How to add text and graphics to video

There are lots of ways to add text and graphics to video. 

This is just one way using an open access video editor (for what Econ Films uses – see footnote).

The key thing to note is that text and graphics can be thought of as ‘things’ that go on top of the video. Once you know how to add a ‘thing’ on top of the video, you can apply the same idea to text, graphics and images. 

This tutorial will show you how to use WeVideo. This is Open Access and has been bought by Google. There are many other free video editors for which the same principles will apply.

1. Get hold of WeVideo on Google Chrome. There is a free version that will allow you to make a simple video on your desktop. There are fancier versions if you want to publish online. Link: https://www.wevideo.com/cart#plans?tab=personal
2. Import your video files. Here is a quick how-to from WeVideo: https://wevideo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000364707-Importing-media-overview
3. How to add a graph? Remember, a graph is just a ‘thing’ that goes on top of the video. So, this instruction on ‘How to add a watermark’ will work well. Replace the watermark with an image file of your graph. It even shows you how to remove the colour from the background so that the graph will appear nearly on the background. https://wevideo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/215279678-How-do-I-create-a-watermark-
4. What if I want to resize my graph? Remembering that a graph is just a ‘thing’ on top of the video, we can use the same principles from ‘how to add and resize an image’. https://wevideo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/215521237-How-do-I-overlap-pictures-videos-have-picture-in-picture-and-transform-my-clips-

(Typically, we might expect the graphic to either be full-screen or to the side of the person presenting).

5. What if I want to add text to my video? Or to the graph? https://wevideo.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/211018637-How-do-I-add-text-to-my-video-
6. The Free Version of WeVideo will allow you to export the video, download it and share it. 

There are lots more tutorials online. If you have a technical question, you can be sure that someone on the internet has provided an answer. An excellent place for top quality tutorials is CreativeCow (https://www.creativecow.com/). 

But be warned: the internet is a bottomless pit.