{
 "slug": "bystander-caption",
 "name": "Bystander caption",
 "category": "hook",
 "group": "Visual hooks and animations",
 "media": [
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "The clip reads as something seen, not as an advert.",
 "use_when": "Candid-looking moments posted from the brand's own account.",
 "phrase": "one line in a bystander's voice over candid-looking footage, at the top of the frame in the platform's own text style",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "It sits on six of that account's top 20 posts and on two of its three weakest, so it needs stakes under it.",
   "evidence": "measured",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026)"
  },
  {
   "text": "A brand uses it on its own account and never poses as a real bystander. In the EU, advertising that hides that it is advertising is banned outright.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026)"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "stakes-in-frame-zero",
  "pov-title",
  "honest-tension"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "measured",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words from Director Chair field notes on short-form video (one TikTok account, 233 posts and 27 measured clips, read 30 Oct 2026) and Director Chair field notes on hooks and ideas"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/hook/bystander-caption",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/hook/bystander-caption.md",
 "prompts": {
  "seedance-2.5": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. One line in a bystander's voice over candid-looking footage, at the top of the frame in the platform's own text style.\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): one continuous shot",
  "seedance-2.0": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. One line in a bystander's voice over candid-looking footage, at the top of the frame in the platform's own text style.\nShot 1: one continuous shot",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. One line in a bystander's voice over candid-looking footage, at the top of the frame in the platform's own text style. The scene is [your setting].",
  "veo-3.1": "[your subject] in [your setting]. One line in a bystander's voice over candid-looking footage, at the top of the frame in the platform's own text style. Framing and subject stay as in the start image."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}