Please except my apologies if this thread has been done before but I couldn't find it.
At the end of a scene you must indicate one pof the following - Fade Out / Cut To / Dissolve To.
My question is which do you use and when do you use them? 
Fade out / Cut to / Dissolve to
I echo you, Griff.
In TV it's not a requirement. And I think those scene transitions only tend to appear in shooting scripts and tend to be the director's choice, not the writer's.
Quote: Darren Pomroy @ January 20 2010, 5:40 PM GMTPlease except my apologies if this thread has been done before but I couldn't find it.
Are you telling porkies, D? 
I searched on Dissolve.
https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/3285#P55280 https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/2965#P47647
Quote: Darren Pomroy @ January 20 2010, 5:40 PM GMTPlease except my apologies if this thread has been done before but I couldn't find it.
At the end of a scene you must indicate one pof the following - Fade Out / Cut To / Dissolve To.
My question is which do you use and when do you use them?
It's just a tradition mostly.
For submission scripts for FILMs or drama I suggest a FADE IN at the very start and a FADE OUT at the very end and you can put CUT TO at the end of each scene.
Don't bother with DISSOLVE TO that's a Director/Post-Production editor decision not the Writer's.
Quote: billwill @ January 20 2010, 7:20 PM GMTIt's just a tradition mostly.
For submission scripts for FILMs or drama I suggest a FADE IN at the very start and a FADE OUT at the very end and you can put CUT TO at the end of each scene.
Yep, if it's absent, they assume CUT TO:
Just out of interest what is the differance between FADE OUT and DISSOLVE TO
I think a dissolve is where the two scenes fade out and in at the same time so you get a mixing of the two images. Fade Out is the usual fade to black. IIRC.
I added IIRC because I'm sure I'll be corrected - me and my dodgy memory.
Quote: SlagA @ January 20 2010, 7:41 PM GMTI think a dissolve is where the two scenes fade out and in at the same time so you get a mixing of the two images. Fade Out is the usual fade to black. IIRC.
That's how I always understood it.
Thank You
Agree with most of what's been said.
Never use DISSOLVE TO.
FADE OUT at the end of a screenplay.
FADE IN at the beginning is going out of favour.
A lot of 'Spec' nazis will say you should not bother with CUT TO, but I like the way it gives a bit of visual seperation on the page between scenes.
It's certainly not a crime either way.
Avoid ALL other camera directions, with the possiblr exeption of CLOSE if you really need it.
Always better to write your way round it though.
Good luck.
This will help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CEHdemnGD0
Quote: SlagA @ January 20 2010, 7:41 PM GMTI think a dissolve is where the two scenes fade out and in at the same time so you get a mixing of the two images. Fade Out is the usual fade to black. IIRC.
I added IIRC because I'm sure I'll be corrected - me and my dodgy memory.
A fade is a dissolve. It's an effects transition between edits. There are many. The one the Slags have described is a cross dissolve - where two images are slowly mixed together. This and a fade is about all you see on most shows. Whacky TV and kids shows use zooms and page peels and other 3D transitions but they are too distracting for for most programmes.
A cut is an edit WITHOUT a transition. It's a very different thing. The two shots are joined together WITHOUT an effect masking the change. It's used to suggest things happening quickly one after another.
For the purposes of writing a script you only need two terms: 'Dissolve' or 'Mix' and 'Cut to' - and it's important to know when to use them because they can be a source of humour. A simple and familiar example is a character saying "I'm not not going to the Park" followed by a shot of them entering the park.
This is a 'Cut To' as the shot needs to follow straight on to create the joke. A 'Mix to' with a fade would give the impression of time passing between the two events. In a similar way if a character begins telling a story and then there is a fade down and up it creates the impression that the story has gone on a long time.
As the slags say the director will decide on the kind of transition when there is one. Just write 'Mix To' that's what I do.