--- title: "How to add a meme caption bar with Claude (tested prompt and script)" description: "The clip drops below a white strip across the top quarter of the frame, where a bold black caption reads like a meme setup line. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself." url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/meme-caption-bar --- # How to add a meme caption bar with Claude The clip drops below a white strip across the top quarter of the frame, where a bold black caption reads like a meme setup line. 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 meme caption bar to input.mp4 Text: Me after one week of using this serum ``` ## 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 meme caption 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` | `Me after one week of using this serum` | The caption. | | `BAR` | `0.25` | Bar height as a share of the frame height. | | `SIZE` | `0.08` | Text height as a share of the frame width. | | `PAD` | `0.06` | Space either side of the text, 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. ``` Turn input.mp4 (540x960) into a meme-format video: a pure white (255, 255, 255) bar across the top 240 pixels holds the caption "Me after one week of using this serum" in black Arial Bold at 43 px, centered and wrapped to fit within 32 px of each side, with lines 1.2x the text size apart and the block centered in the bar. Below the bar, show the middle 540x720 of the video (crop 120 pixels off its top and bottom) so nothing is hidden behind the bar. Keep it at 540x960, 30fps, on screen the whole 6 seconds. Use Python with Pillow to draw the bar and ffmpeg to stack 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 `meme-caption-bar.py` and run: ``` python3 meme-caption-bar.py input.mp4 output.mp4 ``` ``` #!/usr/bin/env python3 """Meme caption bar: a white bar across the top holds a black meme caption, with the video cropped to fit underneath. Usage: python3 meme-caption-bar.py input.mp4 output.mp4 Needs ffmpeg and Pillow (pip install pillow). """ import subprocess import sys import tempfile from pathlib import Path from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont TEXT = "Me after one week of using this serum" BAR = 0.25 # bar height as a share of the frame height SIZE = 0.08 # text height as a share of the frame width PAD = 0.06 # space either side of 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 caption_bar(w, bar_h): """The white bar with the caption centered in it, black text, lines 1.2x the text size apart.""" font = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * SIZE)) lines = wrap(TEXT, font, w - 2 * round(w * PAD)) step = round(font.size * 1.2) top = (bar_h - step * len(lines)) / 2 img = Image.new("RGB", (w, bar_h), "white") draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img) for i, line in enumerate(lines): draw.text((w / 2, top + step * i + step / 2), line, font=font, anchor="mm", fill="black") return img src, out = sys.argv[1:3] w, h = map(int, subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries", "stream=width,height", "-of", "csv=p=0", src]).decode().split(",")) bar_h = round(h * BAR) // 2 * 2 with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp: bar_png = f"{tmp}/bar.png" caption_bar(w, bar_h).save(bar_png) # Crop the middle of the video to the height left under the bar, then stack the bar on top. subprocess.run(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-i", src, "-loop", "1", "-i", bar_png, "-filter_complex", f"[0:v]crop={w}:{h - bar_h}[clip];[1:v][clip]vstack=shortest=1,fps=30,format=yuv420p[v]", "-map", "[v]", "-map", "0:a?", "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-c:a", "copy", out], check=True) ``` ## More layouts and reframing - [Background replacement **Background replacement**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/background-replacement) - [Binocular view **Binocular view**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/binocular-view) - [Blur region **Blur region**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/blur-region) - [Cinematic bars **Cinematic bars**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/cinematic-bars) - [Comic panel layout **Comic panel layout**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/comic-panel-layout) ## 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)