Solved Nice Transitions In Video Interview after taking out the ums and ers and other items

I've went and cut out the ums, ers, and uhs. But of course now the video "skips". I need help using a nice, simple low key transition, anyone have a good suggestion? I tried fading to white and black between the clips, but is too distracting, especially if I have them close together. I'm trying to use a dissolve transition, but not having any luck there either.

Clint

Hi Clint,

Jump cuts are really annoying. Sometimes 1 or 2 aren't bad, but usually I try to avoid them altogether if possible. Have you tried the "Subtractive Dissolve". It somewhat dissolves to black and back. If you make the dissolve short it may work for you. But any dissolve repeated many times at jump cuts are also going to also be annoying.

When possible I shoot interviews with two cameras. That gives me two different angles of the talent and I can switch from one to the other, which is more pleasing to view and also offers the audience a pleasant change in the flow. Of course this probably doesn't help you now.

Another method, for a similar effect is to use B-Roll footage. Unless it's a full out run-n-gun, no breaks scene, I take the time to shoot backup video about the subject, the location, the products, the facilities, etc. Then I use a section of B-Roll to replace the 2nd camera switch at an audio cut. Main camera on the talent talking about casting for fish.....cut out an "err", and switch video to someone casting for several seconds, as the interview audio continues, then switch the video back to the talent.

On a couple of occasions, I found myself without B-Roll, and no opportunity to retake the interview. But I was able to get some still shots about the subject being discussed, and I used them as B-Roll. On one occasion the talent was discussing various carabiners. I laid out a dozen different carabiners on a rock in my backyard (I have a bunch), shot a still, and used it as B-Roll.....enabling me to cut the "and's" out of the audio, insert several seconds of the still, then back to the interviewee, avoiding the jump cut.

Another thing I've done is just fade to black for 1.5 seconds or so, but the timing has to be right for this effect to work, and that depends on where the audio juke occurs that you are cutting out. When I did this the speaker had worked up to make a powerful point and suddenly seem to forget what he was going to say. I cut out the "and, err" and dumb look, replaced it with a short fade out to black, then fade in, and also filled in the blank timeline space with an audio cut from a different section which matched the room ambience background noise. It seemed to work, but it's a limited technique.

I hope some of this may help.......

The method I use in all my tutorials is to apply a simple 1 second transition (cross fade).
So after I have cut the umms, rrrss, I then overlap the two clips by 1 second.
Movie Studio/Vegas Pro will snap automatically to a 1 second transition if you have Snapping turned on (it should be turned on by default).
If there is a significant change in movement, I will increase the overlap to 2 or 3 seconds for a softer transition.

Derek

This is why you often see the interviewer's nodding head taken over the shoulder of the interviewee in a news broadcast. This shot(s) is usually taken after the interview has ended on a "just in case it might be needed" basis.

Richard