unfinished. Transitions can be a fun way to add variety to your videos, making them more engaging and highlighting the specific meaning of your photo/video. Below are a few tips that I have learned while working to hopefully help you create a better video. Happy video making! 

  • Try to think about what type of transition fits the image/clip. For example, “Filmstrip” wouldn’t make sense with an 18th-century illustration, but I like to use it with a photograph or a black and white video. 
  • If you are trying to show the contrast between two images, maybe play around with a transition that would momentarily hold both images on screen at once, like one of the “Wipe” varieties or “Slide.”Transition that splits two images
  • Try the “Page curl” when transitioning between pages of letters or books. 
  • However, just because a transition makes sense with the first photo doesn’t mean that it makes sense with the second. For example, for one of the videos that I made I used a “Page curl” transition after an image of a letter, but it led to a painting of King George, which I eventually had to change. 
  • I sometimes use the “Burn” transition when I have a more violent or painful image because of the association with fire.  
  • “Fade to white” is sometimes useful when I have a more positive/hopeful image related to emancipation or freedom. 
  • Sometimes when I am using two similar images back to back (like two of the illustrations colorized by the House Divided Project), I use “Cross fade” to make the transition more seamless.
  • When in doubt, use a simple transition like “Dip to Black.” Having a different transition in between every image, especially if the images are short and in rapid succession, could be distracting.
  • Stay away from colorful/complicated transitions like “Rainbow” or “Paper Plane.” They could detract from the seriousness of the message you are conveying in your video. 
  • If you are creating different layers of images/clips in WeVideo, you can still apply transitions to multiple images to add some additional movement. A layered image with two different transitions added
  • I like to place a simple transition after the last image/clip so that the video does not end abruptly. 
  • Another thing to keep in mind is the minimum amount of time that a transition can last is 1 second. Make sure to rewatch your video to make sure that the transitions didn’t cause the images and audio to fall out of line.  Transition setting tab with duration settings