The Cover Is the Gift

The cover is the product, not a title card. Hearth Bakery's cover frame is the biscuit tin on the wooden table: blank label, one shadow, no words across the picture. People decide from that frame. A title card delays the tin and asks the generator to paint letters you then have to police. The offer is spoken inside the reel. The shop name goes in the caption, which is the right place for Hearth Bakery. One product. No invented logo. The first three seconds of the file can be this same cover, so the still and the open agree. People decide from the cover, so the cover is the tin. Choose the sharpest still of the single biscuit tin, confirm grain, contact shadow, and a blank label, use that frame as the cover and as the first frame, and speak over it. The first three seconds show that same tin while the voice says the tins stay on the counter until four. A title card, a festive banner, or lettering baked into the cover is rejected before posting. One product, fifteen to forty-five seconds, and a realistic voice is labeled as AI.

Pick the tin frame

Choose the sharpest still of the single tin and use it as the cover. Grain, contact shadow, and a blank label should all be visible. Hearth Bakery does not composite a festive banner over that still. A banner is a title card. If the tin is small in the frame, it is a weak cover even when the table looks pleasant. The sharp tin still is the cover. Grain, shadow, and blank label should all be visible, with no banner composited on top. The first three seconds show the tin large enough to be that cover while the voice says the tins stay out until four. A festive banner, or a tin that is small in the frame, is the cover you throw out.

Keep type out of the picture

The cover image has no shop name, no hour, and no slogan baked in. Those words belong in the caption and in the spoken offer: the tins stay on the counter until four. Burned-in captions, if you add them later in the video, are for the playing reel's upper-middle, not a reason to typeset the cover like a poster. Take the shop name, the hour, and any slogan off the cover first. They belong in the caption and in the spoken line. The opening three seconds show a wordless tin while the voice says the tins stay on the counter until four. A poster typeset on the cover is refused. Later burned-in captions, if you add them, belong in the playing reel's upper-middle.

Match the cover to the open

A worked example

Hearth Bakery sets the cover to the biscuit tin with a blank label and one shadow on the wooden table. No title card sits on top. The reel opens on that same tin. The spoken line says the tins stay out until four, and the caption names Hearth Bakery. A cover made of lettering over a blurred table was not used. Sharp tin still, no title card, the reel opening on that frame, then the line. The first three seconds show the biscuit tin with a blank label and one shadow while the voice says the tins stay out until four. Lettering over a blurred table is the cover you reject.

Before you post

• The cover shows the tin.
• The cover has no title card.
• The label is blank.

Where Scro fits

Scro keeps the promo to one product, and that product still is the cover, with a blank label and no invented logo. The offer is spoken. The shop name goes in the caption. Export at 9:16. Set the product still as the cover, keep the label blank, and export after the open matches it. The first three seconds show that tin while the offer says the tins stay out until four. A title card is rejected before posting. If the voice sounds real, the caption says it is AI.

Use the product as the cover. Finished samples are on the examples page.

Related: The First Line Is the Offer.