Lower third

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the band, see
The Lower Third.
For the music venue now known as The Lower Third, see 12 Bar Club
.

A screenshot of an Al Jazeera English news programme showing Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in 2011. A lower third at the bottom of the screen identifies him and explains the context of the broadcast.

In the

title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests.[1]

In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text overlaying the video. Frequently this text is white with a drop shadow to make the words easier to read. A lower third can also contain graphical elements such as boxes, images or shading. Some lower thirds have animated backgrounds and text.

Lower thirds can be created using basic home-

alpha channel to determine what parts of the graphic or text should be transparent
, allowing the video in the background to show through.

Terminology

Lower thirds are also often known as "CG" (from

UK
).

Video with lower thirds is known as a program as broadcast or dirty. Video without lower thirds is known as a clean feed or textless.[3] For international distribution programs often include textless elements on the master tape: these are all the shots that lower thirds and digital on-screen graphics have been applied to, placed end-to-end so engineers can make a clean master if necessary.

Tiers

Lower thirds are usually arranged in tiers, or lines:

  • One-tier lower thirds: Usually used to identify a story that is being shown, or to show a presenter's name.
  • Two-tier lower thirds: Used most often to identify a person on screen. Often, the person's name appears on the first line, with their place of residence or a description below that. Two-tier lower thirds may also be used as "locators" to identify where a story is taking place.
  • Three-tier lower thirds: These lower thirds add more information. Commonly, the first tier is used to tell when the video was shot, if it was not shot the day the
    newscast is airing.[4]

Further elements

An example of a scrolling news ticker at the bottom of a lower third

Lower thirds increasingly include elements such as

stock quotes, or sports scores.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Atkinson, Claire (11 August 2008). "The battle for the lower third". Broadcasting & Cable. New Bay Media. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  2. ^ See this usage in The New York Times blogs, for instance, [1].
  3. ISBN 978-1-317-90818-0
    .
  4. ^ "Best Banner & Lower Third Competition". color tape international. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  5. ^ Montgomery, Mark (April 2010). "Tips for Lower Third Titles". Videomaker.
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