How to Change a Video Transition’s Duration in Adobe Premiere Pro

A “transition” in video editing is a visual devise placed between edits that can help a sequence move between cuts, shots and scenes. You will probably mostly use simple cuts to edit from shot to shot, but in other cases you may need to transition using fades, crossfades or more stylized effects. The Adobe Premiere Pro program has many transitions that you can apply to your sequence, including dissolves, wipes, slides and zooms. However, once you add transitions to your sequence it is still possible to adjust and fine-tune them.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. You can change the duration of a transition from within the Timeline panel. Position your mouse over the end of the transition. When the “Trim-In” or “Trim-Out” icon appears, drag the transition to shorten or lengthen.

2. To change the duration of a transition using the Effect Controls panel, double-click on it to open the Effect Controls panel.

3. Using the Effect Controls time ruler, position your mouse over the transition until the “Trim-In” or “Trim-Out” icon appears, drag the transition to shorten or lengthen.

4. You can also change duration by position your mouse over Duration numerical value, and dragging it to the desired time, or click on it and type a new value. How the transition will change depends on which alignment option selected. “Center at Cut” or “Custom Start” will cause the transition’s start and end points to move equally, and in opposite directions. “Start at Cut” will cause only the end of the transition to move. “End at Cut” will cause only the beginning of the transition to move.

5. You can also change the duration of a default transition. They are initially set to 1 second for video and 1 second for audio. If you do change the default duration settings, the new setting will not affect transitions that have previously been placed.

6. To set the duration for a default transition, go to the Edit menu, then Preferences, and then General. Change the value for the Video Transition Default Duration or Audio Transition Default Duration by clicking in the box and typing in the desired number. Click OK when finished.