How To Create A Transition On Black With Text A La Silent Films?

[MikeR]

What's the easiest way to simulate those transitions from old silent films, where you had white text (usually in a box) on black background, ideally with the slightly faded and "jumpy" look of those old films?

Any help would be much appreciated,

 

thanks!

 

-- Mike R.

[karri]

What's the easiest way to simulate those transitions from old silent films, where you had white text (usually in a box) on black background, ideally with the slightly faded and "jumpy" look of those old films?

Any help would be much appreciated,

 

thanks!

 

-- Mike R.

 

Hi Mark,

 

Sounds like a fun project! You might try this to make the white text in the box with a black background:

 

In VideoWave, insert a black color panel, then change the color to almost black (for the faded effect) in the settings panel for it. Add a basic text style to it's internal panel. Change the text to white/bold, and pick a typeface.

 

Add a Frame to the text (either rectangle or rounded rectangle, whatever you prefer) and change the settings to solid, almost-black fill, and white outline. Set the padding to Horizontal 20 and Vertical 20.

 

Now to give it the jumpy effect, you can experiment. Try Random Noise, Corner Noise, or Corner White, just set the effect to very low. Try Camera Flashes, just lower the brightness of the really bright keyframes to get the 'flickering' effect. Try Waves, with the effect lowered to 2. Consider Sepia or Selenium, too.

 

If you want to add more effects, remember you can add more effects tracks on the Timeline, you just have to make sure they line up with your panel.

 

I played wth it in v9, but should work the same in 10.

 

karri

 

 

[MikeR]

Add a Frame to the text (either rectangle or rounded rectangle, whatever you prefer) and change the settings to solid, almost-black fill, and white outline. Set the padding to Horizontal 20 and Vertical 20.

 

I played wth it in v9, but should work the same in 10.

 

karri

 

How do I do that in 10? I cannot find a way to add a Frame to the text anywhere...

[karri]

How do I do that in 10? I cannot find a way to add a Frame to the text anywhere...

 

 

Select your text and click on the 'A' button to access the Frame properties. Then choose your attributes. These screen captures are from V10.

 

 

[MikeR]

Select your text and click on the 'A' button to access the Frame properties. Then choose your attributes. These screen captures are from V10.

 

Thank you. When I was trying to do that, the Frame settings were grayed out. It turns out that you cannot add a frame whiler your cursor is clicked into the text. Neither does it work when the cursor is completely outside the text box. Only when you click ON the box but not inside it, the frame settings get ungrayed.

 

-- Mike R.

[MikeR]

Select your text and click on the 'A' button to access the Frame properties. Then choose your attributes. These screen captures are from V10.

 

Not sure how to insert screen captures... but now the problem is that when I select my three lines of text, it thinks that each of them represents a separate paragraph and inserts a separate frame around each line.

Do you know how to get around that?

 

Thank you very much for your help and patience,

 

-- Mike R.

[karri]

Not sure how to insert screen captures... but now the problem is that when I select my three lines of text, it thinks that each of them represents a separate paragraph and inserts a separate frame around each line.

Do you know how to get around that?

 

Thank you very much for your help and patience,

 

-- Mike R.

 

 

When you press the Enter key, hold the shift key at the same time. This will keep your Frame as one unit.

 

Edit: While Shift/Enter will work, unless you need to break your text at a particular point, it's easier to just type your text, right click, and select Wrap Text. Thanks Steve, I forgot

[karri]

Thank you. When I was trying to do that, the Frame settings were grayed out. It turns out that you cannot add a frame whiler your cursor is clicked into the text. Neither does it work when the cursor is completely outside the text box. Only when you click ON the box but not inside it, the frame settings get ungrayed.

 

-- Mike R.

 

It should work with the text selected, as indicated in the screen capture. I'm not sure why that would not work for you.