diff --git a/apps/web/src/timeline/components/__tests__/theme.test.ts b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/__tests__/theme.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..47b909cf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/__tests__/theme.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import {
+	getTimelineElementClassName,
+	getTimelineElementClassNameForElement,
+	TIMELINE_ELEMENT_THEME,
+	TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME,
+} from "../theme";
+
+describe("getTimelineElementClassName", () => {
+	test("returns the configured class for each track type", () => {
+		expect(getTimelineElementClassName({ type: "audio" })).toBe(
+			TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME.audio.elementClassName.trim(),
+		);
+		expect(getTimelineElementClassName({ type: "text" })).toBe(
+			TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME.text.elementClassName.trim(),
+		);
+	});
+});
+
+describe("getTimelineElementClassNameForElement", () => {
+	test("uses the element-level theme when one is defined", () => {
+		expect(
+			getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+				elementType: "video",
+				trackType: "video",
+			}),
+		).toBe(TIMELINE_ELEMENT_THEME.video?.elementClassName.trim());
+	});
+
+	test("distinguishes video and image even though they share the video track", () => {
+		const videoClass = getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+			elementType: "video",
+			trackType: "video",
+		});
+		const imageClass = getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+			elementType: "image",
+			trackType: "video",
+		});
+		expect(videoClass).not.toBe(imageClass);
+	});
+
+	test("falls back to the track-level theme when an element type has no override", () => {
+		expect(
+			getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+				elementType: "audio",
+				trackType: "audio",
+			}),
+		).toBe(TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME.audio.elementClassName.trim());
+
+		expect(
+			getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+				elementType: "text",
+				trackType: "text",
+			}),
+		).toBe(TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME.text.elementClassName.trim());
+
+		expect(
+			getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+				elementType: "sticker",
+				trackType: "graphic",
+			}),
+		).toBe(TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME.graphic.elementClassName.trim());
+	});
+});
diff --git a/apps/web/src/timeline/components/theme.ts b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/theme.ts
index 9f93dc16c..5f0ca8f40 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/timeline/components/theme.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/theme.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { TrackType } from "@/timeline";
+import type { ElementType, TrackType } from "@/timeline";
 
 export const TIMELINE_AUDIO_WAVEFORM_COLOR = "rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7)";
 
@@ -19,6 +19,22 @@ export const TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME: Record<
 	effect: { elementClassName: "bg-[#5d93ba]" },
 } as const;
 
+/**
+ * Per-element-type background tint applied to clips on the timeline.
+ *
+ * Falls back to the track-level theme when an element type has no
+ * dedicated entry. Used so that clips on the same track (e.g. video
+ * and image, which both live on the "video" track) can still be
+ * visually distinguished from each other and from the timeline
+ * background.
+ */
+export const TIMELINE_ELEMENT_THEME: Partial<
+	Record<ElementType, { elementClassName: string }>
+> = {
+	video: { elementClassName: "bg-sky-500/20" },
+	image: { elementClassName: "bg-amber-500/20" },
+} as const;
+
 export const SELECTED_TRACK_ROW_CLASS = "bg-accent/50";
 export const DEFAULT_TIMELINE_BOOKMARK_COLOR = "#009dff";
 
@@ -29,3 +45,17 @@ export function getTimelineElementClassName({
 }): string {
 	return TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME[type].elementClassName.trim();
 }
+
+export function getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+	elementType,
+	trackType,
+}: {
+	elementType: ElementType;
+	trackType: TrackType;
+}): string {
+	const elementTheme = TIMELINE_ELEMENT_THEME[elementType];
+	if (elementTheme) {
+		return elementTheme.elementClassName.trim();
+	}
+	return TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME[trackType].elementClassName.trim();
+}
diff --git a/apps/web/src/timeline/components/timeline-element.tsx b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/timeline-element.tsx
index 1b549a150..48083c9a4 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/timeline/components/timeline-element.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/timeline/components/timeline-element.tsx
@@ -23,7 +23,11 @@ import {
 	timelineTimeToSnappedPixels,
 } from "@/timeline";
 import { getTrackHeight } from "./track-layout";
-import { getTimelineElementClassName, TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME } from "./theme";
+import {
+	getTimelineElementClassName,
+	getTimelineElementClassNameForElement,
+	TIMELINE_TRACK_THEME,
+} from "./theme";
 import {
 	ContextMenu,
 	ContextMenuContent,
@@ -585,8 +589,9 @@ function ElementInner({
 						<div
 							className={cn(
 								"flex shrink-0 items-center overflow-hidden",
-								getTimelineElementClassName({
-									type: getTrackTypeForElementType({
+								getTimelineElementClassNameForElement({
+									elementType: element.type,
+									trackType: getTrackTypeForElementType({
 										elementType: element.type,
 									}),
 								}),