{
 "slug": "fade-from-black",
 "name": "Fade from black (know the cost)",
 "category": "transition",
 "group": "Cards and finish",
 "media": [
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "A calm, film-like entry that costs the first frame.",
 "use_when": "Brand films and stories watched on purpose; not feed openers.",
 "phrase": "open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "A black frame 0 is also the thumbnail, and our video QA warns on it. A measured story reel opens from black with its first visual change at 0.43 seconds.",
   "evidence": "measured",
   "source": "Director Chair measurement of a published short, 23 Oct 2026"
  },
  {
   "text": "A slow fade-in as the opening gives a feed viewer nothing to stop for.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "The Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report)"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "frame-zero-is-the-thumbnail",
  "opening-failures"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "practitioner",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words from Director Chair measurement of a published short, Oct 2026 and the Director Chair hook framework (our 2026 synthesis of @marco.thecreative's TikTok series, OpusClip's hook formulas, a Brandefy article, Meta retention research and a Gemini research report)"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/transition/fade-from-black",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/transition/fade-from-black.md",
 "prompts": {
  "seedance-2.5": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot. Cut: open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene",
  "seedance-2.0": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1: one continuous shot. Cut: open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. The scene is [your setting]. Open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene.",
  "veo-3.1": "[your subject] in [your setting]. Open on a short fade from black into the first lit scene. Framing and subject stay as in the start image."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}