Lower thirds
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In the television industry (especially in North America), lower thirds refer to graphics that take up the lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third portion of the screen as the name suggests.
Lower thirds are most commonly found in television news production, though they also appear in documentaries and even have begun to make appearances in amateur videos thanks to home video editing.
In their simplest form, lower thirds can just be text overlaid the video. Frequently this text is white with a drop shadow to make the words easier to read. Lower thirds 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 video editing software or professional level equipment. This equipment makes use of video's alpha channel to determine what parts of the graphic or text should be transparent, allowing the video in the background to show through. The Chyron Corporation and Aston Broadcast Systems Ltd. are major manufacturers of such equipment; as such, lower-thirds are also often known as chyrons in North America, and astons in the United Kingdom. Other names include supers (short for superimpose) and font.
Lower thirds are usually arranged in tiers, or lines:
- One-tier lower thirds: Usually used to identify a story that's 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 will appear on the first line, with his or her place of residence or a description below it. 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.
Lower thirds are often called "superbars" in the US and "name straps" in the UK.
Video with lower thirds is known as a "programme as broadcast", video without lower thirds is known as a "clean feed".
[edit] In popular culture
The U.S. television series Murphy Brown and NewsRadio showed their credits in the form of lower thirds, alluding to the shows' themes.
