tv production 1

Most TV's show less than a full picture, therefore, most of the graphic content should be positioned within the part of the image that is called the Safe Area. Text should be kept in the Title Safe area so that none of it gets cut off on TV's at home.

In the Program Monitor, click on the wrench icon to call up a number of settings that you can apply to the monitor. What you're looking for is Safe Margins. 

 

Check Safe Margins to apply a Title Safe grid to the monitor. The grid looks like this:

As a safety measure, placing text within the interior grid should assure that it will be visible on most television sets. 

Finally, create a new bin in the Project Panel where you can store new titles. This step is optional, but it will keep your work organised and you'll be able to find titles faster and more efficiently.

Right click in an empty place of your Project Panel - you'll find New Bin among the options. Select it.

Then rename the new bin that appears in your project panel. Use Command+double-click to open the bin. When you create new titles, they will always be saved inside the bin that is open. So make sure before you create a new title that the bin where you want them to be saved is open first.

The title is simply the name of the person and their job position or place of work. The title will be placed in the lower-third portion of the image, which is why they're often called Lower Thirds.

To start, move the playhead in the Timeline in the middle of the image so that you can see where the person is within the frame. 

The click Command+T to create a New Title

Click OK and the new title appears as a clip in the Project Panel.

Also, when you click OK, a new window opens showing the title properties and tools that you can use to create graphics (also known as a Title Creation window).

The representative frame of the clip is prominent in the window. Below are a number of presets for titles that you can explore. 

To create a simple title, start with the tool palette in the upper left - select T for Type Tool (or simply use the shortcut key, T to select it) and click on top of the image to start typing. On the right, you'll find options for Title Properties. This is where you can change the font, its size, aspect, tracking, etc. Additionally, you use the Title Properties to also add Drop Shadow, which is helpful when you want the text to stand out with a little depth on the screen - and it often makes it more readable depending on what's happening in the image. 

For a lower third, type the name in one title box and the person's occupation in another. That way, you have the option of moving them across the picture separately rather than having them attached (use the Selection tool to move the text around - type V to select the tool). Once you add drop shadow, the text might look something like this.

Grab and place the clip in the Timeline above the interview shot. Your timeline will look like this:

Treat the title as any other clip, which you can used again in other parts of the story. But if you want to create a title for another person that looks just the one you did, there's no need to re-do everything. 

Go back to the Project Panel, select the title clip and copy it (Command+C). Then paste it in the Project Panel (Command+V) and immediately rename the clip. 

Double-click the new title to open it and simply go in and change the name. 

Placing a Bar Behind the Text

Sometimes, to help make the title stand out and more readable, you can embed the text inside a bar that sets up a new background for the title to sit in. 

Making a bar is easy and you can make one on the existing title graphic. First open the graphic and in the Title Creation window, go to the tool palette and select from among the shapes a rectangle tool. Then draw the rectangle on the picture in the size that you want. You might notice that the shape uses the same properties as the title, including colour and drop shadow. Also, the rectangle covers the text. Don't worry about that. Just finish making your bar and then we'll send it behind the text. 

Make sure the bar is selected. Go to the Title Properties and under Fill and in Fill Type, select 4-Colour Gradient Choose colours that are appealing, nothing too fancy. Keep it simple.

Make sure to uncheck the Drop Shadow and you'll have a bar that looks something like this:

Now send the bar behind the text. 

Go to Title > Arrange > Send to Back

The bar now appears behind the text:

Feel free to re-shape the bar and even change its opacity to make it slightly transparent. The final result might look something like this: