Fade to black ? show me an example!

[Mr Taylor]

Ok, so I have been trying to alter my natural film instincts so that I can reproduce the traditional editing cut style.

Why not I thought, it's a good starting point.

But I'm curious about the "fade to black" between shots.

Why do I need it?

Can't I just do a composite fade from one scene to another, that seems to produce the sensation of time passing.

I'm looking for an example of fade to black. I want to see it in context so I can have a think abou it.

Anyone else got any thoughts about fade to black...or even a composite merge...or using the sun or a clock as a merge out device?

 

[Mr Taylor]

Hi, back again.
Man, it sure is quiet on this forum, not at all what I'm used to.
I just did some reserach on fade to black.
I watched every transition in Star Wars (1976).
Lucas is crazy.
Mostly he uses a soft edge cross wipe ..but sometimes he uses a circle wipe ..and once he even used a diamond wipe.
( just like my uncles holiday videos)

But HEY PRESTO! he did use fade to black several times.

One time made no sense at all?
It was curious.
It was at the start, where Luke goes into the house for dinner.
When he comes out it's sunset.
There was a blackout between those two sections of film???
Should it not have been a wipe?

 

[Josephwashere]

Personally I think fades look really bad. Example: Dead man uses fades way too much and the scenes don't flow well. My advice would be to just not use them.

 

[Mr Taylor]

Interesting!
I will have to have a look at that.
Thanks for the pointer.
Soooooo, how do you show time passing?
As far as I can tell, "black" is the convention for "night falls, or sleep"
"Cut" is the convention for " the very next second"
and "Fade" is the convention for" some time passing, longer than a second but not as long as a new day"

BTW, Lucas used a soft edge wipe to go between scenes. Usually the wipe followed the motion of the character.Similar but not as cool as the tree wipes in Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[Kim Welch]

Time Passing

Time Passing

Shadows can show time passing as the sun moves across the sky shadows are created and move accordingly. Showing clocks and show time passing. fading to different positions can show time passing.

 

[Mr Taylor]

Yes, yes...I see.
So many ways to do it.
But here is a question for you.
What is the most interesting time passing device that you have ever seen?
Now I was going to say the water surface in Highlander..but that is not that unusual...just clever.
Unusual ways to show time passing...over to you..