Pan and zoom in videos using Morph transitions

Greg Edwards, I just stumbled across your post. Although posted almost five years ago (2017), the technique you describe still works!

PowerPoint (even in its current version) is not and likely will never be as easy or good for editing screen recordings as Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, or TechSmith Camtasia. HOWEVER, if you don't need complicated effects or can't use third-party software (like on a managed computer), then PowerPoint can be a good alternative…with a little patience.

You can achieve the same pan and zoom effects on a single slide using the Grow/Shrink and Lines animations, but it requires many more manual calculations and "helper" lines to use as off-slide  guides. It gets rid of the transition silences you experienced, but it really isn't worth the extra effort.

You can also address transition silences using post-production editing in third-party software, using a higher-quality mic, or turning down the mic gain (Input Volume in Windows 11) to reduce background noise.

I found more success using a combination of screenshots and audio recordings (narration) with the Morph transition. Because audio can be played across slides, you avoid the silences during the transitions. Really, you only need to record the screen when live action happens, such as typing into a search term field and viewing the results. That live video can be integrated almost seamlessly with screenshots.

While you still have to working with transition and animation timing, it produces acceptable results with a smaller file size. You can even simulate mouse pointers and clicks if you have the time for the animation.