# Reel Export

Turn any horizontal or square motion video into a 1080 x 1920 Instagram Reel or TikTok...

- Repository: https://github.com/charlie947/motion-graphics-skills (519 stars)
- Category: Media
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add charlie947/motion-graphics-skills --skill reel-export -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add charlie947/motion-graphics-skills --skill reel-export -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add charlie947/motion-graphics-skills --skill reel-export -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add charlie947/motion-graphics-skills --skill reel-export -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Turn any horizontal or square motion video into a 1080 x 1920 Instagram Reel or TikTok that uploads cleanly. Headline and logos inside the safe zone, H.264, yuv420p, limited colour range, bt709, a silent audio track when there is no sound, and an ffprobe check before upload. Use when someone says "make this a reel", "vertical version", "export for Instagram", "TikTok version", "9:16 cut", "reel export" or has a 16:9 or 4:5 video that needs to go on a vertical feed.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Reel export

Most motion is built wide. This turns it into a vertical file with a hook on top that the apps accept without washing out the colours.

**Before you start:** read `brand.md` and `MOTION.md` if they exist. If not, run `brand-intake` first, or ask for hex codes, a font and a logo file. Never call a result on-brand without them.

## Step 1: Ask for four things, then wait

1. **The video.** Any MP4, any size.
2. **The headline,** two short lines, word for word. It is the hook people read with the sound off.
3. **Logos,** as attached files, if the video names a product or company.
4. **The background colour** around the video. Default: near-black `#0B0B0F`.

## Step 2: The safe zone

The app draws its own buttons, caption and profile over the edges of a Reel. Keep every word and logo:
- between y 360 and y 1420 (nothing in the bottom 500px)
- out of the right 120px

Put the headline at the top of that zone, then the video under it. A 16:9 video scaled to 1080 wide is 608 tall, so it sits well at y 660.

## Step 3: Build the overlay, then encode

Build a transparent 1080 x 1920 `overlay.png` in HTML with the headline and any logos, and screenshot it. Text you can style beats text burned in by ffmpeg. Then:

```
ffmpeg -y -i in.mp4 -loop 1 -i overlay.png -f lavfi -i anullsrc=r=48000:cl=stereo -filter_complex "color=c=0x0B0B0F:s=1080x1920:r=30[bg];[0:v]fps=30,scale=1080:-2,setsar=1[v];[bg][v]overlay=0:660:shortest=1[o];[o][1:v]overlay=0:0:shortest=1,scale=out_color_matrix=bt709:out_range=tv,format=yuv420p[out]" -map "[out]" -map 2:a -shortest -c:v libx264 -profile:v high -crf 18 -pix_fmt yuv420p -color_range tv -colorspace bt709 -color_primaries bt709 -color_trc bt709 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart reel.mp4
```

This adds a silent AAC track. If the video has its own sound, swap `-map 2:a` for `-map 0:a`.

## Step 4: Check before upload

The rest: https://github.com/charlie947/motion-graphics-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/reel-export/SKILL.md