PowerPoint & The Star Wars Opening Effect

It’s hard to believe, but apparently there are people out there who have not seen any Star Wars movies!!  For those of you that have seen it, I am about to show you how to replicate the opening text sequences using PowerPoint to create the PowerPoint Star Wars Effect.

For those of you that have not seen any of the movies….. how is that possible?  That’s a question for another day, let’s get back on topic.

PowerPoint Star Wars Effect

We will create this PowerPoint Star Wars effect using PowerPoint (obviously).

• Open a new presentation with a blank layout

• Insert a text box and some text
• Change the font and font size to suit you
• Center the text in the text box
• Set the font color as yellow
• Set the background color of the presentation to black
• Apply a 3-D Rotation to the text by:
  • Click on the text box
  • Go to Drawing Tools
  • Go to Text Effects
  • Go to 3-D Rotation
  • Select on of the options that you like
  • You can also customize the options, I increased the angle of rotation in my case

• Animate the text with the “Credits” entrance animation.  If this isn’t in your default list of entrance options, it may be under “More effects” or a similar option name.
• Slow down the timing of the effect.  In my case, it changed from 15 to 23 seconds.  The timing will depend on the length of your text box and how you want it to look.

Fade To Black

Not just the title of one of my favorite songs, but also a cool effect when used right.

For added effect in our case, I have set the text to fade in as it appears on screen and then to fade out as it heads to the top of the screen.

How did I do this?

I have changed my background color to red to demonstrate two shapes I have added to my screen.

I added a rectangle shape to the top of my slide and….

• Remove the shape outline
• Bring the shape to the front
• Change the shape fill to Gradient with 3 black gradient stops
  • The transparency of the first (leftmost) stop is 0%
  • The transparency of the second (middle) stop is about 50%
  • The transparency of the last (rightmost) stop is 100%

This means that as our text goes to the top of the slide, it will go under our new shape.  At first you don’t notice this because the shape is fully transparent, but then it gradually goes to black, giving the fading out look.

Take this shape, copy it, rotate it and put it at the bottom of the slide.  This will give the illusion that the text is fading in now.

I’ve done all this using PowerPoint 2013.  Depending on your version the options and layouts may look a bit different.  Hopefully you can apply this to your version, if you get stuck just use your instinct, let it flow and may the PowerPoint be with you (I just cringed at that one myself!!).