Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

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  • Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

    Hey, peeps, quick question...

    I know there's a CUT TO BLACK. But say for this example:

    EXT. FIELD - DAY

    The plane takes off, soaring over him. We track the plane as it heads higher, toward the rising sun. And the blinding sunlight takes over...

    CUT TO WHITE.

    You probably have seen something like this in few movies, where the screen turns white, usually after a shot of the sky.

    I believe there is a FADE TO WHITE, but it seems to imply quite some time has passed till the next FADE IN, which is not what I am looking for?

    Any ideas? I tried to search CUT TO WHITE online and had not much success. PS: Google tries to direct me to 'Cut to white meat'?!

    Thank you
    Derek

  • #2
    Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

    Yes. You can write CUT TO WHITE. Or red or purple or whatever your story requires. As long as it's clear, you're fine.

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    • #3
      Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

      Originally posted by dmizzo View Post
      Yes. You can write CUT TO WHITE. Or red or purple or whatever your story requires. As long as it's clear, you're fine.
      I actually ended my spec I just turned into my manager yesterday with:

      AND WE FADE OUT TO WHITE.

      It just happened to be the perfect transition.
      "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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      • #4
        Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

        I'm an amateur, so I could be wrong, but for the climax of a horror, I wrote:

        CUT TO RED

        FADE TO BLACK

        After that, I did a FADE IN for a final gruesome image, and then ended with:

        FADE OUT.

        THE END
        Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
        "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

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        • #5
          Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

          IIRC, "FADE TO WHITE" has (or used to have, at least) a specific meaning. It used to mean the character was either dreaming or dying. That may be old school, but it was a nice tool.

          In your example, I don't think you need a CUT TO WHITE at all. The description makes it pretty clear what the moment will look like.

          You probably don't need CUT TO anything between most scenes anyway.

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          • #6
            Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

            Originally posted by MoviePen View Post
            In your example, I don't think you need a CUT TO WHITE at all. The description makes it pretty clear what the moment will look like.
            I agree with this. I picture what you mean already, I think. Unless it's the ending. But in either case, FADE TO WHITE seems to make more sense, no? What follows the CUT TO WHITE?

            I also agree you can write whatever you want, as long as it's clear.
            "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

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            • #7
              Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

              Originally posted by Goliath View Post
              The plane takes off, soaring over him. We track the plane as it heads higher, toward the rising sun. And the blinding sunlight takes over...
              BTW, a 'rising sun' is usually on, or very near to, the horizon, so a plane cannot head higher towards it.
              Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
              "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

                Got it, thanks. My example seemed quite nondescript so cutting to white seems to be overdoing it. Anyway, I only use CUT TO / FADE TO only a few times in each script, when the occasion calls for it.

                Is a distinct difference between FADE TO and CUT TO evident that as in FADE TO, you must begin with FADE IN again, unlike CUT TO?

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                • #9
                  Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

                  You can actually write whatever you want. The practical question are:
                  a) Is this placed in lieu of a slender narrative?
                  b) 'will it survive into production?' Writer's choices are most likely to survive if they're tied to the tone of the script (irreverent, gothic, etc) or if it's embedded in the narrative (the exit chute to Bane's prison is seen from Bruce's POV because it's an obstacle).

                  Details like that are not important. The problem is always if the script is gripping, and that's characters, drama, serving/suprising expectations, etc.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Transitions: Is there such a thing as CUT TO WHITE?

                    Example: Bill Goldman's script of Butch and Sundance was not the way people wrote scripts back then. Tarantino's scripts were not how people wrote scripts. Neither were Arthur Hill's, or Shane Black, etc. etc. Robert Dillon's script for French Connection II was 80-so pages.

                    In short: If anything, always err on the side of saying what you 'see' with a minimum of words, so that the readers can take it or leave it. It is very hard for the writer to entirely control the timing of visuals, because you are not actually showing an image, you're conjuring it in the reader's mind - your control is not as explicit as the director's - so it's wise to bring the imagery clearly but nonchalantly - to let it seep into the reader's mind.

                    Otherwise, if you are very hands-on with exact details how we see the movie, you have to keep hands on deck throughout or in more places than just one scene in the script, so that it doesn't jump to the reader as odd and we absorb it as part of your writing style. If not, the reader will take any non-essential obsession as a weakness, not as a plus. Keep in mind these people are slogging through 120 pages. You want to control the moment and reason they must stop to concentrate on details, and you must assume they won't give you too many of those leeways.

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