Locked picture. They still asked for type that moves.
The 2026 ping is a package, not a recut: “can you throw a sting on the front,” “name supers on every talking head,” “end card with the URL and the logo.” They already signed picture lock. Talking-head, branded film, event recap — the frames they approved are what that number bought. Motion on those frames is a different clock: an open that is not a still title, lower thirds that survive 9:16 later without being this card’s job, an end card that holds long enough to read. Bill that clock against the hub floor. Target income, billable-week count, tax buffer you set: those stay on the hub. This page does not copy them, and it is not a 50-state tax engine. Read $540 as 6 × 90 with a dollar sign. Need a different currency on the invoice? Switch it on the hub. Floor still a guess? Build it on how to set a freelance rate.
Motion-graphics extra = hours you type × hourly floor. Start the clock when the first composition opens. Stop it when they can lay an open, the lower thirds, and an end card on the locked cut. Six hours is the worked example — sting, a lower-third kit, an end card. Twelve hours is a longer film with chapter bumpers and a custom logo lockup. Three hours is a lower-thirds pass on a short that already had a still title. You own the hour count. This card will not gift the graphics because “motion is always 20% of the edit,” will not mint a per-second price so a 12-second open looks official, and will not tuck After Effects inside the picture they already paid.
Worked USD: 6h × $90 = $540
First preset. Graphics hours: 6. Floor: $90. Product: 6 × $90 = $540.
That $540 is type and stings sitting on a picture they already bought. It is not extra NEW hours of shooting, and it is not a new edit while the cut is still open. It is not a LUT pass. It is not a 9:16 of the master. It is not a read on the track. It is not hours to find a motion person you are not. Send the dollars before After Effects opens. “The graphics were included” is not a line this card ever wrote.
Second preset keeps the same $90 and stretches the clock to 12 hours. Extra: 12 × $90 = $1,080. You typed 12. Chapter bumpers, a custom lockup, a longer open still prices as hours × floor, still because they asked after picture lock, still not 20% of the edit, still not a per-second mill.
Third preset: 3 hours at $90. Extra: 3 × $90 = $270. A lower-thirds-only pass is still graphics they asked for after lock. Short is not free, and it is not a per-second ticket.
A change order, a grade, a 9:16, and a VO are four other clocks
They want extra NEW hours during a live job: another scene shot, another sequence cut, picture still open. That is the change-order card — extra hours they just asked for × floor, then add that product to the original quote. New shooting or a new edit is not an open on a locked cut. Two asks, two lines: new-hours there, graphics hours here. Do not launder a sting into “one more change order,” and do not launder a new shoot into this $540.
They want a look after the quote was the edit — shot match, skin, a LUT, Rec.709. That clock is hours × floor on the color-grade card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360. Not 20% of the edit. Not a per-minute mill. Wheels are not After Effects. A lower third is not Rec.709. Want both? Grade hours there, graphics hours here.
They want 9:16 Stories/Reels of a 16:9 or square master they already paid for. That is extra aspect ratios, not an open. Hours you type × floor on the social-cuts card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360 there — same arithmetic, different clock. Recrop lives there. Compositions live here. Want both? Cutdown hours there, graphics hours here. A vertical of the approved cut is not “throw a sting on it.”
They want words on the track after the picture. A script, a booth, a WAV. That clock is hours × floor if YOU read it on the voiceover card. Worked 2h × $90 = $180. Not a union VO table. Not $200 a finished minute. A read is not an end card. An end card is not a take. Want both? Booth hours there, graphics hours here.
They want a motion person you don’t do. Hours you type to find, brief, and review that person live on the specialist card. Worked 3h × $90 = $270. Their invoice sits on expense-markup. Not a 20% markup. Not 15% of the project. Casting someone else is not you opening After Effects. You opening After Effects is this page. Want both? Hunt hours there, your graphics hours here. This card never multiplies their invoice.
Motion is not 20% of the edit, and it is not billed per second
Motion Twitter still recites “graphics are 20% of the edit,” “$15 a second of animation,” “the open is always included.” None of that is a statute. None of it is this math. Open vs lower third vs end card only names which graphic they asked for. Dollars = hours you type × floor. No 20%-of-the-edit slice. No per-second mill.
If they ask for “the usual motion percent,” answer that this card has none. Show $540 from six hours, type 12, or type 3. You own the hour count. Skip the lecture. No confirm, no composition. The locked picture they already bought still stands.
