Adding Chyrons

If you are in J415 and are posting a story to the Web that has video with interviews and B-roll, you will need to identify the people being interviewed and the location of where you shot your B-roll. You do this with a chyron. To maintain consistency, you will not create your own chyrons, nor will you add text chyrons in Final Cut. You will download and edit the J415 Chyron.

  1. You must use Firefox to open this file!!!
    Download the J415 Chyron to the desktop

  2. Open the .psd in Photoshop.

  3. Notice that all of the layers are locked except for Name and Title. These are the only layers you will edit. For an interview chyron you will simply put the interviewee’s name in the Name layer and the interviewee’s title in the Title field. For information on locater chyrons check out the style guide for locations.

  4. Click on the Name layer in the Layers palette.
    The layers palette in Photoshop

  5. Click on the Type tool in the Tools palette.
    The text edit tool in Photoshop

  6. Now you can highlight and change the text in the Name layer.

  7. When you finish editing the name text, click on the Title layer in the Layers palette.

  8. Make sure that you again click on the Type tool in the Tools palette. When switching between layers, it is possible for your tools to switch as well.
    The text edit tool in Photoshop

  9. Now you can highlight and change the text in the Title layer.

  10. When you finish editing the title text, click File -> Save for Web.

  11. Make sure you choose PNG-8 in the preset box, and make sure the transparency box is checked.
    Saving a chyron in Photoshop

  12. Click Save

  13. Be sure to give the chyron a unique name and save it to the desktop.

  14. Now you need to import your chyron into Final Cut. Open up your saved video in Final Cut.

  15. Click File -> Import -> Files.

  16. Browse to your saved chyron and click Choose.

  17. Your chyron should now appear in the Browser window of Final Cut.

  18. Click and drag your chyron down to the timeline. You should position your chyron to begin at the beginning of an interview and it should stay on the screen for three seconds. If it is a locater chyron, it should begin one second after your shot comes on to the screen and should last for three seconds, or the duration of the shot. (put in a video example)

  19. Repeat steps 15-18 for all of your chyrons.