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Creating Good Scrolling Credits
Okay, so I’m working on this video for a client and the last thing I have to do is scrolling credits. I’ve done so about a thousand times in the past but what he wanted was very specific (aren’t clients fun).
Essentailly I needed to make it so that most of the text was left justified like this:
ROLE NAME
but in some cases there would be centred text above
CAST
ROLE NAME
ROLE NAMEyou get the idea.
of course there’s not way to do it with the built in tools in final cut (not to mention the scrolls I made were scrolling way to quickly for the amount of text I had). I had remembered reading in the past about making the credits in photoshop then importing into Final Cut or Motion or After Effects and working from there.
I do have all three of these so I’m just wondering what is the best method. I did a quick test in Motion and the photoshop file appears to have somewhat blurred edges… didn’t try with Final Cut or After Effects yet.
Can someone suggest the optimal procedure/steps for what I need to do… you’ll get a special thanks in the film if you want! 😀
Thanks guys!
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12 Replies
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Check out Boris > Title Crawl in your Generators Folder. It does just what you need.
Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro -
Well thats what I’ve used in the past but:
a) it appears to only let me justify text one way not multiple ways
b) it also has a limit to how long it can be — you can only stretch it so far without then adjusting the speed by using the speed feature and knocking it down to say, 60% or somethingunless I’m misssing something…
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Complex and long credits are best handled as separate clips. Timing them isn’t difficult, as long as they’re set to the same speed, there is no way to tell there isn’t one continuous crawl.
But your formatting requirements appear to be beyond the capabilities of conventional video text generators. Consider composing them in a good image editor like Photoshop. You will also benefit from the advanced typography controls to make the layout look great. You want good spacing, kerning, alignment and leading, all quite beyond the scope of stock text filters.
If you go the PS route, break up the lists into manageable blocks. That way, when you locate typos—and there will be many—you can edit selectively without having to recompose, reimport, nad rerender the entire thing for each niggling change.
bogiesan
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okay, that’s the route I was thinking of going. however it stilleads me to the final question: settings.
what are the best settings? I know that if I dont set things up properly it’ll look like crap on a TV (and I dont have a broadcast monitor to double check with).
should I turn on motion blur? should I ensure it moves at a specific speed? do I just set keyframes for the Y-axis or use another method?
thanks in advance!
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[Adam Schoales] “what are the best settings? I know that if I dont set things up properly it’ll look like crap on a TV (and I dont have a broadcast monitor to double check with).
should I turn on motion blur? should I ensure it moves at a specific speed? do I just set keyframes for the Y-axis or use another method? “
Not easily answered, there are no absolute recipes. Setting keyframes on the y axis will move your clips vertically, yes. A bit of vertical blur, say, 1 or 2 pixels, will help reduce perceived flutter caused by single- or triple-pixel elements being messed up in the interlacing.
A clip that travels from off the bottom of the screen to off the top of the screen, say, 2000 pixels, should move in nice, round number of pixels per frame. Just watch out for weird and fractional pixels per frame speeds that will create interlacing issues. These may or not be diminished by a bit of vertical Gaussian blur.
Warning: I have heard that, in features governed by unions, the number of seconds a name appears on a vertical roll is controlled by contractual arrangements.Try posting a new question to get some better answers to the new topic, maybe “Best rolling credits settings?” You’ll get smartasses like me saying “there is no best recipe” but you should get some helpful suggestions.
bogiesan
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perfect, thanks so much. you sir will be receiving a special thanks!
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You’re very welcome.
I see your other post has come up, give it some time, could take a few days.bogiesan
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David Bogie: You want good spacing, kerning, alignment and leading, all quite beyond the scope of stock text filters.
I disagree. While I hate FCPs text generators, Title 3d DOES excellent kerning, spacing, alignment and the like PLUS you get the flexiblity of being able to change text weight or style, adding a little outline if needed, tracking animation and many more options not available with a Photoshop file. Plus, you have the luxury of copying and pasting the clips with the attributes you like, and simply retyping or pasting in new text. All without round tripping to Photoshop.
It may be there’s a length limit in Title Crawl, but I have yet to come up against it.
Have a wonderful day.
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Just checked, the title crawl has a limit of 1 minute five seconds, and again, I cannot combine left and centre justifications. if it weren’t for those issues i’d use it!
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Why not import a Word file, all formatted and everything, into Boris Title Crawl?
Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro
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