You can use one of the templates, but I doubt that they will give you what you want. Under Title, Movement, there is one called "Simple zoom." Uner Title Combination, there is "Zoom in and Fade out."
The best is to make your own using keyframing, and if you want to use more than once, like in different projects, then save it as a template, and load the template onto a title when needed. To save, right-click on the title, and select "Save title as template."
I played with this a bit. I followed what you did, then dragged them onto track 2 and placed a video on track 1. I used a black image. Then I gave the black image a chromakey Black, which made it transparent. The black box can then be left with a bit showing at the left or the title can be dragged completely over top of it.
I used the Shutter 1 fade (transition) under Spatial fades, 3D Standard which was on my list.
For Jerry, note that one cannot select a fade from the Media Pool, only from the list. Selecting from the Media Pool causes the fade to go onto the next track. To get a fade onto the list, add it somewhere else on the timeline and it will show up.
Not all fades work, because some are acting on the first clip, the black object which is now transparent. But many of the effects do work.
Sounds like the project has become corrupted. Try making another copy of your cloud image with anew name, and same for your black rectangle, and make a fresh project.
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In case anyone else needs further details, here is another example: