---
title: "How to add a tilt-shift miniature with Claude (tested prompt and ffmpeg command)"
description: "Half a second in, the top and bottom of the shot melt into blur while a narrow sharp strip across the bottle's label stays crisp and the colors get richer, so the set looks like a tiny model. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the ffmpeg command we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/tilt-shift-miniature
---

# How to add a tilt-shift miniature with Claude

Half a second in, the top and bottom of the shot melt into blur while a narrow sharp strip across the bottle's label stays crisp and the colors get richer, so the set looks like a tiny model.

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 tilt-shift miniature to input.mp4
   Where the sharp band starts and ends, as shares of the frame height from the top: 0.45, 0.68
   Share of the frame height over which the blur fades up to full strength on each side: 0.15
   ```

## 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 tilt-shift miniature 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                                                                          |
| ----------------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `BAND_TOP, BAND_BOTTOM` | `0.45, 0.68` | Where the sharp band starts and ends, as shares of the frame height from the top.     |
| `FEATHER`               | `0.15`       | Share of the frame height over which the blur fades up to full strength on each side. |
| `BLUR`                  | `18`         | Blur sigma in pixels at the top and bottom. Higher looks smaller.                     |
| `SATURATION`            | `1.5`        | Color boost (1 is unchanged).                                                         |
| `CONTRAST`              | `1.1`        | Contrast boost (1 is unchanged).                                                      |
| `START`                 | `0.5`        | Second the miniature look starts fading in.                                           |
| `RAMP`                  | `0.5`        | Seconds it takes to reach full strength.                                              |

## Without the skill

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

```
In input.mp4 (540x960), add a tilt-shift miniature look with ffmpeg. Boost the whole picture first (eq saturation 1.5, contrast 1.1). Keep a horizontal band from 45% to 68% down the frame (y 432 to 653) fully sharp; above and below it, blend in a Gaussian-blurred copy (sigma 18 px) whose opacity rises linearly from 0 at the band's edge to 100% at 15% of the frame height away from it (so fully blurred above 30% down, y 288, and below 83% down, y 797), across the full width. Before 0.5 seconds leave the video untouched; fade the miniature look in over the original from 0.5s to full strength at 1.0s and keep it to the end. Keep the size, 30fps, 6 seconds and the audio. There's no text to draw, but if you add any, draw it with Pillow, not ffmpeg's drawtext. Encode H.264 yuv420p and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact command we tested. Save it as `tilt-shift-miniature.sh` and run:

```
sh tilt-shift-miniature.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/bin/sh
# Tilt-shift miniature: a sharp band across the middle, the top and bottom blurring away and colors boosted, so the scene looks toy-sized.
# Usage: sh tilt-shift-miniature.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
# Needs ffmpeg.
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
BAND_TOP=0.45      # where the sharp band starts (0-1 down the frame)
BAND_BOTTOM=0.68   # where the sharp band ends
FEATHER=0.15       # share of the frame height over which the blur fades up to full strength
BLUR=18            # blur sigma in pixels at the top and bottom edges
SATURATION=1.5     # color boost (1 = unchanged); toy scenes look extra vivid
CONTRAST=1.1       # contrast boost (1 = unchanged)
START=0.5          # second the miniature look starts fading in
RAMP=0.5           # seconds it takes to reach full strength

ffmpeg -y -v error -i "$IN" -filter_complex "
  [0:v]eq=saturation=$SATURATION:contrast=$CONTRAST,split=3[sharp][b][m];
  [b]gblur=sigma=$BLUR[blurred];
  [m]format=gray,geq=lum='255*min(1,max(0,max($BAND_TOP-Y/H,Y/H-$BAND_BOTTOM))/$FEATHER)'[mask];
  [blurred][mask]alphamerge[edges];
  [sharp][edges]overlay,format=yuva420p,fade=t=in:st=$START:d=$RAMP:alpha=1[mini];
  [0:v][mini]overlay,format=yuv420p[v]" \
  -map "[v]" -map 0:a? -r 30 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "$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)