Have you ever wanted to add a vintage-looking transition to one of your videos? The feathered (gradient) wipe is a great effect that has been used for years.

Above you see the ‘wipe’ transition. Below is the ‘linear wipe’ with feathering.

I’m currently editing a video for UC Berkeley to promote their yearly open house. The promo video’s theme has to do with the over-a-century of science, sports, performance, etc. So I’m combining archival footage with new footage, and the first part of the video is like an old-time newsreel. I wanted to add this feathered wipe effect that I saw in another video that I saw. Luckily Premiere Pro has the right effect to do the job, but it’s not in the area you would imagine.

Below is a written tutorial as well as a video tutorial for you to watch.

Watch the video tutorial below:

Step by step instructions:

1. With your Premiere Project opened, put the two clips that you want to transition from/to on the timeline.
2. Put the first clip on track 2 above the second clip.
3. Find the Linear Wipe effect in your effects bin and drag/drop it onto the first clip (notice that it doesn’t become a traditional transition at the end of the clip).
4. Go into the Effects Controls panel and expand the Linear Wipe effect. You’ll notice options for Transition Completion, Wipe Angle, and Feather.
5. Overlap your clips in the timeline so that the second clip is underneath your first clip (see image below for reference). The amount of the overlap will end up being how long your transition is.
6. Put the Playhead (where you are in the timeline) at the beginning of the second clip.
7. In Linear Wipe  controls, set the Transition Completion to 0% and click the Stopwatch icon to set a keyframe.
8. Move the Playhead to the end of the first clip.
9. Set the Transition Completeness to 100%. This will create another keyframe.
10. Now scrub through or play the sequence from the beginning of your first clip. You should have a linear wipe effect.
11. Change the Feather number to whatever pleases you. Depending on the size of your footage, I like between 75-125 for HD footage.
12. You’re done!

There you have it! That’s how to create a soft wipe effect with feathering in Adobe Premiere Pro. It’s not the easiest transition to do, because it takes keyframing. But it is a great effect to use for a bunch of project. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

NOTE: You can also change the Angle to change the direction of the wipe (see cool Star Wars wipe below).