AI crying video generator and prompt: the Make Them Cry effect

How the Make Them Cry effect works

Default: Veo 3.1 Lite, 4 seconds, 9:16, 320 credits (80 credits per second).

What the AI crying trend is: a normal, smiling or neutral selfie that slowly breaks into tears, posted as a short vertical clip with a caption that does the joke ("me reading my bank balance", "when the group chat goes quiet"). The video does not need to be long or perfect; it needs the face to stay recognisable while the expression changes, which is why the effect uses an image to video model that starts from your photo as the first frame.

How to make an AI crying video, step by step: pick a photo where the face is large, sharp and lit from the front (a selfie at arm's length works, a group shot does not), upload it above, leave the prompt as it is for the first try, and press Generate. The clip comes back in a minute or two. If the face changes too much, the photo is usually too small or too dark; crop closer to the face and run it again.

Writing your own crying video prompt: the default prompt is short on purpose, because image to video models copy the face from your photo and take only the motion from the text. What helps is naming the stages of a cry in order: the eyes glisten, the lower lip trembles, one tear rolls down a cheek, then the shoulders shake. Add "static camera, close-up portrait" to stop the model from zooming or cutting. For a meme, type "exaggerated cartoon sobbing, streams of tears" in the details field; for something closer to a film scene, try "quiet, restrained, single tear, soft window light".

What goes wrong: a laughing or wide-mouthed photo fights the prompt, so the model blends a smile into the cry. Sunglasses and heavy filters hide the eyes the tears need. Hair over the face tends to flicker. A neutral expression and a plain background give the most convincing result.

Pets and other subjects: the prompt is written for a person, so for a dog or cat photo change "the person in the photo" to "the dog in the photo" before generating, and keep the animal's face large in the frame. Expect a more cartoonish result than on a human face.

Tips

• Use only with friends in on the joke.
• Close-up portraits look best.

Want something romantic instead? Try the AI kiss video generator or the AI hug generator.