Copy the line before the first composition
Name the hours. Name the floor. Name $540, or whatever the card shows. Name that it sits on top of a picture they already locked. Copy from this card so the email dollars match the screen dollars.
- 6h × $90. Motion-graphics extra: 6 hours I type for opens / lower thirds / end cards on the locked picture × $90.00/hr = $540.00. Picture is locked. Graphics on that cut are hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $540.00 before I open After Effects.
- 12h longer pack. Motion-graphics extra: 12 hours I type for opens / lower thirds / end cards on the locked picture × $90.00/hr = $1,080.00. Picture is locked. Graphics on that cut are hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $1,080.00 before I open After Effects.
- 3h lower-thirds pass. Motion-graphics extra: 3 hours I type for opens / lower thirds / end cards on the locked picture × $90.00/hr = $270.00. Picture is locked. Graphics on that cut are hours × floor — not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill, and not tucked inside the cut they already paid. Please confirm $270.00 before I open After Effects.
Skip guilt and “everyone knows motion is 20% of the edit.” That speech turns a sting into a fight. This page has no official edit percent and no per-second mill. No confirmed fee, no composition. Extra NEW shooting or a new edit while picture is still open: change-order. A look after the cut: color-grade. Extra aspect ratios of a shipped master: social-cuts. Words on the track: voiceover. A motion person you don’t do: specialist. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this graphics extra.
Planning numbers — not a motion-graphics SOW
Educational numbers. Not legal, tax, or collections advice. Not a motion-graphics agreement. No 20%-of-the-edit rule, no law that prices a second of animation, no per-second mill, no 50-state tax engine. Keep the paper you already signed. Need a clause that survives a fight? Counsel where you work writes it before the first composition. Filling these fields is not that clause and does not certify a ProRes with supers.
Inputs: hours you type for the graphics, plus the hourly floor. Output: the extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars on this card are labeled USD. Live currency and any tax buffer stay on the hub. A motion person you don’t do is a hunt on specialist, not an hour here.
Rate calculator New shooting or a new edit Look pass after the edit Hunt a motion person you don’t do Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks moved? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the graphics. This page names opens, lower thirds, and end cards after picture is locked — hours × floor, not 20% of the edit, not a per-second mill. Extra NEW hours of shooting or a new edit while the cut is still open: change-order. A separate look after the quote was the edit: color-grade — 4h × $90 = $360, not 20% of the edit, not a per-minute mill. Extra aspect ratios of a shipped master: social-cuts. Words on the track: voiceover. A motion person you don’t do: specialist — 3h × $90 = $270 to find, brief, and review them; their invoice sits on expense-markup. Floor still a placeholder? Begin on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I charge for motion graphics after picture is already locked?
Type the hours the opens, lower thirds, and end cards will take on the locked cut. Multiply by your hourly floor. That product is the motion-graphics extra. The signed number already paid for picture lock. Type that moves is a second clock. 6 × $90 reads $540 because those are the numbers in the worked example — change them. Planning only. This is not 20% of the edit and not a per-second mill.
Should I charge 20% of the edit fee, or a dollar amount per second of animation?
No. This hub does not sell a 20%-of-the-edit slice and does not hang a price on each second of motion. Hours you type × floor is the only product. If six hours is wrong for your After Effects session, type a different hour count.
Is motion graphics the same as a change order, a color grade, 9:16 cuts, or a voiceover?
Four different doors. A change order is extra NEW hours during a live job — new shooting or a new edit while picture is still open. Color-grade is a look pass after the edit — wheels, skin, a LUT, Rec.709. Social-cuts exports extra aspect ratios of a master they already paid for. Voiceover puts words on the track. This card is YOUR hours building opens, lower thirds, and end cards on a picture that is already locked.
What if they want a motion person I don’t do, instead of me building the graphics?
The hunt — outreach, brief, review — sits on specialist. That person’s invoice sits on expense-markup. This page keeps YOUR hours on the graphics: 6h × $90 = $540. Casting someone else is not you opening After Effects.
Does filling this motion-graphics card create a contract or run a 50-state tax engine?
No. $540 is 6 times 90 labeled USD so you can read it. Currency and any tax buffer live on the hub calculator. Typing here does not write a motion clause, does not lock a composition, and does not run a 50-state tax engine. If they want a motion person you don’t do, that hunt sits on specialist — this page is your hours on the graphics.