F.I. / F.O. (fade in / fade out)
F.I. / F.O.
한국어로 읽기F.I. (fade in) brightens a scene from black; F.O. (fade out) dims it to black. Scripts use them for the biggest boundaries: episode ends, acts, long time skips.
Also written as: 페이드 인 · 페이드 아웃 · fade in · fade out · F.I. · F.O. · 디졸브 · 컷 투
Meaning
F.I. (Fade In) is a black screen gradually brightening into a scene; F.O. (Fade Out) is a scene gradually dimming to black. They are the heaviest of the transition instructions in a script, used at the start and end of an episode, at act boundaries and across long time skips. Related transitions include dissolve (two scenes overlapping as one replaces the other, a short passage of time), cut to (an instant change, the default and therefore usually unwritten) and wipe (one image pushing the other off, now rarely used). American scripts conventionally open with FADE IN: and close with FADE OUT.
Why it matters
A transition is a note to the editor about the weight of time. A cut means continuous; a dissolve means a little later; a fade means an era has ended. If the writer scatters fades everywhere, the editor ignores them; used sparingly, the spot they mark becomes genuinely heavy. Korean drama scripts conventionally close each episode with F.O., but an F.O. mid-episode is a strong signal: a commercial break could go here, or a chapter of life ends here. The most common mistake web novel writers make in scripts is not knowing how to mark a novel's "three years later" and defaulting to narration. The answer is F.O. → title card ("Three years later") → F.I.
Example
S#44. Execution ground (D, snow)
The axe rises. Erna does not close her eyes.
F.O.
TITLE CARD: The third regression
F.I.
S#45. Erna's bedroom (morning)
Erna opens her eyes. Gilt trim on the ceiling. A maid is drawing the curtains.
MAID My lady, the envoy from House Kyle arrives today.
The F.O. and F.I. between death and return let the viewer feel, during the seconds of black, that something has ended completely and begun again. A straight cut would have been confusing.
Common mistakes
- Transitions on every scene. The default is a cut, and cuts are not written. Three or four marked transitions per episode at most.
- Dialogue immediately after F.O. A fade is white space. Start the next scene with quiet action.
- Confusing dissolve with fade. A dissolve is "a moment later"; a fade is "much later" or "a completely different phase."