Text & titles

Type is how a video says the thing the UI cannot. It appears two ways: title cards between beats, and copy beats inside a teaser scene.

How text animates

Text does not just fade in. It animates by a named style — words popping in sequence, lines rising, characters cascading, a headline resolving out of blur. Every style has speed, intensity, and weight you can push on. The full list is in Text animations.

You wantSay
Words landing one by one“Animate the headline word by word.”
A calm editorial rise“Let the lines rise in softly.”
Something loud“Slam the headline in.”
Lyric-style fill“Fill the words in like karaoke, on the beat.”
No animation at all“Just cut the text in — no animation.”

Emphasis

Single words can carry their own color or weight, so the line has a point rather than a uniform shout.

Text inside an app video

A recorded feature video can carry kinetic type too — title cards between beats, and animated lines over the footage. It is off unless you ask, and it is a different intent from captions: captions narrate, kinetic type sells.

Keeping it readable

  • One idea per beat. If a line needs a second read, it needs to be two beats.
  • Hold long enough to read — roughly a third of a second plus a beat per word.
  • Text over footage needs separation: a scrim, a darker grade, or a park to one side.
  • One loud thing per scene. A slam headline over a spinning phone is two.