Problem with "transitions" in PS Elements 9

Question

I am a long time Roxio user, but recently purchased PS Elements 9. I find some things vastly superior, while other things seem to be a severe step in the wrong direction. At first glance "transitions" fit into the latter category. My problem is that if I use a simple transition such as a "cross dissolve" the transition is not visible at all, even if I lengthen the duraton to a lengthy 10 seconds. I'm hoping that the problem is simply  that I am new to PSE and that I am not doing somthing correctly. BTW, if I use a transition such as a page turn, it works fine, which only makes the invisibility of the dissolve all the more puzzling.

Answer 1

The A-B Roll editing was the only way to do it, back in the days of film. One created one reel, with the footage alternating between segments of black leader. The second reel was created with black leader in the places where the A Roll had footage, and footage, where the A-Roll had black leader. The footage overlapped by 1/2 of the desired Duration of the Transition - Cross-Dissolve, and both the A-Roll and the B-Roll were printed onto a single reel of film by the lab. The editor had to account for the Handles, or the Cross-Dissolve did not work in the print.
There were basically 3 Transitions possible: the Butt-Cut, Fade-to-Black (which in Video is most often called Dip-to-Black), and the Cross-Dissolve. The first was just what it sounds like, and the Tail of one Clip was butted to the Head of the next. The junction was either glued, or taped into place. The Fade-to-Black could be done in the lab, or with either the shutter, or the iris in camera. The latter was done primarily in the lab, though I had one camera that allowed for a Cross-Dissolve, by rewinding the last footage by a number of Frames, and then with the adjustment of the shutter angle, a Cross-Dissolve was created. One had to count carefully, or that Transition would be lop-sided, and not look good and smooth. Basically, this was a controlled double-exposure, created in-camera.
With Video editing, things improved, and if a switcher was placed between the source video tape machine, and the destination tape machine, more could be done. When NLE's were developed, the A-B Roll layout came along. It was not until several generations later, that single-Track editing became available. For anyone with a film background, the concept of Handles was easy to comprehend, as they had worked with them, in that overlap. Users, new to editing, however, found Handles a very abstract concept.
I still do a lot of A-B Roll layouts, just like Ted's example, but usually with animated Titles, and PiP compositions.
Even though I have many hundreds of available Transitions, I still rely almost exclusively on "the Big 3" - Butt-Cut, Dip-to-Black and Cross-Dissolve. Before I would use any other, I would need for it to enhance my "story." I even use the Big-3 to tell part of the story, and each has its place. The audience's concepts of time and place can be enhanced and expanded by their use and by their attributes, such as Duration. I know that this is getting into the realm of "story telling," and gets beyond the mechanics of a Transition.
Good luck,
Hunt