text colour advice?

[Keebler]

Hi,

I'm producing a family biography which contains both video and stills.
I didn't do the original interviewing and there are a ton of questions asked. I have painstakingly gone through and detailed the questions. Now i have grouped various questions.

In the editing process, I think it's best to edit the interviewer's voice out and just put text titles instead of the questions. These titles are not direct quotes of the questions in hopes of creating a better 'flow' to the project.

so my long winded question:

I have a black matte at the bottom...approx. 1/3 or just a bit less of the screen to accomodate longer questions. It is about 50% opacity...enough to see underneath, but not overpowering.

what colour should i use for the text titles? I know black is not good and white isn't preferred. I tried yellow with a slight black border, but i didn't like how the yellow looked upon playback on my ntsc monitor.

Any thoughts? or should i use a white text with black border and a different colour for the matte? (of course taking into consideration the rest of the colours in the footage (static of 2 ppl on a couch).

any creative help would be great. i'm at a loss for some reason

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

A screenshot could prove quite useful in this thread. You could go with a white semi-transparent matte, too...which would allow you to use a wider range of colors for the text. Why is white not preferred, exactly?

 

[Mydriasis]

You can use white and black. Just make sure they are video save.

There are lots of wonderful explanations of color theory all over the internet, just do a search. But if you want it quick and easy... just sample one of the dominate colors in your footage.

EDIT: oh yeah and remember you want the text to stand out and be easily read. Our are eyes go first to... highest contrast, brightest and then warmest.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I'd say white or yellow text (there is a reason those are pretty much the only colors used for sub titles).


Lethal