---
title: "How to add a stop motion with Claude (tested prompt and ffmpeg command)"
description: "The orbiting camera moves in jerky steps, each pose frozen for 5 frames before snapping to the next, like a clay animation shot one frame at a time. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the ffmpeg command we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/stop-motion
---

# How to add a stop motion with Claude

The orbiting camera moves in jerky steps, each pose frozen for 5 frames before snapping to the next, like a clay animation shot one frame at a time.

Made by the command 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 stop motion to input.mp4
   Frames each pose stays on screen: 5
   Output frame rate: 30
   ```

## 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 stop motion 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                                                                          |
| ------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `HOLD`  | `5`     | Frames each pose stays on screen. 5 at 30fps is 6 poses a second; higher is choppier. |
| `FPS`   | `30`    | Output frame rate.                                                                    |

## Without the skill

Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the command itself.

```
Give input.mp4 a stop-motion look: keep only every 5th frame (frames 0, 5, 10 and so on) and hold each one for 5 frames, so the picture changes 6 times a second at 30fps. Keep the size, the 30fps frame rate, the 6 second length and the audio unchanged. Use ffmpeg and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact command we tested. Save it as `stop-motion.sh` and run:

```
sh stop-motion.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/bin/sh
# Stop motion: keep every 5th frame and hold it for 5 frames, so the picture steps 6 times a second like frame-by-frame animation.
# Usage: sh stop-motion.sh input.mp4 output.mp4  (input at 30fps)
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
HOLD=5   # frames each pose stays on screen (5 at 30fps = 6 poses a second; higher is choppier)
FPS=30   # output frame rate

ffmpeg -y -i "$IN" -vf "select='not(mod(n\,$HOLD))',fps=$FPS:round=down" \
  -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy "$OUT"
```

## More motion and camera

- [2.5D parallax photo **2.5D parallax photo**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/2-5d-parallax-photo)
- [Back-and-forth loop **Back-and-forth loop**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/back-and-forth-loop)
- [Background blur **Background blur**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/background-blur)
- [Bullet time **Bullet time**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/bullet-time)
- [Cinemagraph **Cinemagraph**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/cinemagraph)

## 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)