--- title: "How to add a countdown intro with Claude (tested prompt and script)" description: "Before the clip plays, giant white numbers 3, 2, 1 fill a blurred, darkened still, one per second, each with a beep and a yellow ring draining around it. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself." url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/countdown-intro --- # How to add a countdown intro with Claude Before the clip plays, giant white numbers 3, 2, 1 fill a blurred, darkened still, one per second, each with a beep and a yellow ring draining around it. Made by the script on this page, from our own test clip. ## Get this effect 1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download) 2. ### Install the skill (once) ``` 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/skills ``` 3. ### Ask for the effect ``` Add a countdown intro to input.mp4 First number shown; the countdown adds this many seconds to the start: 3 Number height as a share of the frame width: 0.62 ``` ## 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 countdown intro 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 script. | Setting | Default | What it does | | ------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `COUNT_FROM` | `3` | First number shown; the countdown adds this many seconds to the start. | | `NUMBER_SIZE` | `0.62` | Number height as a share of the frame width. | | `RING_COLOR` | `(255, 214, 0)` | Color of the ring that drains around each number. | | `BACKDROP` | `0.3` | Brightness of the blurred first frame behind the numbers (1 = unchanged). | | `BEEP` | `880` | Pitch in Hz of the beep on each number; 0 for silence. | ## Without the skill Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the script itself. ``` Put a 3-second countdown before input.mp4. Make a backdrop from the video's first frame: Gaussian blur with radius 4% of the frame width, brightness down to 30%. On it, for 1 second each, draw a white number 3, then 2, then 1, centered in the frame, about 62% of the frame width tall (bold font); each number lands from 125% size to 100% over its first 0.2 seconds. Around the number draw a ring centered on the frame, radius 42% of the frame width, 2.5% of the width thick: a dark gray (90, 90, 90) track with a yellow (255, 214, 0) arc that starts full at 12 o'clock and drains clockwise to nothing over the second. Add an 880 Hz beep 0.15 seconds long at the start of each number. Then play the whole of input.mp4 with its own audio. Keep the size, use 30 fps, and the result is 3 seconds longer than the input. Use Python with Pillow to draw the countdown frames and ffmpeg to join them to the video (don't rely on ffmpeg's drawtext filter), and save it as output.mp4. ``` ## Run it without Claude This is the exact script we tested. Save it as `countdown-intro.py` and run: ``` python3 countdown-intro.py input.mp4 output.mp4 ``` ``` #!/usr/bin/env python3 """Countdown intro: huge numbers 3, 2, 1 fill the screen, each with a beep and a draining ring, before the video starts. Usage: python3 countdown-intro.py input.mp4 output.mp4 (the input needs an audio track) Needs ffmpeg and Pillow (pip install pillow). """ import json import subprocess import sys from pathlib import Path from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageEnhance, ImageFilter, ImageFont COUNT_FROM = 3 # first number shown; one number per second down to 1 NUMBER_SIZE = 0.62 # number height as a share of the frame width RING_COLOR = (255, 214, 0) # ring that drains around each number BACKDROP = 0.3 # brightness of the blurred first frame behind the numbers (1 = unchanged) BEEP = 880 # pitch in Hz of the beep on each number (0 for silence) FONTS = ["/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/Arial Bold.ttf", # macOS "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf", # Linux "C:/Windows/Fonts/arialbd.ttf"] # Windows FONT_FILE = next((f for f in FONTS if Path(f).exists()), None) or sys.exit("No bold font found: add one to FONTS") def backdrop(src): """The video's first frame, blurred and darkened, so the countdown sits on the same colors.""" raw = subprocess.check_output(["ffmpeg", "-v", "error", "-i", src, "-frames:v", "1", "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgb24", "-"]) still = Image.frombytes("RGB", (w, h), raw).filter(ImageFilter.GaussianBlur(w * 0.04)) return ImageEnhance.Brightness(still).enhance(BACKDROP) def countdown_frame(t): number, p = COUNT_FROM - int(t), t % 1 # p: how far through this number's second img = bg.copy() draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img) r, stroke = w * 0.42, round(w * 0.025) box = [w / 2 - r, h / 2 - r, w / 2 + r, h / 2 + r] draw.ellipse(box, outline=(90, 90, 90), width=stroke) draw.arc(box, -90 + 360 * p, 270, fill=RING_COLOR, width=stroke) pop = 1 + 0.25 * max(0, 1 - p / 0.2) ** 2 # each number lands from 125% size over 0.2s font = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * NUMBER_SIZE * 1.38 * pop)) # digits are ~0.72 of the font size tall draw.text((w / 2, h / 2), str(number), font=font, anchor="mm", fill="white") return img def probe(path): info = json.loads(subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries", "stream=width,height", "-of", "json", path])) return info["streams"][0]["width"], info["streams"][0]["height"] src, out = sys.argv[1:3] w, h = probe(src) bg = backdrop(src) # countdown frames come in on stdin, the beeps from a tone generator, then both are joined to the video beeps = f"0.4*sin(2*PI*{BEEP}*t)*lt(mod(t,1),0.15)" ff = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgb24", "-s", f"{w}x{h}", "-r", "30", "-i", "-", "-f", "lavfi", "-i", f"aevalsrc='{beeps}':s=48000:d={COUNT_FROM}", "-i", src, "-filter_complex", "[0:v]setsar=1[c];[2:v]fps=30,setsar=1[v];[1:a]aformat=channel_layouts=stereo[b];" "[2:a]aformat=sample_rates=48000:channel_layouts=stereo[a];" "[c][b][v][a]concat=n=2:v=1:a=1[joined][outa];[joined]format=yuv420p[outv]", "-map", "[outv]", "-map", "[outa]", "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-c:a", "aac", out], stdin=subprocess.PIPE) for i in range(COUNT_FROM * 30): ff.stdin.write(countdown_frame(i / 30).tobytes()) ff.stdin.close() if ff.wait(): sys.exit("ffmpeg failed") ``` ## More hook openers - [Blur-to-focus reveal **Blur-to-focus reveal**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/blur-to-focus-reveal) - [Breaking news banner **Breaking news banner**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/breaking-news-banner) - [Camera shake **Camera shake**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/camera-shake) - [Color reveal **Color reveal**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/color-reveal) - [Curtain reveal **Curtain reveal**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/curtain-reveal) ## Find 3x _winning ads_ Recharm cuts your ad footage into tagged, searchable clips: hooks, testimonials, product shots. Find the shots that win, add the effect with Claude, and ship 3x more ad edits. [Start 14-day free trial](https://www.recharm.com/get-started)