Teach your AI editor the Molten transition

This transition is called Molten: 11 frames of melted film on black. On a reel it can look like the film burning through the cut, or like a cheap template. The difference is four rules. Here they are, with a real picture of each, and one prompt that teaches all four to your editing agent (step 06).

A 16:9 frame of the melt beside the same frame turned to 9:16 — 01Turn it 9:16so it fills the phone

The melt laid on normally, its black covering the picture, beside the same frame screen blended over Luka — 01Turn it 9:16so it fills the phone

sound familiar?

You drop a transition on and a black box covers your video.
It was made for 16:9, so on a reel it sits in a band across the middle.
You use it on every cut and the reel starts to look like a template.

Three flashes at most, on the cuts that matter.

before you start

What you need

One clip and an editor that can blend. The agent is optional: every rule below works by hand too.

A melt or film-burn clipA short transition of melted or burning film on black. Molten is the one in my reel. Any film burn on black works the same way.
An editor with blend modesPremiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, or a HyperFrames page if Claude edits for you.
Your agent, if it edits for youClaude Code, or any agent that drives your editor. Step 06 teaches it all four rules in one prompt.

A white melt on black, turned on its side — All three on one frame: the clip on black (the brightest frame of the reel's first flash, turned 9:16), a take of mine, and the two screen blended. Steps 02 and 03 show how.

Luka at his desk in headphones, typing — All three on one frame: the clip on black (the brightest frame of the reel's first flash, turned 9:16), a take of mine, and the two screen blended. Steps 02 and 03 show how.

step 01

Know your clip

Molten is 11 frames at 24 fps, under half a second, in 3840 x 2160: melted film, shot on black. It comes in two bursts. The first, frames 1 to 7, comes in from the edge, peaks on frame 4 and leaves to black. The second, frames 8 to 11, comes back and stops on its last frame with the melt still over most of the picture: it never leaves. So the flash in my reel is the first burst alone, 7 frames. The black is the part you never see. Step 03 is how.

Frame 1 of Molten: melted film on black — All 11 frames of Molten, as the file comes (16:9). The first burst peaks on frame 4, its brightest, and is nearly black again by frame 7. The second comes back, and its last frame still covers 79 percent of the picture.

Frame 2 of Molten: melted film on black — All 11 frames of Molten, as the file comes (16:9). The first burst peaks on frame 4, its brightest, and is nearly black again by frame 7. The second comes back, and its last frame still covers 79 percent of the picture.

Molten comes from a paid transition pack, so I can’t share the file. Any melted-film or film-burn transition on black works the same way: the rules are about how you use it, not which one. Before you start, ask your agent what yours is.

say to your agent

Read [transition.mov] and tell me its size, its frame rate and how many frames it has, and whether it is on black or has a transparent background (an alpha channel). Then tell me if it comes in more than one burst, which frames make the first one, and which of them is the brightest.

Its answers go into the prompt in step 06.

step 02 · rule 1

Turn it on its side

Transition packs are made for 16:9. Laid on a vertical reel as it comes, the clip fills a band across the middle and stops at a hard edge. Turn it 90 degrees and scale it until it fills the frame. A 3840 x 2160 clip turned is 2160 x 3840, the same shape as a 1080 x 1920 reel, so none of the melt is cut off.

Two vertical frames of Luka at his desk: on the left the melt sits in a wide band across the middle with hard top and bottom edges; on the right the same melt, turned, covers the whole frame — Frame 4 of Molten over the same take of me, screen blended both times. As it comes, the melt is a band with hard edges. Turned, it fills the frame.

In any editor that is the clip’s Rotation set to 90 (or -90), then its Scale or Zoom until it fills the frame. Each time you use it, turn it the other way or flip it, so no two flashes look the same.

Three vertical copies of one melt frame: turned right, turned left, and flipped, each a different shape — The same frame of Molten turned right, turned left and flipped. Three uses of one clip, and none of them repeats.

step 03 · rule 2

Blend it with Screen

The clip is melt on black. Laid on in Normal mode, the black covers your video. Set its blend mode to Screen and the black drops out: only what is brighter than black glows over your picture. Add works too, and burns a little brighter.

Three vertical frames: the melt in Normal mode, black covering everything; in Screen mode, Luka at his desk visible through the glowing melt; in Add mode, the same, brighter — One frame of Molten over the same take of me, three ways. Normal: the black hides me. Screen: the black is gone and the melt glows over the picture. Add: the same, a little brighter.

Where the setting is:

Premiere ProEffect Controls > Opacity > Blend Mode > Screen
DaVinci ResolveInspector > Video > Composite Mode > Screen
After Effectsthe layer’s Mode column > Screen (F4 shows the column)
Final Cut ProVideo inspector > Compositing > Blend Mode > Screen
HTML, HyperFrameson the clip’s video: mix-blend-mode: screen

A clip with its own transparent background (an alpha channel) needs no blend. Leave it on Normal. The other three rules still hold.

step 04 · rule 3

Put it on the cut

The flash is there to hide the cut, so its brightest frame goes on the cut frame, half the flash before it and half after. In my reel the first burst’s 7 frames play at real speed, 9 frames at 30 fps, with frame 4 of the clip on the cut: 4 frames before, 4 after. Then fade the first and last three frames (30, 60 and 85 percent in, the same out), so it never pops on or off.

Frame 1 of the flash: frame 1 of the clip over the shot leaving — The 9 frames of one of the reel's flashes (its second, turned counter-clockwise) over two takes of me, screen blended: 1 to 4 over the shot that is leaving, the clip's brightest frame on the cut (5, outlined), 6 to 9 over the next shot. Under each, the frame of the clip it shows and its fade.

