Appendix 1

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Final Cut Pro Workfl ow
is a fade-out and fade-in. In this case, the two shots are cut together in the center. The splice will not
show as the image is printed down to black covering the splice. Clear can be cut into either A or B
roll, fading the shot on the opposing roll. Notice at the bottom of Figure A8.7 that the clear leader
extends to the left past the end of the fade out by fi ve frames. This is called an effect cut handle.
Final Cut Pro has a setting in the Export Film Lists dialogue for effects handles. While it is possible
to cut the effects without handles as seen in the example in the fade-in, normal practice is to have
three frames of effect handle.
As the printer, not the position of the leader, controls the fade, the exact start and stop are not an
issue unless they are too short. Many labs and Association of Cinema and Video Laboratories standards
call for all fade leaders and dissolve overlaps to start and end fi ve frames early and late. As
always, check with the lab on their needs and suggestions. When cutting a series of fade-ins and
fade-outs together, say a title series, it is easiest and proper to cut all the shots into one roll and clear
through the entire section on the other roll.
Dissolve
When you come to a transition, like a dissolve, the splice will go in the center of the transition on
the work print. A dissolve is a fade-in of one shot over a fade-out of a second. When marking a dissolve,
the lines are the same as for the fades, but are on top of each other, as in Figure A8.8.
Figure A8.8 A- and B-roll dissolve
Final Cut Pro will warn of double uses and insuffi cient content to make a dissolve. It does not know,
however, what that content is. In theory, if there is a visible problem, you will be able to see it in
the Final Cut Pro edit. Just to be sure, however, when cutting the work print for a dissolve, make
sure that the overlap of the dissolve does not contain a slate, odd action, or fl ash frame so there will
be enough clean negative to make the overlap. For example, if you have a 48-frame dissolve, the
splice in the work print is at the center of the dissolve. You need least 24 clean frames after the end
of the outgoing shot and 24 clean frames before the incoming shot to complete the total 48-frame
overlap.
Forty-eight frames is the most common length for dissolves, 24 for fades. Many labs also make fades
and dissolves 16, 32, 64, and 96 frames long. Check with your lab.
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