Whatever you might need for working with text in your film or video project, we’ve got you covered with these tutorials.
Top image by Sebastian Duda.
If you’re familiar with any of the big editing programs like Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, or Final Cut Pro X, you’ll know they all offer different workflows when it comes to adding and playing with text. Their motion graphics capabilities range from advanced to beginner-level. The whens and whys of including text in your project are up to you, but here are more than enough resources to cover the hows.
Using Text in Premiere Pro
Now, there are a million and a half different things you can do in Premiere Pro with titles, subtitles, and text in general. How you use text is completely up to you, but here are a few basic tutorials to get you started.
As you can see, one of the biggest trends and creative approaches to including text into your videos is the “reveal” style — often used for titles or chapter names. The biggest takeaway from this tutorial is the necessity of creating unique title sequences or text overlays. Here are a few other text and title-specific resources to spice up your project.
- How to Layer Text Behind Objects
- Creating a Countdown in After Effects
- Exporting YouTube-Ready Subtitles
- Create a See-Through Text Effect
- Creating a 1980s Vaporwave-Inspired Title Sequence
- Easily Create Captions in Premiere Pro
Recreating Blockbuster Titles
So, if you want to take inspiration from some of your favorite movies, recreating title text can be very simple. Some of the steps in this process include creating text as outlines, rotating letters independently in space, animating titles in groups, and minimizing effort with key frames. Here are a few other “cinematic recreations” we’ve presented in the past:
- Create a Stunning Custom Ink Title Sequence
- Create Dunkirk-Inspired Transparent Title
- Guardians of the Galaxy Inspired Title Tutorial
- Creating a Ghost in the Shell Title Sequence
- Star Trek and Beyond: A Title Sequence Tutorial
Obviously, these titles aren’t original, and they recreate a certain aesthetic or look, but they are a good source of information if you want to learn to create blockbuster titles.
- “Split” Creepy Fractal Title Tutorial
An Atypical Approach to Including Text
There are a few ways to jazz up your video with interesting uses of text. First, think about how you want to convey information to your audience. You can always use the Title tool or pre-made motion graphics and lower thirds; however, you can also physically shoot some of the text you need and incorporate it into your edit. Take the video above for example — you can recreate some of your favorite lyrical music videos or come up with a truly unique way to include subtitles.
Here are a few other ways you can shake up the formula:
- Hand-Drawn Animated Lower Thirds
- How to Make Hand-Written Titles
- The Basics of Text Animator in After Effects
Incorporating Social Media into Your Project
One of the most effective ways to present information, statistics, and key info in a demo reel, corporate presentation, or business project is to include social media info and images. Similar to text, this is about getting the necessary information across to your audience in a visually pleasing way. Sometimes, a simple text animation or lower third isn’t good enough, so here are a few creative ways to get this information across.
(Keep in mind that the interfaces for some of these social media platforms change every year, so be ready to update the images and captures before each presentation.)
- Animate Instagram in After Effects
- Animate a Twitter Conversation in After Effects
- Creating Animated Social Media Bumpers
- Animated YouTube Pages in After Effects