Frame 2 of the flash: frame 1 of the clip over the shot leaving — The 9 frames of one of the reel's flashes (its second, turned counter-clockwise) over two takes of me, screen blended: 1 to 4 over the shot that is leaving, the clip's brightest frame on the cut (5, outlined), 6 to 9 over the next shot. Under each, the frame of the clip it shows and its fade.

Only the first burst goes in. Tell your agent so, in these words:

say to your agent

Use only the first burst of [Molten.mov], its frames 0 to 6: the second burst stops on a frame that still covers most of the picture and never leaves. Put the burst’s brightest frame, frame 3, on the cut frame.

Counted from 0, as ffmpeg counts: frames 0 to 6 are this page's 1 to 7.

Under it, put a short whoosh or hit, well below your voice.

step 05 · rule 4

Three times at most

A transition is loud. On every cut it stops marking a moment and becomes the look of the whole reel. Keep it for the cuts where the reel changes: the hook leaving, the turn in the middle, and into the end card. Never on every cut.

The reel at 0.5 seconds: the melt at its brightest across Luka at his desk, turned clockwise — The reel this guide comes from, built on this rule: its three flashes at their brightest frame, turned a different way each time, and its own rule 4 scene, which draws the same timeline. Below, that timeline to scale: the melt plays at 0.5, 16.0 and 31.5 seconds of the 35.33-second reel, and nowhere else.

The reel at 16.0 seconds: the melt at its brightest over the cut into rule 3, turned counter-clockwise — The reel this guide comes from, built on this rule: its three flashes at their brightest frame, turned a different way each time, and its own rule 4 scene, which draws the same timeline. Below, that timeline to scale: the melt plays at 0.5, 16.0 and 31.5 seconds of the 35.33-second reel, and nowhere else.

step 06

Teach your agent all four

Paste this into Claude Code, or whichever agent edits for you, before you hand it the edit. It holds the four rules and a check at the end, so the agent tells you where it used the flash and that no word got covered.

the prompt · paste it into your agent

You are my video editor. I'm giving you a transition clip: a short flash of melted film on black (Molten.mov, 11 frames at 24 fps, 3840 x 2160). Use it on my vertical reels with these four rules.

1. Turn it on its side. My reels are 1080 x 1920. Rotate the clip 90 degrees and scale it to fill the frame. Each time you use it, turn it the other way or flip it, so no two flashes look the same.

2. Blend it with Screen (or Add). The black must drop out completely, so only the melt glows over my footage. Never lay it on in Normal mode: the black would cover the picture.

3. Put it on the cut. The brightest frame lands on the cut frame, about half the clip before the cut and half after. Fade its first and last two or three frames so it never pops on or off. Under it, a short whoosh or hit, well below my voice.

4. Only where it matters. At most three times in one reel: the hook leaving, the turn in the middle, and into the end card. Never on every cut.

When you are done, list every cut where you used it, with its time, and check the frames on either side of each one: no flash may cover a word on screen while it is being read.

Swap in your own clip and your reel’s size.

Then hand it the edit.

say to your agent

Here is my cut: [my-reel]. Use the transition on it with the four rules, then show me the list of cuts.

When it is right, save the rules, so the next reel starts there.

say to your agent

Save these four rules as a skill called molten-transition, with the path to the clip, and use it on every reel I give you.

Claude Code keeps skills in .claude/skills, so every new chat finds it.

before you post

Fills the frameTurned 9:16 and scaled to fill. No band, no hard edge.

No black boxBlend mode Screen (or Add), never Normal.

First burst onlyFrames 1 to 7 of the clip. Never its second burst.

On the cutThe brightest frame on the cut frame, the first and last three faded.

Three at mostThe hook, the turn, the end card. Count them.

No word coveredNo flash while a word on screen is being read.

if something breaks

Quick fixes

A black box covers my video

The blend mode is still Normal. Set it to Screen (step 03). If your editor has no Screen, Add or Lighten also drops the black out.

It sits in a band across the middle

The clip is still 16:9. Rotate it 90 degrees and scale it until it fills the frame (step 02).

It pops on or off

Fade its first and last three frames (the reel uses 30, 60 and 85 percent in, the same out). If it still ends with a jump, you are using the second burst: stop after frame 7, where the first burst has left to black.

My video looks washed out under it

Screen only ever brightens, so during the flash that is the look. If it holds too long, trim it to the frames around the cut, or lower its opacity.

It covers my text

Move the flash or the text, so no flash plays while a word on screen is being read. The last line of the prompt in step 06 makes your agent check every cut for this.

My clip has a transparent background

Then it has an alpha channel and needs no blend: leave it on Normal. The other three rules still hold.

Can I get Molten?

It comes from a paid transition pack, so I can't share the file. Any melted-film or film-burn transition on black works the same way: the four rules are about how you use it, not which one. Run the prompt in step 01 on the clip you have.

bonus · more prompts for transitions

say to your agent

Go through this edit and list every transition with its time. If there are more than three, tell me which three to keep and take the rest out.

say to your agent

Make three versions of the transition for a 1080 x 1920 reel: turned right, turned left, and flipped. Use a different one each time.

say to your agent

Find the brightest frame of the transition's first burst, and put that frame on the cut frame.

say to your agent

Put a short whoosh under each flash, starting just before the cut, well below my voice.

An independent guide by Luka (@omgluka), made at Engram. Molten is a clip from a paid transition pack and is not shared here; every picture on this page is that clip over my own takes. Premiere Pro and After Effects are trademarks of Adobe, DaVinci Resolve of Blackmagic Design, and Final Cut Pro of Apple. HyperFrames is an open-source project by HeyGen. Claude and Claude Code are made by Anthropic. None are affiliated with this guide.

Let agents run the rest of your work.