How can I edit a black title frame?

Question

I'm now just experimenting with 8 short clips, trying to learn something about editing. Instead of using any of the "fun" title frames in PrE10, I want black opening and closing title frames. I placed these frames in my movie with the place holder Add Text in the center. Even though I select the Add Text and try to replace it with the text I want, the Add Text remains. I've tried everything. Can someone give me a step-by-step way to insert and edit black opening and closing titles with white text.
One more thing. I bought a new HP computer (Windows 7, 8 RAM, 1TB hard disk) with PrE and Photoshop Elements preinstalled. I wonder if these are the full programs or just scaled down versions. In the control panel I see that PrE is 1.23 GB; Photoshop is 2.59 GB.

Answer 1

Tommy,
To get a black background in a Title, there are a couple of ways to achieve it.
If the Title is placed on the Timeline, with nothing below it, i.e. on Video Track 1, and nothing above it, the background will show black. What we see as "black" in the Titler, is really Transparent, but if there are no pixels below that Title, it WILL be black, when one Exports/Shares.
If there are videos below the Title, say a Video, or Still Image (Title would be on a higher Video Track), but we want the black to appear below the Text, blanking out the material below that Title, then we can first create Black Video (from the New Item button in the Project Panel - slightly different locations per versions of PrE), place that on Video Track 2, and the Title on Video Track 3. The Duration and placement of that Black Video would match up perfectly with the Title. Now, there will be black behind the Text, blanking out any Video below it. Another method would be to create a Filled Shape that fills the full Frame, and set its Fill to black. Then Text would be added in that same Title, above the black Filled Shape. This has the benefit of keeping both the black background and the Text in one Title, so only the placement and the Duration of the Title has to be considered - one does not have to adjust both the Black Video and the Title - they are combined into one Asset.
Now, if you are still seeing "Add Text," there are two issues, that I can think of to cause this:
When you went to edit that Template, you did NOT Select the Add Text placeholder, but instead, clicked with the Type Tool, and basically created a second Text Object, above that placeholder Text Object. You did not really edit the "Add Text."
You have two Titles, where one is the Template with the "Add Text" placeholder Text, and the other with the Text that you did edit.
When you open the Title Template into the Titler (the Title editor window), there are two ways to Select that "Add Text" placeholder Text. One can use the Selection Tool (the arrow), to click within the area of that placeholder Text. When you do, you will see a Bounding Box form around that Text Object, indicating that it has been Selected. From that point, one can make adjustments with the Handles on the Bounding Box, or they can then go to the Type Tool (the T), and edit the placeholder Text. The second is to use the Type Tool, and then click, or click+drag in the placeholder Text, to highlight all, or portions of that "Add Text" placeholder Text.
The first method is useful if, for instance, one needed to edit just a letter in existing Text, as it's usually easier to isolate that single character, or characters. OTOH, if one clicks in the correct spot, within the existing Text, with the Type Tool, a step is saved.
This article goes into more detail on Titles, and also has some links to tutorials on using Titler: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4976998#4976998
Note: Some of those tutorials are for Premiere Pro (mostly CS 6), so the look of the Titler WILL be different from those in PrE, and a very few functions might be demonstrated, but unavailable in PrE. However, the vast majority of the instructions rely on the general mechanics of Titler, and those are the same in all versions of Premiere - they might just look a bit different.
Good luck, and please report your progress.
Hunt