Supers / On-Screen Text

What is it?

A super (from "superimpose") is editorial text placed over the picture: the quoted statistic, the pulled-out sentence, the date and location stamp, the "EXCLUSIVE" tag, the question being discussed. It's the umbrella term for on-screen text that isn't captioning speech and isn't a name strap — text added because the production wants something stated visually, in writing, with emphasis.

Practical example

A documentary moment: as the interviewee describes the layoffs, a stark line fades up over the b-roll — "14,000 jobs were cut that winter." The voice carries the human story; the super delivers the verified number, with the weight of print. News uses supers constantly (the location stamp "TEHRAN, TUESDAY"; the quote of the official statement on screen as the anchor reads it); creator video inherited the move as the bold claim or punchline text popping up mid-video. The super's authority is the point: spoken words pass, written words assert.

Key things to know (non-technical)

• The job division on a busy screen: captions transcribe, lower-thirds identify, tickers scroll the parallel feed — supers editorialize: they're the production's own voice in text.
• Less is the discipline: a super lands because it's occasional; screens cluttered with constant text statements numb the device.
• Verification weight: putting a number or quote in writing on screen is a stronger claim than saying it — newsroom standards treat supers as published statements.
• Design consistency applies: supers belong to the show's graphics package (font, color, animation), not ad-hoc text boxes.

In Tupic Live

Supers in Tupic Live are the quick-text tool of the graphics panel: type a line mid-show — the stat, the quote, the question — and fire it on screen in the brand's styling; combined with the pinned-comment card, it gives creators the full vocabulary of text-as-statement that produced television runs on.