--- title: "How to add a headline bar with Claude (tested prompt and script)" description: "A solid black band across the top holds a white headline for the whole video. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself." url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/headline-bar --- # How to add a headline bar with Claude A solid black band across the top holds a white headline for the whole video. 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 headline bar to input.mp4 Text: POV: you finally found a serum that works ``` ## 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 headline bar 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 | | ------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | | `TEXT` | `POV: you finally found a serum that works` | The headline. | | `SIZE` | `0.06` | Text height as a share of the frame width. | ## Without the skill Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the script itself. ``` Add a headline bar to input.mp4: a solid black band across the top of the frame with "POV: you finally found a serum that works" in white bold, centered and wrapped to fit, on screen the whole time. Use Python with Pillow to draw it and ffmpeg to put it on the video (don't rely on ffmpeg's drawtext filter), keep the audio, and save it as output.mp4. ``` ## Run it without Claude This is the exact script we tested. Save it as `headline-bar.py` and run: ``` python3 headline-bar.py input.mp4 output.mp4 ``` ``` #!/usr/bin/env python3 """Headline bar: a solid black band across the top of the frame with a white headline in it, on screen the whole time. Usage: python3 headline-bar.py input.mp4 output.mp4 Needs ffmpeg and Pillow (pip install pillow). """ import json import math import subprocess import sys from pathlib import Path from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont TEXT = "POV: you finally found a serum that works" SIZE = 0.06 # text height as a share of the frame width PAD = 0.04 # space around the text, as a share of the frame width 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 wrap(text, font, width): lines, line = [], "" for word in text.split(): trial = f"{line} {word}".strip() if font.getlength(trial) <= width or not line: line = trial else: lines.append(line) line = word return lines + [line] def bar(): font = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * SIZE)) pad = round(w * PAD) lines = wrap(TEXT, font, w - 2 * pad) step = round(font.size * 1.25) img = Image.new("RGBA", (w, 2 * pad + step * len(lines)), "black") draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img) for i, line in enumerate(lines): draw.text((w / 2, pad + step * i + step / 2), line, font=font, anchor="mm", fill="white") return img def overlay(t): return banner def probe(path): info = json.loads(subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries", "stream=width,height,r_frame_rate:format=duration", "-of", "json", path])) s = info["streams"][0] num, den = s["r_frame_rate"].split("/") return s["width"], s["height"], s["r_frame_rate"], float(num) / float(den), float(info["format"]["duration"]) def render(src, out): """Draw overlay(t) on every frame of src and save to out, keeping the audio.""" ff = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-i", src, "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgba", "-s", f"{w}x{h}", "-r", rate, "-i", "-", "-filter_complex", "[0:v][1:v]overlay=shortest=1,format=yuv420p[v]", "-map", "[v]", "-map", "0:a?", "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-c:a", "copy", out], stdin=subprocess.PIPE) for i in range(math.ceil(duration * fps)): ff.stdin.write(overlay(i / fps).tobytes()) ff.stdin.close() if ff.wait(): sys.exit("ffmpeg failed") src, out = sys.argv[1:3] w, h, rate, fps, duration = probe(src) banner = Image.new("RGBA", (w, h)) banner.paste(bar(), (0, 0)) render(src, out) ``` ## More captions and text - [AI chat reply animation **AI chat reply animation**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/ai-chat-typing) - [Animated bar chart **Animated bar chart**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/animated-bar-chart) - [Animated checklist **Animated checklist**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/animated-checklist) - [Animated line graph **Animated line graph**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/animated-line-graph) - [Animated pie chart **Animated pie chart**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/animated-pie-chart) ## 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)