How to Add Text to a Video (Titles, Captions, and Callouts)
Text on screen guides your viewer, reinforces your message for muted viewers, and makes a video feel produced. But badly-placed or hard-to-read text does the opposite. Here's how to add text that helps rather than clutters.
The three kinds of on-screen text
- Titles — a headline that sets up the video or a section
- Captions/subtitles — the spoken words, timed to the audio
- Callouts — short labels highlighting a specific point, product, or step
Readability rules
Use a bold, sans-serif font at a large size, and add a subtle shadow or semi-transparent background behind the text so it stays legible over any footage. Keep each text element on screen long enough to be read at a comfortable pace — roughly one second per short line, minimum.
Time text to the moment
Text that appears exactly when it's relevant — synced to what's being said or shown — feels intentional and holds attention. A static block of text sitting through the whole video gets ignored; text that animates in on cue gets read.
Add titles, animated captions, and callouts on a frame-accurate timeline in EseCut.
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