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A highlight effect puts a coloured marker stroke behind a line of text and wipes in across it, just like a real highlighter. In this tutorial you will highlight text in Premiere Pro with a zoom, a simple rectangle shape, a blend mode and a Wipe effect, which is perfect for screenshots, articles and explainer videos.
Watch the tutorial
Step 1: Zoom in on the text
Start with your screenshot or text clip on the timeline. Select the clip, open Effect Controls and click the stopwatch next to Position and Scale to create the first keyframes.
Move the playhead a little further along the timeline, then increase Scale and adjust Position until the text you want to highlight fills more of the screen. The point of the zoom is to make the text easy to read, so it is a good idea to push in until it clearly is.
Step 2: Ease the zoom keyframes
A linear zoom looks mechanical, so smooth it out. Select both keyframes, right-click one of them, choose Temporal Interpolation and click Ease In. Then right-click again, go to Temporal Interpolation once more and choose Ease Out. The zoom now starts slowly, speeds up and settles gently at the end.
Smoother with EaseFlow: select the keyframes and apply a real easing curve in one click instead of dragging Bezier handles. See EaseFlow
Step 3: Draw a rectangle over the text
Now make the marker itself. In the toolbar next to the timeline, click the Rectangle Tool. If you cannot see it, click and hold the shape tool with your mouse until the small menu opens, and select Rectangle Tool from the list (it sits with the Ellipse Tool and Polygon Tool).
Go to the Program Monitor and drag out a shape that covers the text you want to highlight. At this point the shape hides the text completely, which is fine, because the blend mode will fix that in a moment. A new graphic layer appears on the track above your clip.
Step 4: Choose the highlight colour
Select the graphic layer in the timeline and open Effect Controls. Expand Shape 1 and click the colour swatch next to Fill. The Color Picker opens. Choose the colour of your marker, for example a bright yellow like a real highlighter, and click OK.
Step 5: Set the blend mode to Darken or Multiply
Still in Effect Controls, scroll down to the Opacity section. Open the Blend Mode dropdown, which is set to Normal, and change it to Darken or Multiply. Pick whichever looks better on your footage.
These modes let the dark letters show through the colour, so the text appears to sit on top of the marker instead of underneath a solid block.
Step 6: Animate the highlight with a Wipe
The highlight is in place, but it simply pops on. To make it sweep across the text, open the Effects panel and search for Wipe. Open Video Transitions > Wipe and drag the Wipe transition onto the start of the graphic layer in the timeline.
Faster with BetterFX: skip the Effects panel. Press your BetterFX shortcut, type the first letters of Wipe and press Enter to apply it to the selected clip. Get BetterFX
Play it back and the yellow stroke now draws itself from left to right. To change the speed, drag the edge of the transition on the timeline or change the Wipe duration. A shorter wipe gives a fast, punchy highlight and a longer one a calmer, more relaxed stroke.
Tips
- Keep the colour bright. Yellow, light green and pink work best with the Darken and Multiply blend modes, since very dark colours hide the text.
- Match the shape to the text. Make the rectangle a little taller and wider than the words so the marker looks hand-drawn and generous.
- Highlight several lines. Copy the graphic layer, move it down to the next line and offset it a few frames, so the highlights appear one after another.
FAQ
How do I highlight text in Premiere Pro?
Draw a rectangle shape over the text, set its fill to a highlighter colour, change the blend mode to Darken or Multiply, and add a Wipe transition so it animates in.
Why does my highlight hide the text?
The blend mode is still Normal. Change it to Darken or Multiply in the Opacity section of Effect Controls.
Can I use the same method for a text layer or a screenshot?
Yes. The highlight is a separate shape on its own track, so it works over a screenshot, a website capture or a title from the Essential Graphics panel.
Want more ways to animate your text? Check out the Ultimate Text Preset Pack for ready-made text animations in Premiere Pro.
