Captions that pop

Contrast comes first

Whatever the footage, the words have to stand apart from it. The two dependable ways are a thick outline with a drop shadow, as in Bold and Rounded, or a solid box behind the words, as in Boxed and Typewriter. A soft shadow on its own, as in Clean, works over darker or calmer shots.

Keep the text itself white or close to it and spend color on the highlight and the emphasis. When every word is colored, nothing is left to stand out.

Setting it up in the studio

1. Add your clip, run Find words and pick Bold, Rounded or Boxed in the Presets tab.
2. In the Motion tab, under Spoken word, choose a Highlight: color the spoken word, put a box behind it, grow it, dim words not yet spoken, or show words as they are spoken.
3. Under Emphasis, click Auto-pick to mark numbers, prices and long words, then select any other key word in the transcript and press E.
4. Set the emphasis Color and Size (up to 160%), and turn on Wiggle when spoken if the video is playful.
5. Under Entrance, choose one Animation, such as Pop, Punch or Bounce, and keep it for the whole video.
6. Export the MP4 and watch it on your phone with the sound off.

Where pop turns into noise

• Emphasis on every other word is no emphasis at all. One or two words per caption is plenty.
• Two accent colors are enough: one for the spoken word, one for emphasis.
• Switching entrance animations inside one video looks like a mistake rather than energy.
• Exit before a pause, set to Fade or Shrink, makes a caption leave on purpose instead of vanishing.

These presets are built to stand out; each one is a starting point you can change in the Text and Motion tabs:

Questions