---
title: "How to add a vertical reframe with Claude (tested prompt and ffmpeg command)"
description: "A wide 16:9 shot is cropped down to the tall slice through its middle, so the product fills a full-screen 9:16 frame with no bars or blur. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the ffmpeg command we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/vertical-reframe
---

# How to add a vertical reframe with Claude

A wide 16:9 shot is cropped down to the tall slice through its middle, so the product fills a full-screen 9:16 frame with no bars or blur.

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 vertical reframe to input.mp4
   Output size: 1080, 1920
   Where the slice sits across the wide frame: 0 is the left edge, 0.5 the middle, 1 the right edge: 0.5
   ```

## 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 vertical reframe 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                                                                                      |
| -------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `W, H`   | `1080, 1920` | Output size.                                                                                      |
| `CENTER` | `0.5`        | Where the slice sits across the wide frame: 0 is the left edge, 0.5 the middle, 1 the right edge. |

## Without the skill

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

```
Turn the 16:9 clip input.mp4 into a 1080x1920 vertical video by cropping, not padding: take a full-height slice of the frame that is 9:16 wide (302 pixels wide for a 960x540 clip), centered horizontally so the same amount comes off the left and right, and scale it up to 1080x1920. No black bars and no blurred background. Keep the length, 30fps and the audio. Use ffmpeg and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

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

```
sh vertical-reframe.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/bin/sh
# Vertical reframe: crop a 16:9 clip to a 9:16 slice around its center and scale it to fill a vertical frame.
# Usage: sh vertical-reframe.sh input.mp4 output.mp4
set -e
IN="$1"; OUT="$2"
W=1080; H=1920   # output size (9:16)
CENTER=0.5       # where the slice sits across the wide frame (0 = left edge, 1 = right edge)

ffmpeg -y -i "$IN" -vf "\
crop=trunc(ih*$W/$H/2)*2:ih:(iw-trunc(ih*$W/$H/2)*2)*$CENTER:0,\
scale=$W:$H:flags=lanczos,setsar=1,fps=30,format=yuv420p" \
  -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a copy "$OUT"
```

## 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)