# Word-per-beat procedure — rebuild sheet

A 66-second overhead recipe build on a bare bathroom counter — ingredients named one word at a time, then the maker steps into frame holding the finished thing. @paulsaladinomd · 2,966,731 views · 132,711 likes.

**Why it works** — One word sits on screen at a time and never finishes a thought, so you stay to read the rest of the sentence while the recipe assembles under a camera that never moves. Every ingredient goes in on camera, on a bare counter, in ordinary jars, which makes it read as something you could repeat instead of something being sold to you.

**The beats**

| Time | What happens | On-screen text |
|---|---|---|
| 5.27s | Heavy motion blur — a whip pan or speed transition. A person in a dark tee is just readable at frame left, a bright bathroom shelf or mirror smeared across the rest. Nothing else in this still is legible. | GO |
| 15.8s | Locked overhead, bare white counter. A hand holds a spoon heaped with white powder over a small open jar of the same; a bigger lidded jar of white powder at the top of frame, a shallow dish of yellow liquid bottom-left, a second hand at the bottom edge. | THREE |
| 26.34s | Same overhead position. A hand lifts a jar of grey powder toward the lens, red label turned flat to camera, filling the middle of the frame. The open jar of white paste stays below it. | BENTONITE |
| 36.88s | Overhead. A metal spoon carries grey powder across frame; one hand steadies the jar, now a grey-and-white mixture. Open jar of grey powder top-left, a wooden-handled brush just in frame at the right edge. | METAL |
| 47.41s | Overhead. The spoon stirs grey paste in the jar. A white plastic bottle stands open at the top of frame, its cap and a few clear drops loose on the counter. | DILUTE |
| 57.95s | Cut out of overhead to a medium shot: the maker standing, bearded, plain dark tee, a mason jar of red-pink liquid in one hand and a wooden-handled toothbrush in the other. White curtain and shower rail behind, daylight from the side. | IT'S |

Two things the frames do not settle, so don't take them as fact. First, whether those single words are a deliberate one-word-per-beat sentence or fast word-by-word captions running under a voiceover — six stills 10.5s apart can't tell the difference, and the words we have ("go / three / bentonite / metal / dilute / it's") read like a narration sampled rather than a written six-word line. Either way you rebuild it the same: one word on screen at a time, never a full sentence. Second, there is no audio here, so what he actually says is unknown; the caption talks about fluoride, gut health and bad breath, but none of that appears on screen.

**What carries the value** — The unfinished one-word read dragging you across a recipe that assembles in plain sight. Each named ingredient going in on camera is the proof; the bare counter and unbranded jars are what make it feel repeatable.

**Shoot it**

- **Camera:** phone on an overhead arm or clamp, straight down, vertical, framed on a patch of empty counter about two feet across. It does not move once — not a nudge — for the whole middle of the video. Only the last beat leaves overhead, for a normal chest-up shot of the person.
- **Light:** one window off to the side, nothing else. No lamp, no ring light, no bounce. Soft shadows under the jars are correct — they read as real.
- **Surface:** bare and light. Counter, nothing on it but what goes into the recipe: the jars, their loose lids, the spoon. No board, no linen, no styling.
- **Wardrobe:** plain dark tee, sleeves out of frame. Hands ungloved, unmanicured, no watch or rings that pull the eye.
- **Blocking:** one ingredient per beat, added on camera. Once per build, lift the jar to the lens with the label flat to camera and hold it — that's the beat that does the most work. Finish by stepping into frame holding the made thing.
- **Text:** one word at a time, centred low, bold white all-caps with a drop shadow. Never let a full sentence sit on screen.

**Or generate it**

The beat worth generating is the ingredient lifted to the lens.

```
vertical 9:16 top-down photograph of a bare white countertop, one hand lifting {PRODUCT} toward the overhead lens with its label turned flat to camera and filling the middle of the frame, an open glass jar of pale mixture and two loose lids on the counter below it, {SUBJECT}'s second hand resting at the bottom edge of frame, even daylight from a window off to one side, phone-camera look, slight grain, no styling, no props beyond the ingredients, no on-screen text
```

**Motion:** camera perfectly still overhead; only the hand moves, lifting the jar up toward the lens and holding it there for a beat before setting it back down.

**Text overlay:** one word per beat, centred low, bold white all-caps with a drop shadow, the words reading in order as one sentence — `{WORD_1}` / `{WORD_2}` / `{INGREDIENT}` / `{WORD_4}` / `{STEP_VERB}` / `{WORD_6}`.

**Reference:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVoR6W2jXyp/
