Quick answer
To make the Empire State Building banner AI video, upload one or two photos and type your banner message — AI renders you at the top of the antenna unfurling a hand-painted banner with your exact words, shot as live news-helicopter coverage with a BREAKING NEWS chyron and reporter voiceover. On Starrd, the Breaking: Empire State template does it in one tap: your message goes in Director's Notes and is painted on the banner verbatim. 100 credits (about $5), no subscription.
What You're Trying to Make
You, at the top of the Empire State Building's antenna, unfurling a hand-painted banner that says whatever you want it to say — caught live by a circling news helicopter with a "BREAKING NEWS" chyron and a breathless reporter narrating. The climb, the broadcast, and the audio are AI. The message is yours.
Breaking: Empire State
Climb the Empire State Building and unfurl a banner with YOUR message, caught live on a news-helicopter broadcast. Up to 2 photos. Type your sign in Director's Notes — it's painted on verbatim. 100 credits (about $5).
The Banner Is the Whole Product
Everything else in the clip — the chopper wobble, the chyron, the reporter — is set dressing for one payoff: the camera zooming all the way in on your words. That's why this format beats a caption or a text post for any announcement. Pick your lane:
- Proposal / love:
SHE SAID YES·MARRY ME·HAPPY ANNIVERSARY - Birthday / shoutout:
HAPPY 30TH MOM·CONGRATS GRAD - Promo:
GRAND OPENING SAT·TICKETS ON SALE·NOW HIRING - Flex / joke:
HI MOM·TEXT ME BACK·I TOLD YOU I'D DO IT
Keep it to a few big words in CAPS. The banner is hand-painted cloth rippling in wind at the end of a telephoto lens — a punchy line renders sharp, a paragraph turns to soup.
How to Make It (3 Steps)
- Upload 1–2 photos. Clear, well-lit, front-facing. One photo for a solo climb; two for the couple version.
- Type your banner in Director's Notes. Your exact words get painted on the banner — the template carries them verbatim. You can also set the reporter's tone (serious, hyped, comedic).
- Generate. A few minutes later: a shareable vertical video of the full three-shot broadcast — the aerial, the reporter in the open chopper door, and the steady zoom onto your sign.
Breaking: Empire State
Your message, 1,454 feet up, on live TV. 100 credits (about $5) — no subscription, credits never expire.
Prompting It Yourself
If you'd rather run it on a raw native-audio model (Seedance 2.0), this is the shape:
A live breaking-news helicopter broadcast. Main subject: the person from the uploaded photo, at the very top of the Empire State Building's antenna, unfurling a large hand-painted banner reading "[YOUR MESSAGE]".SHOT 1 (0–4s): long-lens aerial from a circling news helicopter, heavy telephoto wobble — the climber tiny at the top of the mast with the banner. Red "LIVE" bug, "BREAKING NEWS" chyron.SHOT 2 (4–7s): hard cut inside the chopper — door open, wind, a different generic field reporter in a headset talking urgently to camera.SHOT 3 (7–12s): zoom ALL THE WAY IN, stabilizing to a rock-steady hold on the banner — text fills the frame, sharp and legible; the climber waves.Audio: rotor wash, wind, breathless reporter voiceover. No music.
The two failure modes: a garbled banner (keep the message short) and a reporter who inherits your face (say "a different, generic person"). The template already handles both.
Common Mistakes
- A wordy banner. The #1 killer. A few big CAPS words or nothing.
- A real network logo. Use a fictional channel — it reads just as real and skips the trademark problem.
- A dark or blurry photo. The photo is the identity anchor; spend your effort there.
- No AI label. A fake newscast must be disclosed as AI on every platform.
Related Reading
- How to Make a Breaking News AI Video — the full deep-dive on the broadcast format this template is built on: the trend's origin story, the camera language, and every banner idea we've seen work.
- Viral AI Video Trends in 2026 — what's working right now, each with a one-tap template.
- Seedance 2.0 Prompt Guide — the model behind the in-pass reporter audio.
