How to Add a Name Lower-Third That Doesn't Cover the Face

Anyone cutting a talking-head can add a name lower-third in 12 minutes that sits in the lower fifth and never covers the mouth. Do it in CapCut, Descript, or any editor before a full-width bar hides the face.

A name lower-third is a caption for a person, not a banner. If the mouth disappears, you covered the face. If the bar sells, you wrote a hero on the chin.

This is not cutting a talking-head into a 15-second hook. A hook is a claim with a clock. This skill is type after the first syllable is already true. Do not recrop the person like an AI headshot for LinkedIn and then paste a fat bar back over the chin. Save the two-line stack as a skill prompt you can rerun.

Place a name lower-third that leaves the face

1. Name the person, the role, and the safe zone

Play the take once. Pause on a frame where both eyes, the mouth, and both cheeks are visible. Write the stack on paper. Not "lower third, modern, clean."

Write three facts: full name as they say it, role in five words or fewer, which fifth of the frame has air under the chin.

If the chin already kisses the bottom edge, recrop. Eyes in the upper third. Air under the chin.

Banned: subscribe, follow, watch now, thought leader, visionary, full-width gradient, logo lockup in this pass.

2. Two lines. Name, then role. No slogan

In CapCut, Descript, or any editor, type two lines only.

Line one is the name. Line two is the role: "Editor, PromptCrates" or "Finance lead, North plant." Not a bio. Not a URL.

Good: "Priya Shah" / "Vendor ops." Bad: "Priya Shah | Helping teams unlock their potential." Potential is a landing hero glued to a chin.

3. Sit it in the lower fifth, left or right, never on the mouth

Place the stack in the lower fifth of the frame. Left third or right third. Not center if the mouth is center. Not a bar that spans the width.

Keep a gap between the highest type and the chin. If the gap is gone, shrink the type. Do not drop the bar over the lips.

Check 16:9 and 9:16 as real exports, not a preview that lies. Vertical is where a "safe" desktop bar covers the face.

4. Hold three to five seconds, then take it off

Start the name lower-third after the first word of the claim, not on the hello you already cut. Hold it long enough to read: three to five seconds. Hard out. Do not fade it into the rest of the lecture.

If the clip is 15 seconds, the type should be gone by 0:08. A name that stays is a watermark. Do not animate a wipe across the face. A four-frame fade in is enough. A bounce is a sticker pack.

5. One mute-on pass on both aspect ratios, then stop

Watch once with sound off, 16:9, then 9:16. Can you still see both eyes, the mouth, and both cheeks? Watch once with sound on. Does the name match the speaker?

Check three traps:

• A full-width bar, even at 40 percent opacity, that still eats the chin
• A role line that is a slogan, or a logo that covers a cheek
• Type that stays after five seconds, or a crop that never had air under the chin

Fix placement in the editor. Do not send the frame to ChatGPT for a punchier title. If you need more air, recrop. Stop.

Reusable skill card

Trigger: You are about to drop a full-width name bar on a talking-head and the chin already sits on the bottom edge.

Input: One take with air under the chin, a name, a role in five words or fewer, a stack in the lower fifth, a three-to-five-second clock.

Output: A name lower-third. Two lines. Face still visible on 16:9 and 9:16. Off by five seconds. No slogan. No logo in this pass.

Stop: After one mute-on pass on both aspect ratios. No full-width bar. No watermark. No bounce.

Takeaways

• Lower fifth, two lines, air under the chin. Then export.
• A full-width bar is a banner. A name lower-third is a small stack.
• Three to five seconds, then off. A name that never leaves is a watermark.
• Check 9:16. Desktop-safe is where vertical covers the mouth.