Plain text is often enough for a simple title, but a splashy opener needs more, and you can create really terrific effects by playing video inside text. There are a few ways to do that if you’re in Motion, but in FCP X, you’ll be doing it with blend modes. Here, I’ll show you how to display video inside text, while other videos play behind that same text.
In the Video pane of the Inspector, you’ll find Blend Mode at the top
While Blend Modes have been used in Photoshop for many years, they’re not so widely known in video. That’s a shame, because they can be used for many purposes, including masking, enhancing contrast and excluding dark or light areas. By default, clips on a timeline use the Normal blend mode at 100% opacity, and you’ll see the clips at the top of the stack. If you change that top clip’s opacity or blend mode, you’ll also see clip(s) sitting below it, and while opacity is easy to understand, blend modes aren’t always straightforward.
In FCP X 10.3, the Blend Mode dropdown has moved to the very top of the Video pane in the Inspector, in the Compositing section. The Blend Mode menu is split into categories of related options, and they are:
• Normal: the top clip’s video is shown unaltered
• Subtract, Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, Linear Burn: the top clip will darken clips below it in various ways. Multiply usually works best for adding darker areas.
• Add, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge: the top clip will lighten clips below it in various ways. Screen usually works best for adding bright elements like sparks and flame.
• Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix: the top clip is applied to lower clips in a way that usually increases contrast. Overlay usually works best with a variety of elements, and reducing opacity is often a good idea too.
• Difference, Exclusion: the top clip is mathematically removed from the clips below in slightly different ways. Useful for spotting the difference between two clips.
• Stencil Alpha, Stencil Luma, Silhouette Alpha, Silhouette Luma, Behind: the top clip is used to mask the clips below, and this is our main focus here. Behind is a special case and we’ll look at that too.
• Alpha Add, Premultiplied Mix: used for tweaking alpha (transparency) information.
Normal text on the top, Stencil Alpha applied on the bottom
While most of those blend modes are used to make clips look different, the Stencil and Silhouette options are the key to putting video inside text. To decide what parts of the lower clips are visible, Alpha uses the top clip’s transparency while Luma uses its brightness. If the top clip is white text with a transparent background, either option will work fine.
Stencil shows video where the top clip is white (or visible) and hides video where the top clip is black (or invisible). Silhouette does the opposite, hiding where white (visible) and showing where black (invisible). For our purposes here, Stencil Alpha will work well.
This glittery background was free, but you can shoot your own too
To get started, you’ll need some video that’s going to look good when it plays inside text. If you’ve downloaded any dust, glitter, flame, out-of-focus lights, paint or similar stock shots, this is their time to shine. It’s possible to use a clip which starts out black, then introduces a brighter element that stays on screen, but it’s easier to find (or shoot) a clip where a constantly moving background fills the frame. Use flame if you want crazy, clouds if you want gentle, or water for anything between.
There are many suppliers for these types of shots (Rampant Design, motionVFX, VFXmarket and more) so take a look through their catalogues. Here, I’ll be using Rampant_4K_Bokeh_001 from Rampant Design’s free 4K clips. Create a new project at your preferred settings, then add your effects clip to the primary storyline. If necessary, use the Transform controls to position the main part of the effect (the flame in this example) over the area you’re going to put the text.
Use the Custom title to create your title
For maximum control, I’ve long been a fan of the Custom title, found in the Build In/Out category. This title lets you access many of the built-in text animation properties that Motion provides, and by avoiding presets, you’ll ensure your work doesn’t look like everyone else’s.
From the Titles browser in the top left part of the FCP X 10.3 interface (or the bottom right in 10.2) drag a copy of the Custom title into your timeline, above your video clip. To customize your Custom title, head to the Title pane (the first icon) in the Inspector, then set In Opacity to 0, In Duration to 60, and In Spread to 5. The In Unit Size is already Character, so your title will now gently appear, a letter at a time. Head to the Text pane (the second icon) then increase the size and choose a nice thick font, like Avenir Next Heavy. Type whatever text you like, and make the duration as long as you need. Trim the duration of the video clip to match the text.
An alternative: if Custom isn’t fancy enough, another good option here is to add the Basic 3D title, turn 3D off in the Text pane, then head to the Title pane and choose the Tumble Zoom Down option in the Animation Style drop-down. It’s certainly fancy, but you may have seen this effect before.
Here’s the layout of the text and video
Head to the Video pane of the Inspector (the third icon) then choose the Stencil Alpha blend mode. The text now shows through to reveal the sparkly, glitter, smoky area behind. Cool, right? You can experiment with placement of the text and of the background, with the duration of the animation, and much more.
If you need to show a different part of the video clip, you can use the Trim tool to slip it in time, but hold the ` key (to the left of the 1) as you do so, to stop the connected title from slipping along with it.
To isolate the mask, you can create a compound clip
All we need to worry about now is the background. Plain black can work well, but if you were to put another clip underneath these ones, you’d discover that the Stencil Alpha on to the text applies to all the clips beneath it. How do you stop that? One option is to select both the text and the video clip beneath and choose File > New > Compound Clip. A compound clip will isolate the Stencil Alpha mask, leaving you free to put this element above whatever you want.
Just set that top clip to the Behind blend mode, and you’re done
If you’d rather not mess around with compound clips, there’s another way. Place the background clip above the text and its fill in the stacking order, then change its blend mode to Behind. This way, the background video will be sent to the back, despite its position at the top of stack. It’s very sneaky, and a great technique.
The snow here is set to the Screen blend mode
Take it further! Experiment with text outlines and fills at different levels of grey, with the Stencil Luma mode. Place more clips on top, using the Screen blend mode to only let the light shine through and reducing opacity to limit the effect. Use a shape instead of text to mask your video by using the Shapes generator. Duplicate a clip on top of itself and apply the Overlay blend mode at reduced opacity to increase its contrast. Add transitions too.
Yep, that’s a plane in a dingbat font
The masking techniques here are just a starting point for complex opening titles, but because they’re not widely known, you can easily create an effect that people haven’t seen before. Explore your options next time you’re between edits, and you’ll find it easy to make something that will wow clients and family alike. It doesn’t even take much effort. Enjoy!
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