Then type the word BEN, and click anywhere in the timeline window, to finalize your text. You will notice that the name of the text layer becomes BEN, or whatever you typed. You will also notice that the Anchor Point for the text layer defaults to the lower left corner (it looks like a small crosshair). We want to move that to the center. Choose the Pan Behind Tool by pressing the shortcut key Y. Then click and drag the Anchor Point to the center of the word BEN.

Now we are going to create the next text layer for the word AND by right clicking in the timeline window and choosing New, then Text. Change the font color to white and type AND. Go down to the timeline window and drag your new layer to the bottom, because we want it to be behind the word BEN. We are going to scale the word AND up very large in order to position the word BEN within it. So highlight the AND layer and press the S key to open the Scale property. Click on the number 100 and type in 5000 and press ENTER. Switch back to the selection tool by pressing the V key and click and drag the word AND until we have the word BEN position where we want it. I am going to position it in the upper left corner of the letter N in AND. I also want the word BEN to be at a different angle, so click on the BEN layer and press R for Rotation and change the Rotation to 90 degrees.

Now we need to parent the word BEN to AND. In the Parent Panel in the timeline click and drag the pick whip from the BEN layer to the AND layer.

So now the word BEN is parented to AND, any transformations we make on the word AND will happen to BEN. (NOTE: If the parent panel is not visible, click the timeline options button, it looks like a triangle, and go to Columns and select Parent)

We also want to change the Anchor Point of the word AND to be centered over the word BEN, so that when we zoom in, it will zoom right in to the word BEN. Select the AND layer and zoom out in your preview window to 3.1% so that you can see the Anchor Point of the AND layer.

Switch to the Pan Behind Tool by pressing the Y key and drag the Anchor Point over the word BEN, then zoom back in and fine-tune it. Now go back to the Scale property of the word AND, and scale it back down to 100%

Now we are going to do the same thing to the remaining words. Create a new text layer, change the color to black, and type BROOKE. Drag it to the bottom of the layers, press S to open it’s Scale property and scale it up to 5000%. Switch back to the selection tool (press the V key) and move the word BROOKE so that the word AND is positioned inside the letter K in BROOKE. (I chose the lower leg of the K, see screenshot 7) We want AND to match the angle of the leg in the letter K, so open the Rotation property of the word AND, and change the Rotation to 76 degrees.

Now parent AND to the word BROOKE, by dragging AND’s pick whip to the BROOKE layer.

Select the BROOKE layer and change the Anchor Point to be positioned over the word AND. Zoom out the preview window to 1.5%, so you can see the whole layer and switch to the Pan Behind Tool by pressing Y and drag BROOKE’s Anchor Point over the word AND. Then scale BROOKE back down to 100%Now the last word is done the same way. Create a new text layer; change the color to white, and type STARRING. Drag it to the bottom of the layers, press S to open Scale and scale it up to 5000%. Switch back to the selection tool and move the word STARRING so that the word BROOKE is positioned inside the letter A in STARRING. (I chose right below the hole, see screenshot 9) We want BROOKE upside down, so open the Rotation property of the word BROOKE and change the Rotation to 180 degrees.

Now parent BROOKE to the word STARRING, by dragging BROOKE’s pick whip to the STARRING layer. Select the STARRING layer and change the Anchor Point for the word STARRING to be positioned over the word BROOKE. Zoom out the preview window to about 1.5% and switch to the Pan Behind Tool by pressing Y and drag the Anchor Point over the word BROOKE, then scale STARRING back down to 100%.

Now we are ready to start animating. Let’s begin with the word STARRING a little larger, so change the Scale up to about 167% and move it more towards the center with the selection tool. Now move your timeline marker out to 1:00, this is where the animation will start. The properties we want to animate are Anchor Point, Scale and Rotation. So select the STARRING layer and press the S key, then press SHIFT-A, and SHIFT-R. (NOTE: pressing SHIFT and the shortcut key will allow you to have multiple properties open at once) Click the stopwatches for the three properties to start the animation.

Move the timeline marker to 2:00 and adjust the Scale property to about 10,000% and it should zoom right into the word BROOKE. (NOTE: if it doesn’t, you didn’t have the STARRING layer’s Anchor Point over BROOKE) Now change the Rotation to 180 degrees, so that the word BROOKE is right side up.

We can also adjust the Anchor Point so that the word is more centered. (HINT: You can click and drag over the property values to adjust them, and by adding the CRTL modifier key, it will adjust the numbers in smaller increments. This will help with scrubbing the Anchor Point values. Conversely, if you hold down SHIFT while dragging the values, it will adjust the numbers in larger increments. This is helpful when scrubbing the Scale value)

Now we want to switch control of the zoom from the STARRING layer to the BROOKE layer, and in order to keep our hierarchy of parenting, we will need to split the STARRING layer. To split the STARRING layer at the current time marker, press CTRL-SHIFT-D. We now have two STARRING layers; we need to re-parent the top STARRING layer to BROOKE, so that it will now control all the layers. Click and drag STARRING 2’s pick whip to the BROOKE layer.

Select the BROOKE layer and open the properties we want to animate by pressing A, SHIFT-S, SHIFT-R, this will open Anchor Point, Scale, and Rotation, respectively. Now move the timeline marker to 3:00 and turn on the stopwatches for the three open properties of the BROOKE layer. Move the timeline marker to 4:00 and ramp up the Scale to about 167%, adjust the Rotation so that the word AND is right side up and adjust the Anchor Point as necessary to center the word AND.

Great, now we want to switch control to the next word, AND, so we need to split the BROOKE layer by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-D. Now parent the top BROOKE layer to the word AND.

We will use the same process for the next words. Select the AND layer, open the properties, Anchor Point, Scale and Rotation. Move the timeline marker to 5:00, and turn on the stopwatches. Move the timeline marker to 6:00 and adjust your Scale, Rotation, and Anchor Point, so that we are zoomed into the word BEN, right side up and centered. Now split the layer AND, by pressing CRTL-SHIFT-D and then parent the top AND layer to BEN. So now the word BEN is controlling the animation. Select the layer BEN, and open the properties, Anchor Point, Scale and Rotation. Move the time marker to 7:00, start the stopwatches, and move the marker to 8:00.

This time we are just going to zoom into all black so that we can transition to the next segment of video. So adjust the Scale, Rotation, and Anchor Point so that the entire screen is filled with black.

Now we are finished animating. You can preview your animation by pressing the zero key on the number pad. Great, everything looks perfect. Remember to change the background color back to another color, in this example we would change it back to black. You can enhance this animation by turning on the motion blur for all your layers. And that concludes our tutorial, have fun experimenting with this technique.