what I do is drag down a picture to the storyboard with black background then double click on the picture to bring up the edit menu.  click on zoom/cam then ckeck the dispaly section only button and downsize the picture section to the area that is all black.  It will show up as the picture in the timeline or storyboard view, but when playing back it will only show the black area that you selected.  You can then apply a fade.  Glad to help