I regularly make videos of a talking head where I add a transcription of the narration on screen using titles (like subtitles, but side-by-side with the talking head rather than in the lower third of the screen). I'd like to use the typewriter effect such as it works in AE, and I don't see any way of doing it in Premiere unless I spend time I don't have animating a crop effect of each line of text.

The only way I can figure to do this is by cutting the video to the length I need for each title, and then replacing that portion with an AE composition. But this is a huge problem for multiple reasons, including the fact that it slows my computer down and has caused crashes, and because I have issues if I want to further edit the length or color correct the clips back in Premiere.

Any ideas on more logical workflow, either by achieving this "typewriter" effect solely in Premiere, or using Dynamic Link better?

I would do the effect in AE and render out to an intermediate format with an alpha.
Import that into Pr.

Thanks Ann. I just figured out how to make the computer not slow down and freeze up. In Premiere I'm making a copy of the video clip I want to title. Then in AE I'm now disabling the video track after finishing the title. It seems that was hugely stressing the system.

Have you tried the "motion graphics template" feature?

- Create the composition one-time in AE using the typewriter preset
- Add the "source text" and any other parameters to the "essential graphics panel"
- Export comp as a "motion graphics temple"
- In Premiere Pro from the "essential graphics" panel, add the template to the timeline.
- Change the source text to whatever you want
- Add the template for each caption

Bill, I didn't know I could do that, thanks for the tip. I will give it a shot as an alternative to the Dynamic Link workflow.