PricingThree effects people mean by “text behind a person”
The phrase covers three different looks. Say which one you want, because each is asked for differently.
| Effect | What you see | How to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Text behind the subject | A title sits between the background and the person, so they appear in front of the words | “Tuck the title behind the hiker” |
| A graphic that follows a moving object | A label rides with a car, product or sign for the whole move and leaves when it does | “Put the model name on the red car” |
| Camera tracking | The shot moves so one detail, such as a face, hand or logo, stays still while the world swings around it | “Camera tracking on his head” |
Real edits with text behind the subject
Shorty edits from the Discovery gallery and from a comparison published in Shorty News. Each caption says what the brief asked for; in every export the subject passes in front of the words or the label stays on the moving object.
FPV explore
FPV travel footage. The brief asked for subject masks so the titles pass behind the whale and the riders, with EXPLORE tracked to the ground.
The Alps
Titles such as SWITZERLAND sit behind the traveller and the mountain. The brief asked for text behind the subject, never covering faces.
Vietnam, day to night
VIETNAM sits behind the cathedral’s spires and SAIGON behind the traveller, as the brief asked.
Captions behind a speaker
A Russian talking head with 3D captions, several tucked behind the speaker. Edited in Shorty with the DeepSeek V4.1 Flash director.
A label tracked to a car
Brief: “Track the blue sports car, write “SHORTY TRACKING” above it and keep a bracket around the whole car.” The label and bracket follow the car and shrink as it drives away.
A strip pinned between the hands
A trend remake: a strip pinned between the hands, with thermal and inverted grades swapping inside it. It stays tracked for the whole clip.
A recorded example: titles behind a hiker
In a comparison published on 18 October 2026, Shorty’s Auto director cut ten seconds of Alps footage to the clip’s own soundtrack with two-word titles tucked behind the hiker or the mountain. Auto passed every check in that comparison. The other director tested put a title across the hiker’s eye in the opening close-up, which is the kind of placement to look for in your own export.
Sources: 16 real edits side by side. One first-party comparison; results depend on your footage and brief.
Brief: “Ten seconds of the Alps cut to the clip’s own soundtrack, with two-word titles and text tucked behind the hiker or the mountain.” Edited by Shorty on Auto. Watch the film
Ask for it in the brief
Name the subject the text should sit behind, the words, and where they should appear. Keep titles short: two or three words read in the time a shot is on screen.
Make a 12-second vertical reel from my clips. On the opening wide shot, tuck the title “SUMMER ’26” behind me so I stand in front of the letters. Later, put one short white word behind me on each of two more shots. Never let text cover my face.
Pin a label to something that moves
Name the object and the text, such as “pin the price to the bottle”. Shorty finds the object, follows its measured position on every frame and moves the title, label, image or shape with it, so the two do not drift apart. When the object comes toward the camera, the graphic grows with it. When it leaves the frame or turns away, the graphic exits with it instead of freezing in place.
Tracked titles can also pass behind the scene: if a pole or a passer-by crosses in front of the car, the words tuck behind and come back out, still riding with it. Object tracking is built for solid things with a clear shape, such as cars, products, signs and buildings; graphics that follow people and faces use their own tracking.
Sources: Graphics that follow moving objects · Camera tracking on any subject. Shorty News release notes for these features.
What to check in the export
Watch the downloaded MP4 on a phone and pause where the text appears.
- The subject is fully in front of the letters, including hair, hands and anything moving fast at the edge.
- No title crosses a face or covers the action the shot is about.
- Each title stays on screen long enough to read.
- Tracked labels stay attached through the whole move and leave with the object.
- If something is off, name the shot and the fix in a revision, such as “move the title lower, behind her shoulders”.
Where Shorty fits and where it does not
Shorty fits when you want the effect inside a finished edit made from your own clips: a travel reel, a product video, a car edit or a lookbook. You describe it; there is no tracking box to draw and no keyframes to fix.
It does not give you a frame-by-frame mask or rotoscoping tool to paint edges yourself. If a shot needs that level of manual compositing, use a dedicated compositing app. Rendering an edit needs an account and credits.