Christmas Caption Safe Zone
Place the caption in the upper middle. Keep it off the gift, the face, and the bottom edge where the app adds buttons.
Put the Christmas caption in the upper middle of the frame, and keep it off the gift. The upper middle is the safe zone: high enough to miss the buttons and the handle, low enough to miss a cropped forehead. The gift stays in the lower half, where a line of type will not cross the bow. One person speaks. If the same file will also go to TikTok or Shorts, burn the caption in so the line travels with the picture. If the face or the voice is realistic, say that it is AI. Leave the platform label where it appears. Lower the gift, clear a band across the upper middle, and burn the line in if this file will also go to TikTok or Shorts. The first 3 seconds show the face in the upper half and the box at waist height, and they say the offer. Reject a bow under the words, type parked on the mouth, or a platform label that was covered. 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 where the platform put it.
Clear the upper middle first
Frame the face in the upper half with empty space beside or just above the mouth for the line. Do not park the gift there. A bow that crosses the upper middle will be sliced by the caption, and the product becomes a background for type. Lower the box, or crop it, before you choose a caption style. Frame the empty band beside the mouth before you pick a caption style, and keep the gift in the lower half. In the first 3 seconds the picture is that clear upper middle, and the words are the offer. Reject a bow that crosses the line before you post.
Burn the line in when the file travels
An app caption disappears when the file is downloaded or reposted. Burned-in captions stay on the picture, which helps if the same reel goes to TikTok or Shorts. Pick one of the caption styles and keep that choice for the whole clip. The words should be the point, held long enough to read in the first 3 seconds. Choose one caption style, burn it into the picture when the file will travel, and hold it long enough to read. In the first 3 seconds, viewers see the burned-in offer and hear the same words. Do not post a line that disappears the moment the file is downloaded.
Leave the platform label alone
The safe zone is for your words. If the host looks or sounds like a real person, your own caption should say the host is AI, and the platform's label stays visible where the platform put it. The gift belongs low, clear of that line, and the label stays with the post. Put your own AI sentence in the caption if the host looks or sounds real, and leave the platform label visible beside it. The opening 3 seconds show the offer in the safe zone while the line says it. Throw out a painted badge on the still, or a gift that covers the platform label, before the file goes up.
A worked example
A chocolate shop host holds the box at waist height. The face sits in the upper half with a clear band across the upper middle. The caption, in one style, states the offer and that the host is AI. The bow never passes under the words. The same burned-in line is still readable when the file is posted again on another app. Hold the chocolate box at the waist, place one caption style in the upper middle, then check the line on a second app. For the first 3 seconds, show the clear band and say the offer. Reject a bow that passes under the words. Keep one speaker inside 15–45 seconds. If the face looks real, the caption says the host is AI, and the platform label stays visible.
Before you post
- Keep the gift below the caption.
- Use the upper middle for the line.
- Leave the platform label visible.
Where Scro fits
Scro has one person speak, with 13 caption styles for the line you place in that upper middle. Burn the caption into the export if the file will also go elsewhere. Export 9:16. Label a realistic face or voice as AI, and leave the platform label in place. Use one of the caption styles in that upper middle and export 9:16 with the line burned in if the file will travel. Inside the first 3 seconds, the gift is low and the voice says the offer. Reject type across the bow. If the face or voice could be mistaken for a real person, the caption says it is AI.
Leave the upper middle clear. Finished samples are on the examples page.
Related: Label a Realistic Christmas Host.