Candlelight without Orange Skin
One candle lights one side of the face. The other side keeps its real color, and so does a white collar.
Use one candle as the practical light, and let the face keep its real color. The candle sits on one side, in the frame, close enough to count as a lamp. The near cheek warms. The far cheek stays the skin color of the room, not a second coat of orange. White cloth stays white. If the whole face, the eyes, and the collar turn the same amber, the candle has become a filter. Approve that decision on the still, before the mouth moves. If the host looks real, say the host is AI. Set one candle on one side of the table, check that only the near cheek warms, and approve that still before the mouth moves. The first 3 seconds show the candle in frame and a far cheek that keeps its real color, and they say the shop line. Reject a second flame of equal strength, an all-amber face, or a white collar turned orange. Keep one speaker. A practical reel is 15–45 seconds. If the face or the voice could be mistaken for a real person, the caption must say it is AI, and the platform label stays visible.
Put the candle in the frame
A candle you cannot see is a color grade. Place one candle on the table, to the left or the right, and say so. A second candle of equal strength pulls the face in two directions and flattens the color. One flame is the practical. The rest of the room can stay dim without being dyed. Place the single candle where it can be seen, left or right, and do not add a twin. In the first 3 seconds the picture is that one flame beside the face, and the words are the shop line. Reject a candle you cannot see, because that is a color grade, before you post.
Warm one side only
The cheek nearer the flame may go warm. The far cheek, the neck in shadow, and any white collar should still look like themselves. Teeth and eye whites are an easy check. If they match the flame, the still is orange, and orange skin is the failure this reel is trying to avoid. Compare the far cheek, the teeth, and the eye whites with the flame, and keep them from matching it. In the first 3 seconds, viewers see warmth on one side only and hear the line. Do not post a still where the whole head has taken the candle's color.
Approve the color, then move
Motion will not restore a color the still never had. Reject an all-amber face before you continue. The locked face should match the reference once the candle is added, aside from that one-sided warmth. Life photos of this host can reuse the same person only if the skin still reads as skin. Label the realistic face as AI. Reject the all-amber frame while it is still a picture, then move only the approved face. The opening 3 seconds show the one-sided warmth while the line says the shop point. Throw out a face that no longer matches the lock once the candle is added, before the file goes up.
A worked example
A tailor sits at a cutting table with one candle on frame left. The left cheek is warm, the right cheek keeps its daylight color, and the white shirt stays white. A version where the whole head turned amber is rejected. The approved still is the one that moves, and the caption says the host is AI. Keep the candle on frame left at the cutting table, confirm the shirt stays white, then let that still move. For the first 3 seconds, show the warm left cheek and the daylight-colored right cheek, and say the shop line. Reject the version where the whole head turned amber. Keep one speaker inside 15–45 seconds. If the face looks real, the caption says the host is AI.
Before you post
- Show one candle in the frame.
- Keep the far cheek a real color.
- Leave white cloth white, and label the host as AI.
Where Scro fits
Scro locks this face and waits for you to approve the still before motion. The candle is a change of light, not a change of person. Life photos can reuse the host once the skin color holds. Export 9:16, and label the realistic face as AI. Treat the candle as a change of light, not a change of person, and export 9:16 after the still passes. Inside the first 3 seconds, one candle is in frame and the voice says the shop line. Reject orange skin. If the face or voice could be mistaken for a real person, the caption says it is AI, and the platform label stays put.
Use one candle. Finished samples are on the examples page.
Related: Christmas Caption Safe Zone.