Web Development: How to Make a Motion Opener: Text Animation in Premiere Pro (Free Template)

Friday, August 21, 2020

How to Make a Motion Opener: Text Animation in Premiere Pro (Free Template)

An opener is used to achieve a few important things: it's a reminder to your audience that they're watching part of a series, a way to create a tone for your video, and keeps people watching as you ease them into the rest of your story, broadcast, or episode. In this tutorial you'll learn how to use Envato Elements and free Premiere Pro templates from Mixkit to quickly make simple, attractive opener for your own videos.

Opener Templates

There are many aspects that go into creating a video that receives high traffic and visibility, and the opener makes your video recognizable. Think of some of your favourite shows: the intro is usually formatted in a similar way. A cold open scene, or, if drama is high, a recap from the previous episode. This is followed by the series opening sequence used throughout the season, with theme music, leading into the start of the next episode. Each intro sequence is special to that show and has a distinct look, feel, and sound.

Top Templates From Envato Elements

Free tools are great, and we'll put one to use, but from time to time you might want a more advanced template; check out the premium templates at Envato Elements, where everything is included in one subscription. Elements includes everything you need to make amazing videos, like thousands of templates and millions of stock items like photos, music, video clips, fonts, and creative courses from Envato Tuts+.

Here's one of our top picks: Parallax Slideshow is a well designed template for Premiere Pro that has a sophisticated edge to it. Create an opener that brings your audience closer with smooth transitions and movement that feels like your are diving into something important.

Free Opener Templates From Mixkit

Mixkit is a great resource for free simple and easy-to-use templates. Below we go into detail about downloading, accessing, and creating your own amazing opener using Kinetic Motion Opener, a high impact opening sequence that you can customize to fit your every need.

Kinetic Motion Opener (1920x1080) gives you a great starting point to create and edit your own amazing opening sequence. With this free template you’ll be able to mix and match your favourite text animations and stills over any of your favourite media.

Create a Motion Opener in Premiere Pro

Before We Start

You Will Need:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2020 Installed
A project with at least one sequence (video or still)
Your favourite .prproj file downloaded from Mixkit. In this case, Kinetic Motion Opener

Video Template Tips

Templates are an amazing starting point, but make sure to play around and tweak parameters to suit your project, creating something new that's personal and adapted to your project. Try starting with templates that don't require plug-ins, and if you're using many different templates across different projects, remember to be organized and keep them in relevant, well-labelled folders.

Confidence is key, so go slow and be easy on yourself. Try a no-pressure test project to learn the ins and outs of the template before you have to produce your final project.

Be consistent, and concise. Keep your intro sequence clear and to the point for maximum resonance.

1. Download the Template

Head over to Mixkit and follow the instructions to download Kinetic Motion Opener to your computer.

2. Add Project Files to Premiere Pro

A .prproj file is a video project created by Adobe Premiere Pro, in this case a template which also stores project settings. Locate your download, and open your project in Premiere Pro.

Click file-import-mixkit-399.prproj from the top bar. It’s as simple as that. If you get a "missing media" alert, click Locate, then find where you’ve saved the template folder and click Search to reconnect your media.

3. Edit The Template

It's time to build your opener! In this tutorial we are using the bin Assests-Nest-Title-18+19 as the demo, though the same process can be applied to the media within other bins. The template is organized well and is very easy to use and get the hang of. That being said, if you haven’t used a nested sequence, that could be a little confusing at first, but it’s easy once you know.

I've added a screen shot of my workspace below, where can see and access the nested files as well as showing you the adjustable parameters. What's editable will vary by template, but in this case we have colour, size, font, and positions.

What is a nested clip? Think Russian nesting dolls. A nested clip is a series of sequences that collapse into one another, which is handy for organizing graphics and effects. A nested sequence is a still regular, editable sequence that you can open by double-clicking:

Double-click the nested sequence clip in the Timeline.
In this case, you’ll be presented with one or more clips, one for each word that moves independently of the other.
Double-click one of the options from your Timeline and you’ll be able to edit that piece.
To help you toggle back and forth within the nested sequence, a tab will appear above your timeline every time you go further into the nest.

4. Export Your Video

And that's it, now you can export your video. If you're unsure about this step, this tutorial has everything you need to know to get the best results: