Best way to do credits?

[Brian Farris]

I'm putting some credits at the end of a wedding, and the last time I think I used livetype and the text on the TV didn't turn out as smooth and crisp and readable as I would have liked it to have been.

What's the best way to do credits?

[Chris Barcellos]

Originally Posted by Brian Farris

I'm putting some credits at the end of a wedding, and the last time I think I used livetype and the text on the TV didn't turn out as smooth and crisp and readable as I would have liked it to have been.

What's the best way to do credits?

Premiere Pro (1.5 and 2.0) has a great titler. Use static rolling. Always the standby while lettering on black screen if you can make anything else work.

In the cheaper range, Pinnacle Studio 10 has a good titler too.

I've only messed with Vegas, and it is not that great IMHO.

[David Tamés]

Originally Posted by Brian Farris

I'm putting some credits at the end of a wedding, and the last time I think I used livetype and the text on the TV didn't turn out as smooth and crisp and readable as I would have liked it to have been. What's the best way to do credits?

NTSC interlaced video makes it hard to do clean text unless you follow certain guidelines. Avoid anything with thin horizontal lines, as these will flicker or "twitter" due to the interlace. All lines should be at least two pixels high, although thicker is better. For the same reason, avoid serif typefaces unless your using bold or a large point size. Any graphics (text included) with sharp edges or thin details will "twitter" as well. Any high frequency details and sharp edges will require some blur, this is the same as antialiasing.

Make sure you preview your work on an interlaced monitor, NOT your computer monitor, which is progressive. If you're color-correcting with a video monitor, then you already have an interlaced display for preview. If not, consider getting one for both graphics preview and color correction.

Most NLEs have a de-flicker setting for doing title crawls in NTSC if you're doing a title crawl.