Creating/designing lower3rd titles/templates

[Bruce Pelley]

Hi everyone,

This is a request for help, pointers & any suggestions regarding my mission as detailed below.

I use a combination of Adobe Premiere 6.5 and 2.0 for my projects and would describe myself on the level as a developing amateur/hobbyist in regards to video production and editing, the product of which is aired on local cable public access TV. Designing titles is unfortunately not my expertise & forte although it is a very basic need when putting videos together. I contrast the templates that Adobe includes with their programs to what one sees on TV and IMHO, the quality of the TV titles (specifically the lower thirds component) of course wins hands down!! They can & do look sharp, quite appealing, vibrant, fresh and eye-catching.

My goal is to come up with or be led to a resource where there may be some professional or high grade quality, already built templates/lower 3rd strips which are either importable into Premiere (if that’s at all possible) or a library with a lot of choices & variety available for a reasonable price. I don’t know if such a thing exists!

Sure, a more challenging (& for now a less desirable) alternative would be to in time to create several from “scratch” myself and that well may happen in the future. I was hoping to get jump started in this area first though. Basically, to launch this endeavor, all I need is a few quality strips, i.e. an across the bottom of the screen rectangular banner… which is composed either from a nice texture or with an appropriately colored background suitable to have text typed over it.

Is there a resource, website, archive, library of preset/templates out there somewhere or do I dare solicit a few personal donations to get me started in this area? Does Adobe have any more, (more up-to date) available than they include with their programs? Is there a user forum that might contain any?

Is there a easy to read & follow online tutorial? For those who are already into the nitty-gritty of the process, when trying to locate/import/browse to a “texture” to use as a background/ textbed, what type of file extensions qualify..what letters do they end in?

Anotherwords, do texture files have a specific format?

Thanks in advance for any input received as this is currently a weak point in my program which I would like to swiftly rectify & put behind me.

A happy 4th to all,

Bruce

[Bob Schneider]

Bruce,

Try this site: www.digitaljuice.com

They have a great selection of high quality and affordable selection of lower thirds, animated backgrounds, etc. that can also be modified.

Bob

[Jaime Espiritu]

I personally use this:

http://www.toolsfortelevision.com/

It's a great tool to teach Photoshop and make lower thirds at the same time.

[Cole McDonald]

A couple of the Digital Juice TV ( http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv ) pieces show bits and pieces of how to put different elements together to make more impressive looking graphics...they recommend theirs...which isn't a bad thing. They rock!