The Art of Transition in Video
Whenever you try to tell a story through video, you inevitably go through the “editing” phase — cutting and stitching together different shots. What’s great in the world of animation is that you can skip those cuts entirely and chain scenes together seamlessly, without the viewer even noticing.
Let’s start with a beautiful spot from Psyop for T.RowePrice
Psyop once again demonstrates their mastery of organic effects, such as ink. I find the transitions — especially the squid → pen → fork → cables → ocean sequence — incredibly well thought out and executed! Each scene flows naturally into the next without you realizing it… Brilliant work.
In a completely different style, but still on the theme of transitions, here’s Kanye West’s latest clip: Welcome to Heartbreak
For a few seconds, you might wonder if the video file is corrupted or if these “video glitch” effects are intentional. Of course, they are — and they create some surprising transitions, with freeze-frames from certain shots appearing amid the pixelated chaos of others. Whether or not you like the style, there are some great creative ideas here that I hadn’t seen before. (That said, there are also things I’ve seen a bit too much — like the color-channel offset and old TV effects from Riot Gear by Mr. Kramer…)
Next up, a full 3D Smirnoff spot directed by Edouard Sallier from Paranoid, with post-production by the French team at Def2Shoot. This one’s already made the rounds online, but some of the transitions are too amazing not to mention:
The transition between the train and the Eiffel Tower is just epic… You move from one environment to another without losing the rhythm, as the scenery and objects morph — like between the building and the forest. Pure visual delight!
Continuing on, here’s the prologue video from the film Rocknrolla:
Here we have a single “fake” graphic one-shot sequence, where we move from scene to scene through camera movements, likely done in After Effects. The result is dynamic and fun to watch. It could make for a great tutorial — placing layers in 3D space, animating the camera, and crafting transitions. But on a spot like this, there’s still a ton of work involved — don’t think it can be done in 2 hours, and make sure to plan a solid storyboard ;)
Finally, here’s a Nike spot Pej worked on before joining Sonacom — Be Your Own Fan, featuring Maria Sharapova. Directed by Sophie Gateau, once again with Def2Shoot on post-production:
Most of the spot was produced in After Effects, combining illustration and camera movement to create a continuous one-shot sequence with plenty of transitions once again. Illustrator friends — that’s your next challenge :)
If after all this you’re not itching to create some crazy transitions in your next projects, I don’t know what will motivate you ;)
About the author
I am the Founder of Mattrunks.
I work as Creative Director and Motion Designer in my studio. I also create video tutorials to share my passion of motion.