Free Video Effect
Frame Break Effect: Step Out of Your Own Reel
Your video shrinks into a Reels-style frame, then your head or hands spill out over its edge.
Claude Code · Opus 5.59:16Medium
- Run the setup once
- Paste the prompt, fill in the [brackets]
- Approve the preview, get your MP4
New to Claude Code? Start with the beginner guide →
Want all 17 at once? Get the full pack →
The prompt
effects/frame_break.py: add a "Frame Break" effect between [START S] and [END S].
- Background: dark green-black (#1A1F1A) with a vignette that darkens toward the edges.
- The video shrinks from 100% to 62% in 0.6 s (easeInOutQuint) and turns into an Instagram
Reels interface: like/comment/share icons on the right, at the bottom
"@[USERNAME]" + a "Follow" button and a small caption
"[CAPTION, e.g. claude edited this whole reel]". Corners rounded 28 px.
- FRAME BREAK: using the person mask, draw the parts of me that go OUTSIDE the frame
(my head, my hands) on top of the frame. The frame cuts the background, but not me.
To do this, draw the video inside the frame, and outside the frame only the masked me.
- The frame itself sways slightly (±1.5°) and has a shadow.
- At [EXIT S] the frame grows back to full screen.Fill in the brackets
| Placeholder | What to put there | Example |
|---|---|---|
[START S] / [END S] | Where the effect starts and ends, in seconds from the start of input.mp4. | 0.0 / 2.5 |
[USERNAME] | Your handle, shown after the @ at the bottom of the frame. | yourhandle |
[CAPTION, e.g. claude edited this whole reel] | The short line under your username, like the text of a post. | claude edited this whole reel |
[EXIT S] | The second at which the frame grows back to full screen. Set it a little before [END S] so the move can finish. | 2.0 |
About Frame Break
Frame Break is a talking-head video effect where your full-screen video shrinks into an Instagram Reels-style frame, then your head or hands spill over its edge as if you were leaning out of the post. After the one-time setup, paste the prompt into Claude Code with Opus 5.5 and Claude uses the person mask to draw you on top of the frame.
Use it when: At the opening of a video to catch attention, or at moments where you say the video itself was edited with Claude.
What the Frame Break effect does
Frame Break turns your video into a post and then lets you out of it. Over 0.6 seconds the full-screen shot shrinks to 62% and becomes a Reels-style frame on a dark green-black background: like, comment and share icons down the right side, your @username and a Follow button at the bottom, a one-line description and 28 px rounded corners. A vignette darkens the edges so the frame stands out.
The break is the second half. Inside the frame, your shot plays as normal. Outside it, only you are drawn, taken from the person mask. So when your head rises above the top edge or a hand reaches past the side, that part of you sits on top of the frame instead of being cut off. The frame sways by about a degree and a half and casts a shadow, and at the exit second it grows back to full screen.
When it works and when it hurts
It suits openings, where a change of shape in the first second gives the eye something to follow, and meta moments where you point out that the video itself was edited with AI.
It only pays off if something actually crosses the edge. If you sit still in the middle of the shot, the effect becomes a plain shrink. Plan a gesture: lean in, raise a hand, point up. It also costs you size. For its whole duration your face is at 62%, which makes it a poor choice for a moment where your expression carries the message.
How Claude builds it
The frame works as a clipping window. Claude designs the Reels interface (icons, username, button, description) in HTML and CSS and renders it to a transparent PNG with Playwright. For each frame, the script paints the dark vignetted background, scales your video along an easeInOutQuint curve, draws it clipped to the rounded window, lays the interface over it and applies the slight rotation and shadow.
Then comes the step that sells it. The script takes the person mask for that frame, scales it the same way, and draws back on top only the masked pixels that fall outside the window. None of your room leaks past the edge; only you do. At the exit second the scale runs back to 100% and the interface falls away. ffmpeg assembles the frames with your original audio.
