Lower Third

What this is about

It is the most standardised graphic element in factual video, and the standardisation is the point: viewers know where to look and read it without effort. The timing convention is to bring it in one to two seconds after the person begins speaking, so the face registers first. Framing matters at the shoot, because a speaker composed too low leaves no space for the graphic. Repeat appearances usually get a second, shorter card only if a long stretch has passed since the first.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• Bring it in one to two seconds after the person starts speaking, not on the first frame
• Leave room in the framing at the shoot; a subject placed too low collides with the graphic
• Keep one template for the whole film — changing style between speakers reads as sloppiness

With TillyGen

Names and job titles gathered during planning in TillyGen reach the edit as text rather than as something typed from memory the night before.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.