# Sticky-line maker demo — rebuild sheet

An 8.6s hands-only demo: a black baseball cap goes onto a steam machine on a kitchen counter and comes off crisp, under one line of text that never changes. 22,355,621 views · 199,923 likes · @simplysalfinds.

**Why it works**

There is no face and no cut to a talking head, so the viewer never has to grant anyone permission to keep watching — the line at the top is the promise and every second of footage is evidence against it. Because the line never changes, nothing on screen competes with the machine, and the payoff is a physical object the viewer already owns, restored in front of them.

**The beats**

| Time | What happens | On-screen text |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 0.69s | The machine sits open on a dark stone counter — a cream perforated dome form on a grey base, clear lid raised behind. A hand comes in from the right, out of focus, holding something small. | This changes everything 🤯 |
| 2.06s | A black baseball cap is pulled down over the dome form; a hand at the right adjusts it. Wider — counter edge, living room and staircase soft behind. | This changes everything 🤯 |
| 3.44s | Closer. Two hands, one in a navy sleeve with a watch, seat the cap (white team logo visible) onto the form. Staircase behind. | This changes everything 🤯 |
| 4.81s | Macro on the control face: a circular touch dial with a lit ring, STOP at the top, a play triangle at centre, a droplet icon left and a steam icon right. A finger enters to press. | This changes everything 🤯 |
| 6.18s | Pulled back. The clear dome lid is closed and the inside is fogged with steam. A hand with dark red nails rests at the right of the lid. | This changes everything 🤯 |
| 7.56s | The finished cap held up to camera — crown round and crisp, white sweatband visible. The machine blurred behind. | This changes everything 🤯 |

**What the frames do not show** — say so rather than fill it in:

- No face appears in any frame. Two different hands are visible (a navy-sleeved hand with a watch at 3.44s, a manicured hand at 6.18s and 7.56s); the stills don't say whose, or whether it's one person.
- The cap's "before" state is never shown crushed, dirty or misshapen — the video does not prove a before/after, it only shows the process and a good-looking end result.
- The machine's brand is not legible in any frame.
- Six stills can't tell you whether the camera cuts or runs continuous. The framing distance changes between beats, so there is at least a change of distance; whether that's cuts or a physical move is unknown.
- The emoji reads as 🤯 at contact-sheet resolution. Confirm it against the live post before locking the copy.

**What carries the value**

The machine visibly doing one absurdly specific job to an object the viewer already owns. The cap seated on a head-shaped form, the dome fogging with steam, then the cap held up crisp. Nothing is claimed in words — the device's existence and the restored object do all the persuading. Rebuilding this for another brand means finding your version of that pair: a familiar object the audience already has, and a product that visibly acts on it.

**Shoot it**

Anyone can shoot this on a phone.

- **Camera** — vertical, handheld, held at counter height, roughly over your own shoulder so you see what the hands see. Start wide enough to read the room, get closer for the working beat, then one macro on whatever control or mechanism makes the product go, and finish holding the result up to the lens. Small natural handheld wobble is correct; don't stabilise it into looking produced.
- **Light** — plain daylight from an off-camera window. No lamps, no fill, no colour. The room behind should be soft and slightly blown out, not styled.
- **Location** — a real kitchen counter or worktop in a real home, with the rest of the house visible and out of focus behind. Lived-in beats staged.
- **Wardrobe** — hands and forearms only. Plain long sleeves, nothing branded, nothing loud. Keep the face out of frame the whole way through; that is the format, not a shortcut.
- **Text** — write the line before you shoot and burn one line only, top third, same words start to finish. If you find yourself wanting a second line, the footage isn't carrying it yet.

**Or generate it**

The single most important beat is the object meeting the machine (2.06–3.44s). `{PRODUCT}` is the thing you're selling; `{SUBJECT}` is the familiar object it acts on.

```
vertical 9:16 photograph, close over-the-shoulder view of a pair of hands
seating {SUBJECT} down onto {PRODUCT}, which sits open on a dark stone
kitchen counter in a real lived-in home, a staircase and living room soft
and out of focus behind, plain daylight from an off-camera window,
phone-camera look, slight grain, no retouching, no on-screen text,
no face in frame — hands and forearms only, plain long sleeves
```

**Motion:** handheld at counter height, holding on the hands as they press `{SUBJECT}` onto `{PRODUCT}`, with a small drift closer as it seats — no zoom, no cut inside the shot.

**Text overlay:** one line pinned in the top third for the entire runtime, identical from first frame to last — `"{short reaction line} {emoji}"`, as here: `This changes everything 🤯`.

**Reference:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DUrJa6DkSq6/
