Animated text for Reels

To make animated text for Instagram Reels, start from a kinetic text template and change the words, or describe each word's entrance, timing and size to Claude Code. Keep entrances between 0.25 and 0.6 s, give every word about 0.3 s of reading time, and set headlines at 72 px or more on the 1080 x 1920 canvas.

Text that moves to carry meaning is called kinetic typography. In a HyperFrames video it is built from code: each word gets a start time, a movement and an ease on one timeline, so it renders the same way every time.

Pick the motion that fits the message

Different motions say different things, and the Motion Cheat Code pack has a template for each common one. The words, and in most of them the colors, are variables you change in one sentence.

A few details worth knowing:

• t01 sizes each word to fill its column. The third word is the punch, so put your key word there.
• t08 lands its words on a 124 BPM grid, so it lines up with the kit's 124 BPM house loop.
• t07 looks random, but every glitch comes from a seeded value, so it glitches the same way on every render.
• t26 looks best with one short word; the tagline is a separate variable.
• t33 is transparent. Render it as a WebM with an alpha channel and lay it over a talking-head clip at the moment you say the word.

Time it so people can read it

Motion that is too fast turns into noise. The templates follow these house rules, and so can anything you build:

• Entrances take 0.25 to 0.6 s with an ease-out: a fast start and a soft landing. See easing.
• Exits are faster than entrances, 0.15 to 0.3 s.
• Never more than three things start at the same instant. Stagger words 0.04 to 0.12 s apart instead.
• Reading time is about 0.3 s per word, and every screen stays up at least 1.2 s.
• Hold the last frame 0.8 to 1.2 s so the message lands before the reel replays.
• No still stretch longer than 0.6 s anywhere else. Something small should keep moving.

A five-word statement therefore needs about 1.5 s of reading time after the last word lands, not just the half second it takes to animate in.

Size it for a phone

On a 1080-wide canvas, headlines are 72 px and up, body text and captions at least 44 px, and short labels 28 px. Bold, heavy or condensed fonts read best at speed. Keep every word inside the safe box, x 60 to 940 and y 250 to 1440, because the app's buttons and caption cover the rest. The safe zones guide explains each edge.

Long words are the usual problem. The templates scale text to fit its box; in your own builds, ask for the same, for example "fit each word to 820 px wide".

Add sound on the arrivals

Text with sound on its arrivals feels heavier. Put a short hit on the frame where a word lands, start a fast whoosh about 0.2 s before a word slides in, and keep effects to about two per second. The templates come with their sounds placed: t01 uses impacts and a fast whoosh, and t33 a pop on the way in and a quieter one on the way out. The method is in adding sound effects on the beat.

Write the prompt

With a template, one sentence is enough:

Use t01. Change the three words to "NOBODY", "TELLS", "YOU", the small print to "TIP 07" and "WATCH TILL THE END", and the slash color to #FF2E93. Render.

To build your own, give the same details the templates are made of: the words, when each one arrives, how it moves, its size, the colors and the sound.

Make a 6-second kinetic text reel with HyperFrames, 1080x1920, 30 fps.
Words: "POST" "IT" "BEFORE" "YOU'RE" "READY", one at a time, stacked and left-aligned.
Each word rises out of a mask in 0.35 s with an ease-out, 0.48 s apart.
The last word lands in a yellow box and the frame punches in once.
Headlines 180 px, white on a dark background, inside x 60 to 940, y 250 to 1440.
A fast whoosh just before each word, one impact when the box lands.
Hold the last frame 1 s. Run check, look at snapshots, then render.

To change a word later, say so; nothing else moves. For text over your own footage, see transparent overlays for video editors.

Where to start

The free starter kit has three prompts and one template, so you can try this loop today. The five text templates above are in the full pack, among 60 templates in total.