One of the first questions I asked myself when editing Shorts was simple.
Should I just use a wipe transition, or should I animate the clips myself?
After trying both, I realized why so many creators prefer keyframes.
A wipe transition moves a line across the screen, but it doesn't feel like the entire scene is moving. It often looks like a slideshow effect rather than a modern social media edit.
Instead, I started splitting my clips.
The last 6 to 8 frames of the first clip became its own section, and the first 6 to 8 frames of the next clip became another.
Then I animated them at the same time.
The outgoing clip moved to the left while the incoming clip entered from the right.
Because both clips were moving together, the transition felt much smoother.
I also learned that a slide by itself isn't enough.
Adding a slight zoom makes a surprising difference.
For the outgoing clip, I keyframe the scale from 100 percent to around 104 percent while it leaves.
For the incoming clip, I start at around 104 percent and animate it back to 100 percent as it reaches the center.
The zoom is so subtle that viewers rarely notice it, but they do notice that the transition feels more energetic.
Small movements layered together almost always look better than one dramatic movement.
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