One of the greatest things about music videos is that they often give filmmakers a chance to experiment with the medium and explore their own creativity. Just take a look at director JMP's work on XXXTentacion's posthumously released music video for his hit single "Sad." It's full of symbolism and controversial imagery (namely the fact that he's seen attending his own funeral...eerily coincidental) but it also has some pretty interesting technical tricks, like the eye zoom transition that occurs near the end of its runtime.

Whether you're a fan of XXXTentacion's music or just a lover of a great transition, this tutorial from Jordy Vandeput of Cinecom walks you through the steps of creating the very stylish in-camera transition used in the late rapper's music video.


But before we get to the tutorial, check out the music video to see the eye zoom transition in action. It occurs at around the 4:49 mark.

Now that you've seen the actual in-camera transition from the original source, look at how Vandeput and the rest of the Cinecom team replicate it using clever camera work and a little post-production magic.

It's a little hard for me to call this a bonafide "in-camera" transition because there are so many steps you have to take in post to get this to work. Sure, you need to light your subject correctly and push in slowly toward their eye, but you also have a ton of work to do in post to complete the transition. Just make sure that your second clip, the one to which you're transitioning, is as dark as possible (ideally black to match the pupil), otherwise it might look strange while spinning inside your subject's eye.

What are some other cool transitions that you've seen in music videos? Let us know down in the comments.

Source: Cinecom