Talking from the Counter

Talk from the counter, with the counter in frame and the product beside the host. A face floating in a blurred room could be anywhere. The counter is how the shop enters the reel. One person speaks. The product is the one you are talking about, close enough to recognize, in the same light as the face. The first 3 seconds carry the offer, the hours, or the date. If the same file will also go to TikTok or Shorts, burn the caption in. If the face or the voice is realistic, label it as AI. Include the counter edge in the lower frame, set one tin at elbow height clear of the mouth, and say the offer from that spot. Keep one speaker and one product. A practical reel is 15–45 seconds. The first 3 seconds show the tea seller behind the counter with the tin in the same light as the face, and they say the offer the shop is running. Reject a floating portrait, a generated logo on the tin, or a close-up that loses the counter. 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 it appears.

Include the counter edge

The edge of the counter should cross the lower frame so the host is clearly behind it. Cropping it out turns the shot into a portrait. You do not need the whole shop. You need the surface the product sits on, and the person who can reach it. One lamp or the window, named, lights both. Cross the lower frame with the counter edge, and name the lamp or the window that lights both the face and the tin. The first 3 seconds show that surface and say the offer. Reject a crop that turns the shot into a portrait with no shop.

The product stays beside the host

Place the item on the counter, on the side that does not cover the mouth. It is evidence for the sentence, not a second subject with its own story. One product. A blank face of the pack is safer than a generated logo. The words, including the shop name, live in the caption. Keep the pack blank and the item as evidence, not a second story, and put the shop name in the caption. In the first 3 seconds the tin sits beside the host and the voice says the offer. Do not post a generated logo on the tin.

One voice, labeled if real

A worked example

A tea seller stands behind the counter with one tin at elbow height, clear of the mouth. The first sentence is the offer the shop is running. The counter edge stays in frame the whole time. The caption repeats the offer, names the shop, and says the host is AI. Stand behind the counter, keep the tin clear of the mouth, and say the offer with the edge still in frame. The first 3 seconds show the seller and the tin and say the offer. Reject a logo on the pack. One speaker, one product, 15–45 seconds. If the face looks real, the caption says the host is AI.

Before you post

• Keep the counter in frame.
• Set one product beside the host.
• Label a realistic face or voice as AI.

Where Scro fits

Scro has one person speak from this counter, with 13 caption styles for the line beside the product. Export 9:16 so the face, the counter, and the item can share a vertical frame. Label a realistic face or voice as AI. Export 9:16 so the face, the counter, and the item share the vertical frame. The first 3 seconds show the counter and say the offer. Reject a portrait that lost the shop. If the face or voice could be mistaken for a real person, the caption says it is AI, and the platform label stays put.

Speak from the counter. Finished samples are on the examples page.

Related: Wide Shot, Then the Product.