How to Make an AI Billboard Video With Your Face Above a City Square

What the AI billboard trend is

Clips that show someone's face on a giant city billboard became a popular AI trend for birthdays, congratulations and playful bragging. The well-known versions are set in famous squares. This one is a generated big-city square after rain, with no real place names, brands or logos on the screens, so it works for anyone.

On MagicTakes it is an 8-second vertical clip. It opens looking up at your face on a giant screen above a wet city square at night, with soft pink feathered wings behind you lifting in the breeze. From three to five seconds you blink slowly and break into a proud smile. In the last three seconds the camera pulls back over the rainy street as yellow taxis pass and people with umbrellas stop to film the screen.

How to make it on MagicTakes

1. 1Open the Billboard Star template.
2. 2Choose City square for a person, or My pet to put your dog or cat on the screen.
3. 3Upload one photo: face clear, chest up, facing the camera.
4. 4Tap Make my take. It costs 40 credits; your first take is free with a small magictakes.com mark.
5. 5Wait 2 to 4 minutes. You can close the page and find the take in your library later.
6. 6Download the 9:16 MP4 and add music in the app you post to.

A photo that holds up at billboard size

Any blur, noise or harsh shadow in your photo gets blown up along with your face. A good billboard photo is closer to a passport photo than a party snap.

• Front-facing and chest up. Side angles look odd on a flat screen.
• Sharp and well lit, with even light on your face.
• Nothing covering the face: no sunglasses, no hand, no hair across the eyes.
• One person or one pet in the photo.
• For a pet, make sure the whole head and both ears are in view so nothing gets cropped.

City square or My pet

City square is the default: a high-fashion portrait of you in a black velvet jacket with big pink feathered wings, on a hot-pink screen above a rainy square.

Your portrait doesn't just sit there. On the screen a breeze lifts your hair and the feathers, and you blink and smile, while people below stop to film and the wet street shines pink.

My pet puts your dog or cat on the billboard instead, in a small velvet jacket with the same pink wings, and keeps its exact fur, colours and markings. Giving your pet a moment of fame in a busy square is the kind of thing people send to the whole family.

Both versions keep the screens wordless on purpose. If you want text, such as a name or a message, add it as a caption or on-screen text when you post.

Ideas for posting it

Takes are vertical 9:16 MP4 files at 720p, so they fit TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts as they are.

• A birthday surprise for a friend, using a photo they sent you and are happy to see huge. Caption idea: The whole city knows it's your birthday.
• Celebrate a new job, a launch or a graduation. Add the news as on-screen text over the reveal.
• Your pet's moment of fame, for its fans or the family chat.
• A mock announcement for the group chat, timed for the day the news actually happens.
• Your face is on screen from the first frame and the smile lands around the four-second mark, so a sound with an early beat drop fits well.

What goes wrong and how to fix it

Most fixes come down to a clearer photo or another take. Each take is a new attempt, so the square, the crowd and the camera move vary a little, and every take stays in your library.

• Your face on the billboard looks different: use a sharp, front-facing photo, chest up, with even light.
• The screens show strange words: make another take. The screens are meant to be wordless.
• Your portrait barely moves: the motion is meant to be subtle, a blink, a smile and the feathers in the breeze. Make another take for a bigger smile.
• The pet's face is cropped: use a photo with its whole head and ears in view.
• A take fails: the 40 credits go back to your balance automatically.

Whose face goes on the billboard

Only use photos of yourself, of adults who agreed to it, or of your own pets. Photos of children and of public figures can't be used. If the billboard is a surprise for a friend, ask before you post it publicly. Uploads are deleted after 30 days, and your takes are private unless you share them.

Questions