Make it yours
The frame does not have to be Reels. Describe a Shorts or TikTok-style layout, or a plain white photo border, and the break works the same way. Swap the dark green for your brand colour, shrink to 70% instead of 62% if you want to stay larger, or switch off the sway for a calmer shot. The one setting worth real thought is the window’s edge: the tighter it sits around you, the more of you breaks out of it.
Questions
Do I have to film anything special?
Nothing special, but something deliberate. The effect needs a moment where part of you crosses the frame's edge, so a raised hand, a lean towards the camera or a point upwards helps a lot. If the footage is already shot, look for a moment where you move and set the range there.
Why does my head appear over the frame but my room does not?
Outside the frame, Claude draws only the pixels the person mask marks as you. Your room is still in the footage, but it is clipped to the inside of the frame. That is the whole trick: the frame crops the background, not the person.
Can I use a TikTok or YouTube Shorts layout instead?
Yes. Describe the layout you want, for example where the icons sit, where your username goes and what the button says, and Claude rebuilds the HTML. The shrink, the mask break and the return to full screen work the same way whatever the frame looks like.
What is the difference between [END S] and [EXIT S]?
[EXIT S] is when the frame starts growing back to full screen; [END S] is where the effect's range stops. Put [EXIT S] a little earlier so the growth finishes inside the range, then check the last frames of the render to be sure nothing is cut off.
Step by step
Run the setup once
Open the folder with input.mp4 in Claude Code, choose Opus 5.5 and paste the setup prompt. Frame Break needs the person mask it creates for every frame.
Find a moment with movement
Pick a range where you lean towards the camera, raise a hand or point upwards. If you are filming new footage, build that gesture in on purpose.
Paste and fill in the prompt
Copy the Frame Break prompt, fill in the start, end and exit seconds, your username and the description line, and send it.
Check the edges
Look closely at the frames where you cross the edge. If a fringe of your room shows or a hand breaks up, describe the second and ask Claude to fix only that range.
You need: Setup prompt (run once) · Person mask · Your @username · A gesture towards the frame edge
Tips
- It works well on the first seconds of a video, or on the line where you mention that the video itself was edited with Claude.
- Plan one clear gesture inside the range. A hand reaching past the side of the frame, or your head rising above the top, is what makes the break visible.
- Set [EXIT S] a little before [END S] so the frame has room to grow back to full screen before the effect ends.
- Use your real handle and a line you would actually post. The closer the frame looks to a real post, the stronger the illusion.
- A plain background and good light give cleaner mask edges, which matters here because the edges are shown against a dark backdrop.
If it goes wrong
Nothing of you breaks out of the frame.
Your whole body fits inside the frame. Ask Claude to crop the frame window tighter at the top and sides, or keep the person layer slightly larger than the window, so your head and hands cross the edge.
A pale fringe of your room shows around you outside the frame.
The mask edge is too wide or unstable. Ask Claude to pull it in by 1 px outside the frame, smooth it over time and re-render only that range.
A fast-moving hand breaks up or flickers as it crosses the edge.
Motion blur in the footage confuses the mask. Ask Claude for stronger temporal smoothing on those frames, or choose a slower gesture.
The icons and text shimmer while the frame sways.
Ask Claude to reduce the sway to ±1° and to render the interface at twice the size before scaling it down.
What it does not do
- Only the parts of you that fall outside the frame can break out. If you stay still and centred, the effect is a shrink and nothing more.
- Fast hands are blurred in the footage, and the mask struggles with blurred fingers, so the break is least clean exactly where viewers are looking.
- The Reels frame is a drawn imitation of a platform interface. It will not match the current app exactly, and platforms change their layouts.
- For the length of the effect your face is shown at 62% of its size, which loses detail on a small phone screen.
Sources
- Robust Video Matting (RVM) — GitHub — PeterL1n. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Image segmentation guide — Google AI Edge — MediaPipe. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Screenshots — Playwright for Python. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Easing functions cheat sheet — easings.net. Accessed October 21, 2026.
Want the whole library?
Lifetime opens every AI Video Effect, AI Motion Graphic and AI Creator Concept, inside Claude via MCP, for one payment of $79.