How to make a text message video for TikTok, Reels and Shorts (free)

A text story is a video of a conversation: bubbles arrive one at a time, somebody is typing, somebody is about to regret it. It is one of the cheapest formats in short video, because the production budget is a script. This guide makes one in Text Message Animator: you type the chat, it animates it, and you lay the result over whatever footage plays behind it.

Make it in six steps

1. 1Write the conversation. Add lines as Them or Me: up to 40 messages of 280 characters each. You can reorder and delete lines, and Swap sides turns Them into Me, for when the story works better from the other phone.
2. 2Pick a style. There are 19, each with a light and a dark theme. The next section says which one fits which story.
3. 3Set the frame. 9:16 is 1080×1920 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, 1:1 is 1080×1080, and 16:9 is 1920×1080. Then set the text size, and the position: top, middle or bottom. In 16:9 you can also align the chat left, centre or right.
4. 4Set the rhythm. A typing… bubble appears before their replies; you can switch it off. The pace slider runs from slower to faster. The typing bubble does not mean anyone is typing. It means you told it to appear, which is more than most people get.
5. 5Choose the background. Transparent, to lay the chat over footage; or green screen (#00B140), for an editor that prefers to key.
6. 6Export. The WebM is recorded in real time, so the export lasts as long as the chat does. Let it finish before you close anything.

Write a chat people finish

• Start with the problem. The first bubble should make someone ask what happens next. «hey» does not.
• One message, one idea. Short bubbles pop in quickly and read at a glance.
• Let the pause do the work. A reply that lands badly after one that landed well is funnier with the typing bubble in between.
• Cut the middle. The limit is 40 messages. Viewer patience is not rated.
• End on the last message. Do not add a bubble that explains the previous one.

Which style for which story

Pick the export

The editor guide says which export to use in Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro and CapCut. Put the clip on a track above your footage and add the rest in your editor: a track from Music & SFX, a notification sound, captions. Trim the footage with Clip Cutter first if it is a YouTube moment. Choosing between tools? Seven text message animation tools compared.