You may at one point be tasked to create a name plate for an interview, or a lower third. If you have done this before, or do it on a regular basis, you probably have a bunch of tricks to knock them out at a great pace. You may even have an arsenal of templates file that you can bust out at any time.

But what if you don’t? What if you wan to knock off a super quick and simple lower third? One that you can control with a single null in the scene, and some effect controls for color, size, angle, etc.

Here, Daniel Brodesky shows how you can knock together a really simple and quick lower third using a null, some effect controls and a bit of expressions in After Effects. The lower third can be controlled by moving the null on the screen. This makes it really easy to wipe or draw the lower third on and off the screen.

The effect controls for the lower third rig, will allow you to alter the color, size, and angle of the leading edge.

Download the Simple, Quick Lower Third Project File.

The tutorial is filled with great techniques within After Effects, that can easily be used for more than just simple lower thirds. However, Daniel makes the project file for this tutorial available free to use. Find the Quick and easy Lower Third After Effects Project here.