Get this effect
Switch to Code in your Claude Desktop App
Install the skill (once)
Show the prompt
Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skillsAsk for the effect
Add a black and white to input.mp4 1 keeps the original contrast; higher gives deeper blacks and brighter highlights: 1.15
Several videos, several effects, one ask
Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them.
Add a black and white to @clip1.mp4, put a sale badge on @clip2.mp4, give @clip3.mp4 a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades.
Settings you can change
Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the command.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
CONTRAST | 1.15 | 1 keeps the original contrast; higher gives deeper blacks and brighter highlights. |
Without the skill
Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the command itself.
Show the prompt
Turn all of input.mp4 black and white: set the saturation to 0 on every frame from start to end, then raise the contrast to 1.15 (ffmpeg's eq=contrast=1.15) so the grays don't look flat. Keep the size, frame rate, length and audio the same. Use ffmpeg and save it as output.mp4.Run it without Claude
This is the exact command we tested. Save it as black-and-white.sh and run:
sh black-and-white.sh input.mp4 output.mp4Show the command
#!/bin/sh
# Black and white: drain all the color from the clip and lift the contrast a touch so the grays don't look flat.
# Usage: sh black-and-white.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
CONTRAST=1.15 # 1 keeps the original contrast; higher gives deeper blacks and brighter highlights
ffmpeg -y -i "$IN" -vf "hue=s=0,eq=contrast=$CONTRAST" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy "$OUT"
