Additionally, overlays can be used to smooth an otherwise hard cut. What Digital Juice calls "Swipes" in their product line are an extremely useful technique, which can perform two functions (sometimes simultaneously). First, they give a transition some serious extra punch; Swipes are definitely for when you want to call attention to a transition. Second, when editing two segments on an NLE's timeline, when inserting a dissolve or similar edit would be difficult, Swipes, at least those that use a single alpha channel for their overlays are often a simple alternative. Digital Juice also makes double-alpha channel Swipes, which are slightly trickier to edit into the timeline. See this demo reel for instructions on how they work in Premiere Pro.
The New Blue Review
NewBlueFX's plug-ins, compatible with most NLE programs, will also generate a variety of interesting transitions. "3D Explosions" transitions from scenes with effects somewhat similar to those in Adobe After Effects, typically crystallizing the first shot into a grid pattern then, as the name implies, "exploding" that grid into the next scene.
NewBlueFX's Art Blends transitions between shots with a wash of color or white, for a variety of subtler, more nuanced transitions; wedding video producers will likely give these transitions a workout.
As their name implies, NewBlueFX's Motion Blends add plenty of kinetic motion to shot transitions. You can see these effects in the one minute prologue to the newest edition of my "Silicon Graffiti" video blog. The opening shot of a film projector transitions to the film it's projecting via the zoom blend, and the transition out of the prologue and into the main titles is via the "shredder" blend, which nicely simulates a TV picture breaking up and distorting. This would work extremely well DigiEffects' Damage plug-in, for those wishing to create monitor inserts for a sci-fi-themed video. Also built into NewBlueFX's Motion Blends is a ripple transition, for those who wish to get into and out of a dream sequence in classic Hollywood style.
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