Overview
Kinetic text — text that moves, appears, and disappears in rhythm with audio — is one of the most useful skills in After Effects. This guide teaches the core workflow: keyframes, easing, and overshoot, using a lower-third name title as the practical exercise.
What You Need
- Adobe After Effects (part of Creative Cloud)
- A font — Syne or DM Sans work well for modern titles
- Optional: our Kinetic Timing Calculator for BPM-synced animation
Steps
Create a new composition
Go to Composition → New Composition. Set: Width 1920, Height 1080, Frame Rate 25fps (or your project's frame rate), Duration 10s. This is your working canvas. Compositions are like sequences in Premiere — you'll nest them into your main video timeline at the end.
Add and style a text layer
Press T to activate the Text tool. Click in the composition window and type your text (e.g. "John Smith / Creative Director"). In the Character panel, set your font, size, and colour. Press V to switch back to the Selection tool. Position the text in the lower third of the frame (roughly 80% down from the top). Press Ctrl+Alt+Home to centre the anchor point on the text layer.
Set keyframes for position and opacity
With the text layer selected, press P to reveal Position, and T to reveal Opacity (hold Shift to reveal both). Move the playhead to 0:00. Click the stopwatch next to Position to add a keyframe with the text 30px below its final position. Click the stopwatch next to Opacity and set it to 0%. Move the playhead to 0:15 (15 frames). Set Position to the final position and Opacity to 100%. These two keyframes create a slide-up fade-in.
Apply easing in the Graph Editor
Select both keyframes (click the first, Shift-click the second). Right-click → Keyframe Assistant → Easy Ease (shortcut: F9). This applies an "ease in and ease out" — the animation accelerates from the start and decelerates to the end, rather than moving at a constant mechanical speed. Open the Graph Editor (Shift+F3) to fine-tune the curve: drag the right handle up to create a faster initial move that settles gently.
Add overshoot for energy
Overshoot means the text moves slightly past its target position before settling back — like a rubber band. After the ease-in keyframe (at 0:15), add a new Position keyframe at 0:20 set 5px above the final position, then a final keyframe at 0:25 back at the exact final position. This creates a bounce. Adjust the timing: faster overshoot = snappier feel. Use our Kinetic Timing Calculator to calculate frame timings at any BPM.
Export as Motion Graphics Template or video
To export as a video clip for use in other NLEs: Composition → Add to Render Queue → Output Module: QuickTime ProRes 4444 with alpha (for transparent background). To export as a .mogrt Motion Graphics Template for Premiere Pro: Composition → Export → Motion Graphics Template. The .mogrt file lets editors swap text in Premiere without opening After Effects.
Pro Tips
- Use the Value Graph (not Speed Graph) in the Graph Editor for position animations — it shows exactly where the property is at every frame, making overshoots visible and editable.
- Group related text layers in a pre-comp (select layers → Layer → Pre-compose) to animate them as a single unit.
- Use our Lower Third Builder to preview broadcast title styles before building them in After Effects.