How to Fade to Black in Premiere Pro in 2022

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How to Fade to Black in Premiere Pro in 2022

Last Updated: 2022. 06. 15

Fade to black is one of the most classic transition effects widely used in films and videos. It adds a cinematic touch to your footage and smooths out the transition from one scene to another.

In this tutorial, we walk you through what a fade to black is and how to use it in different scenarios and offer you a step-by-step guide on how to fade to black in Premiere Pro, plus an online alternative to doing fade to black in your video.

Here is what you will learn:

What Is Fade to Black

How to Fade to Black in Premiere Pro

Premiere Alternative: How to Easily Add Fade to Black to Videos Online

How to Use Fade to Black for Storytelling

Here is a quick takeaway to do fade to black in Premiere Pro:

Just drag the Dip to Black effect to the beginning/end of a clip or in-between areas of two clips. The fade to black effect can be automatically applied to your desired clip in Premiere Pro.

You may also manually drag the Dip to Black effect slider outward/inward to achieve the slow/quick fade to black transition. Please read on to find out the details.

What Is Fade to Black

Fade to black is a video transition that makes a clip/scene gradually end with a black background. It originates from the theater performance in the old days when the staff drew the stage curtains and turned off the light. So, the stage became pitch dark while the crew behind hurried to change clothes and stage props for the next scene.

Origin of fade to black transition on stage in the theater.

Nowadays, there are 3 types of fade to black commonly used in video editing for changing the scene and advancing the story.

Fade in from black. The video/film begins with a black background to a new scene, which is often used for the opener of a video/film.

Fade in from black

Fade out to black. The video/film ends with a black background. A case in point is the credit rolls you’ve seen at the end of films.

Fade out to black for the credit rolls in films

Fade in and fade out. One scene begins from the black while the next scene dissolves to black. This kind of fade to black vividly imitates the blink of our eyes and is usually used to connect two different scenes.

Fade in from black and fade out to black

So, as you can tell that different fade to black transitions play different roles in storytelling. We will offer more detailed examples in the latter of the article.

How to Fade to Black in Premiere Pro

Whether you create your YouTube Vlog or make a movie intro, you can easily add fade to black in Premiere Pro to make the cinematic and seamless transition.

How to add fade to black transition in Premiere Pro.

Step 1

Import two clips on the timeline in Premiere Pro.

Step 2

Add the fade to black transition: Go to the Effects tab > type “dip to black” into the search bar > drag and drop the Dip to Black effect between two clips on the timeline. The dip to black effect will be shown on the right side of the clip.

Step 3

Customize the fade to black effect: With the dip to black effect selected, go to Effect Controls > change the alignment to Center at Cut. Now video A shall fade out to black before video B appears.

Step 4

Adjust the duration of fade to black effect (optional): just stretch the end of the fade to black effect on the timeline. Drag the effect outward, and the slower and smoother fade to black effect will be and vice versa.

Bonus: Add Fade to Black at the Beginning or End of a Video in Premiere Pro

All you need to do is drag the Dip to Black effect from the Effects tab to the very beginning or end of your desired clip. Then you can drag the effect to adjust its duration as you wish.

Premiere Alternative: How to Easily Add Fade to Black to Videos Online

If Premiere Pro is currently unavailable to you, a great alternative to easily doing fade to black transition to your footage is FlexClip. It’s an easy-to-use and versatile in-browser video editor. You can upload your clips to FlexClip, do the rough cuts like trimming and splitting and add fade to black transitions to your clips in a breeze.

Easily add fade to black transition to a video by FlexClip online

Create Now

Besides, you can find dozens of stylish overlay transitions and tons of fully-customizable video templates for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc, and royalty-free music, sound effects, and video tools to create scroll-stopping video content.

Preview

Film Credits

Use This Template

Preview

Coming Soon Teaser

Use This Template

Step 1

Upload your clips from PC or phone to FlexClip.

Upload clips, images, and audio files to FlexClip.

Step 2

Click the plus button to add clips to the timeline. You can drag the slider inward to trim the clips, split clips, or drag and drop to reorder the sequence on the timeline.

Add clips to the timeline and trim and split clips for the rough cuts.

Step 3

Add fade to black transition: Click the transition tool between two clips > select Fade > Fade to Black > drag the slider to set the duration of fade to black transitions. Done.

Add a fade to black transition and set its duration.

Step 4

Add texts and free music for fade to black transition (optional): Click the Text tab > select a ready-made text template > customize text, font, color, position, motion > drag the text over the fade to black transition. You may also add royalty-free music or sound effects for whole clips or a transition.

Add texts and free BGM and sound effects to the video.

Bonus: How to add fade to black at the beginning or end of the video

Just click Add More Scene twice > drag one black background to the start of the video. Then, add a fade-to-black transition between two clips. Done. You can adjust its duration as well.

Here is the resulting video with fade to black transitions, texts, and audio from the above example:

Fade to black transitions made by FlexClip

Create Now

How to Use Fade to Black for Storytelling

Now, you know how to do fade to black in your videos. Here, we will briefly walk you through what you can do to use a fade to black for better storytelling in videos.

Apart from using fade to black for the opener and credit rolls, you can apply fade to black in the 3 following ways in your video project:

1. Combine Fade to Black with Title and Sound Effects in Movie Trailer.

Since fade-to-black transitions create a break to connect two scenes, you can add transition sound effects like Hit, Swoosh, Braam, and title to draw viewers’ attention to a movie trailer.

2. Create Suspense for the Story.

In horror or suspense films, fade to black is frequently used to highlight the intense and unease feelings of the protagonists, such as in murder scenes, etc.

3. Portray the Failing Consciousness of the Main Characters.

If the protagonist is either drunk or is losing his consciousness due to injury or trauma, you may also use fade-to-black transitions as a film montage to represent his mental state or passing of time.

Now, It's Your Move

Fade to black is one of the timeless transitions for storytelling in videos and films. Hopefully, you can create better fade-to-black transitions that wow viewers using Premiere Pro and its online alternative—FlexClip. If you find this tutorial helpful, don’t forget to share it with friends on Facebook, and Twitter and leave your comments and tag us.

Frank /

Passionate about photography, video-making and travel, Frank is a seasoned copywriter and a beloved father of 2-year-old daughter at FlexClip. He is always keen to share his latest discovery about video marketing and tricks to relive your memories through videos and images.