Captions & on-screen text
Title card: definition and examples
What is Title card?
A title card is a screen that displays printed text within a video, used to convey information such as a date, location, speaker name, or narrative context. In short-form video, title cards are used at the start of a clip or between scenes to orient the viewer or set up the content that follows.
When you'd use it
- 1When a clip is divided into sections and each section needs a text label to orient the viewer.
- 2When a video opens with no on-camera subject and requires a text screen to establish the topic.
- 3When a scene shift introduces a new location, date, or speaker that needs explicit labeling.
- 4When the video format is a list or countdown and each item is introduced by its own screen.
- 5When the opening seconds of a clip use text to set up what follows.
Example
A tutorial video about three color grading techniques might open with a card reading "Method 1: Exposure" before showing that segment, then cut to "Method 2: Saturation" and so on. Each card takes about one second and lets the viewer mentally categorize what they are about to watch.
Use cases
- 1Opening a step-by-step tutorial with a numbered title card before each new instruction.
- 2Inserting a location and date screen at the start of a brand event recap clip.
- 3Using a full-frame text screen to introduce each chapter of a longer educational series cut into short segments.
Make on-brand short-form video from the footage you already have.