Get this effect
Switch to Code in your Claude Desktop App
Install the skill (once)
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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 desaturated look to input.mp4 Color left once muted: 0.3 Second the colors start to fade: 1.0
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 desaturated look 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 |
|---|---|---|
SATURATION | 0.3 | Color left once muted. 1 keeps it all, 0 is black and white. |
START | 1.0 | Second the colors start to fade. |
FADE | 1.0 | Seconds the fade takes. |
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
Give input.mp4 a desaturated look that fades in. Keep the first second in full color, then from 1.0s to 2.0s lower the saturation linearly from 1 to 0.3, and hold it at 0.3 to the end, so the colors are muted but still faintly visible (not black and white). Don't change the brightness, contrast, framing or timing. With ffmpeg this is eq=eval=frame:saturation='1-0.7*clip(t-1,0,1)'. Keep the size (540x960), 30fps, 6 seconds and the audio. Encode H.264 yuv420p and save it as output.mp4.Run it without Claude
This is the exact command we tested. Save it as desaturated-look.sh and run:
sh desaturated-look.sh input.mp4 output.mp4Show the command
#!/bin/sh
# Desaturated look: the clip starts in full color, then its colors ease toward gray, leaving a faint, muted trace.
# Usage: sh desaturated-look.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
# Needs ffmpeg.
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
SATURATION=0.3 # color left once muted (1 keeps it all, 0 is black and white)
START=1.0 # second the colors start to fade
FADE=1.0 # seconds the fade takes
# eval=frame re-reads the saturation each frame, so it can ramp from 1 down to SATURATION
ffmpeg -y -v error -i "$IN" -vf "eq=eval=frame:saturation='1-(1-$SATURATION)*clip((t-$START)/$FADE,0,1)',fps=30,format=yuv420p" \
-c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "$OUT"
