How to make a 'starting soon' screen with AI: a looping scene, a countdown and a bed of music

A starting-soon screen is the two to five minutes viewers spend looking at your channel before the stream begins, and it decides whether they wait. The good ones share a shape: a scene in the channel's visual identity, a little motion so the screen is not a frozen image, a countdown or a schedule, and music at a level that fills the room without demanding attention. All four parts can be generated in an afternoon. This guide makes a starting-soon screen from a text description, with a motion loop, a music bed cut to the countdown's length, and the assembly on a timeline, then exports it in the sizes a stream needs.

What should a starting-soon screen contain?

Four things: the channel's name or mark, a "starting soon" line with a countdown or a time, a scene that matches the stream's look, and a music bed; everything else (socials, sponsors, chat rules) belongs on the channel page, not the waiting screen.

Viewers read a starting screen in the first second and then listen to it for minutes, which is why the music matters more than the artwork. Keep the text large and sparse, put the countdown where the eye lands (upper centre or lower third), and leave the middle of the frame calm so a webcam or chat overlay can sit there without fighting the image.

Step 1: generate the scene in your channel's look

Describe the scene, not the screen. "A neon-lit arcade at closing time, rain on the window, teal and magenta, empty, wide shot" produces a background; "starting soon screen" produces a template. Generate at 16:9 in the AI image generator, each render costing 20 credits, and ask for a calm middle ("the centre of the frame open and low-contrast") so the countdown and any overlay read cleanly. Pull the two dominant colours with the colour palette extractor and reuse them for the text and the countdown so the screen reads as one design. The same scene, cropped to 5:2, becomes the channel banner (Twitch banner size has the crop).

Step 2: give it motion

A still starting screen looks like a crash; a subtle loop looks like a set. Animate the scene with image to video using one ambient instruction: "rain streaks down the glass, neon flickers slowly, the camera holds". PrismPoster's Video Studio renders 16:9 clips of 4, 6, 8, 10 seconds from 30 credits at 360p; render the keeper at 720p or 1080p for a stream. The loop trick is in the instruction: ask for motion that has no beginning or end (rain, drifting fog, flickering light, slow particles), then on the timeline place the clip, a reversed copy of it, and repeat the pair, so the last frame always meets a matching first frame. The looping AI video guide covers the reverse-and-repeat method and when a crossfade is the better join.

Step 3: make the music bed to length

Starting screens run three to five minutes, and a track that ends at 2:47 leaves silence at the worst moment. Generate the bed in the Music Studio with a brief that states the length and the role: "a five-minute instrumental synthwave bed, steady tempo, no vocals, no build, loops cleanly". A custom track costs 25 credits and comes with stems, so the drums can be dropped for a calmer version of the same bed. Keep the level low; the bed is under a countdown, not a music video. Stream music rights are simpler with generated tracks than with a playlist, and AI music for streamers explains what the licence covers.

Step 4: assemble and export

On the timeline editor, lay the loop for the full runtime, add the bed, and place the text: the channel mark top-left, "starting soon" and the countdown upper-centre, a schedule line lower-third. Match the countdown's tempo to the music with the BPM tapper if you want the seconds to tick on the beat, which is a small detail viewers notice. Export 1920 x 1080 at 30 fps for the stream, and if the streaming software supports a looping media source, export the loop alone (without the countdown) as a shorter file and let the software repeat it, adding the countdown as a live text element on top. A GIF version of the loop, made with the free video to GIF tool, works as an animated panel or a Discord banner.

What does a starting-soon screen cost in credits?

Two or three scene candidates at 20 credits each, one or two 360p motion drafts at 30 credits, one 720p keeper, and one music bed at 25 credits. Three stills, two drafts and a bed come to 145 credits before the 720p render, inside a free account's 100 starter credits; credit packs after that start at €3.99 with no subscription, as listed on /pricing.

How do you make a matching "be right back" and "stream ending" screen?

Reuse the scene and change only the text and the motion's intensity. The break screen keeps the same loop and swaps the countdown for "back in a few minutes"; the ending screen slows the loop (a longer clip, or the loop played at half speed on the timeline), swaps the bed for a quieter stem mix, and adds the next stream's date. Three screens from one scene is what makes a channel look designed, and AI video ideas for streamers has the rest of the set.

Building a channel or a stream? Also see AI YouTube thumbnails, Faceless YouTube channel ideas, and making faceless YouTube videos.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size should a starting-soon screen be?

1920 x 1080 at 16:9 for the stream itself. Export the loop separately if your streaming software can repeat a media source, and add the countdown as a live text element so the loop file stays short.

How long should a starting-soon screen run?

Three to five minutes is typical. The video loop can be short and repeated; the music bed should be generated to the full runtime so it never ends mid-wait.

Can I make a starting-soon screen for free?

The scene, motion drafts and a music bed cost 145 credits in the workflow above, which fits inside PrismPoster's 100 starter credits, and the GIF, palette and BPM tools are free browser tools with no account.

How do I hide the join in the loop?

A loop is invisible when the last frame matches the first. Generate ambient motion with no clear start or end, then place the clip and its reversed copy back to back on the timeline; the join disappears.