I don't fully understand your question. Do you want to fade to black? Select the start or the end edge of a timeline clip and press CTRL+T on the keyboard.
This will create a dissolve which will act as a fade from or to black as long as there are no visible clips on tracks below.
use crop in the timeline inspector and then apply softness. there are lots of other ways to do it and the best way is the one that fits with what you are trying to do.