How to Create a Color Text Transition in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019

Transitions set the mood between scenes. Some are subtle and smooth, others are bold and energetic. The color text transition falls into the bold category. A full-screen rectangle fills with animated color changes while text sits in the center, then it wipes away to reveal the next clip. It is great for intros, chapter markers, location titles, and anywhere you want to inject some energy between scenes.

The best part is you can save it as a Motion Graphics Template and reuse it across projects with a single drag and drop. Today we go over how to create a color text transition in Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

How to Create a Color Text Transition

Creating the Background

1. In your sequence, go to Graphics > New Layer > Rectangle (or use the Rectangle Tool from the toolbar).
2. Drag the rectangle to the top-left corner, then stretch it to cover the entire frame.
3. In Effect Controls, find the shape layer. Go to Fill and change the color to whatever you want as the starting color.

Adding the Text

4. Select the Type Tool (T) and click on the graphics layer in the Program Monitor. Make sure you have the graphics layer selected so the text is added to the same layer.
5. Type your text (a location name, chapter title, or anything relevant to the transition).
6. Open the Essential Graphics panel (Window > Essential Graphics).
7. Click on the text element and set the alignment to center.
8. Under Align and Transform, click both the Horizontal Center and Vertical Center buttons. The text is now perfectly centered over the colored background.

Animating the Color Changes

9. In Effect Controls, find the shape layer and go to the Appearance section.
10. Move the playhead to the beginning of the graphics layer. Click the stopwatch next to the Fill color to enable keyframe animation.
11. Move forward about 10 frames. Click the fill color and change it to a new color. Tip: when picking colors, only move the right-side color bar (the hue strip) and keep the main picker in the same position. This keeps all your colors at a similar brightness and saturation so they look cohesive.
12. Repeat every 10 frames with a new color, about 5-6 times total. This creates a rapid color-cycling animation during the transition.

Saving as a Template

13. Right click on the graphics layer in the timeline and select Export as Motion Graphics Template.
14. Name it something recognizable and click OK.
15. It is now saved in the My Templates section of the Essential Graphics panel. You can drag it onto any future project.

Quickly Changing All Colors

16. If you want to shift the entire color scheme at once, go to the Effects panel and search for Color Balance (HLS). Drag it onto the graphics layer.
17. In Effect Controls, find the Color Balance effect. Drag the Hue slider in either direction to rotate all the colors simultaneously. You can also adjust Lightness and Saturation to affect the overall mood.

Tips

• Time it to the music. If the color changes sync up with the beat, the transition feels much more intentional and polished. Check out how to edit footage to a beat for techniques on beat-synced editing.
• Use it between scenes. Place the transition graphics layer between two clips. Have it appear for about 1-2 seconds, then cut to the next scene.
• Combine with text animations. Instead of having the text appear statically, animate it with a reveal for extra polish.
• Try different speeds. Faster color changes (5 frames apart) feel energetic and playful. Slower changes (20 frames apart) feel more elegant.

That is how you create a color text transition in Premiere Pro. Once it is saved as a template, you have a reusable, customizable transition ready for any project.