Product hook

The hook is the first 5-15 seconds of a product reel: real-looking footage of the product doing the one thing that makes people stop. In the dropshipping reels this skill was built from (@tradelle, Sept-Oct 2026), the hook carried the video: a snake biting a leg gaiter, a worker getting sand and grinder sparks thrown at his face mask, a cat's claw lit up by an LED clipper. The voiceover over the hook is a plain product line ("These are the leg guards I wear when I'm outdoors"). Two more reels (a cat runner, drink-test nail stickers) show the other use: the hook stretched into the whole 15-22 s ad, "The problem → Vs → The solution", set to music with no voice (section 3).

Generation runs on varg: the varg-ai skill (REST at https://api.varg.ai/v2) or the varg MCP server (https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp, tools call_tool + get_job). Every call returns a job; poll GET /v2/jobs/{id} until completed, the file is at output.outputs[0].url.

1. Ask two things first

1. Where the hook comes from
   • Remake a proven idea with AI (recommended): find a hook that already worked for this kind of product, then generate your own version with your product. No rights problems, any angle you want.
   • Your own footage: the supplier's video or your own phone clips. Only use supplier or other people's clips with written permission. Sellers get takedowns for reposted AliExpress videos.
2. Which archetype (pick from the table in step 3, or let the product decide: protective gear → torture test or backyard camera; pet and home gadgets → problem/solution or satisfying close-up; gifts → reaction).

Also collect: 1-3 product photos (a clean packshot plus one in-use photo if there is one), the product name, and the one benefit to show.

2. Find what already works (10 minutes)

Save the 2-3 best references with the media-download skill (vdl <url>) to study the shots. Write down the idea in one line ("snake strikes the gaiter in a swamp, the gaiter holds"); you remake the idea, not the clip.

3. Pick the archetype and fill the prompt

Every prompt has five blocks (the order matters for Seedance 2.5):

1. Identity: "the from @image1 (exact same product: same shape, colors, material, logo)".
2. Shot: "vertical UGC clip shot handheld on an iPhone in , natural light, slight hand shake".
3. Action: one clear physical action and its result, in order.
4. Camera: close-up or medium, one move at most.
5. Exclusions: "Real footage look, no music, no text, no subtitles." Captions and offers go in the edit, never in the prompt.

For a hook with a person who must stay the same across several clips, make a character sheet first (varg-character-design).

The whole ad as one hook: "The problem → Vs → The solution" (14-22 s, music, no voice)

Two of the reels this skill was built from aren't hooks for a longer video. They are the entire ad: a cat-runner reel (@rollymewofficial, 14 s, 160k likes) and a German drink-test nail-sticker reel (NailSense, 22 s). Both use the same skeleton:

• No voiceover. A trending song carries it, and the song is added in the app, not baked into the file.
• Text: one short line in sentence case with one emoji, white with a soft shadow, in the top third. Each line stays on until the next beat. This is the platform's native text style, not the big word-by-word captions of the guide reel.
• Make it as 4-5 clips: 2 problem clips (the second is the security-cam angle), the reveal, the use, the proof. Then cut on the text changes. In the security-cam clips, ask for "CCTV night-vision black-and-white, fisheye, high corner angle". Add the timestamp overlay in the edit, because model-drawn text comes out garbled. Render the text lines and the timestamp as transparent PNGs (any headless browser; libass can't draw colour emoji) and lay them on with varg-dropship-reel's assemble.mjs (overlays), with the music as the only soundtrack.
• Same person in both problem clips: make the second clip image-to-video from the last frame of the first ("same fixed camera, same woman, same car, continuous footage"). Two separate text-to-video clips gave two different women.
• Fear themes get restricted. The drink-spiking reel is behind Instagram's "can't be seen by certain audiences" gate: logged-out and younger viewers can't open it, so its reach is capped. Danger, assault, injury and medical scares sell protective products but can trigger age gates or ad rejection. Show the threat without anything happening to the person on screen.

4. Generate

Upload the product photos (POST /v2/files, MCP create_upload → PUT to proxy_url), then:

curl -s -X POST https://api.varg.ai/v2/video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VARG_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "seedance_2_5",
    "prompt": "Vertical UGC product clip shot handheld on an iPhone in a cozy living room, natural window light, slight hand shake. Extreme close-up: a person'\''s hands hold a fluffy orange cat'\''s front paw on a grey blanket. They bring in the pet nail clipper from @image1 (exact same product, same white and pastel-blue colors, same LED light at the blade). The LED switches on and lights up the claw so the pink quick is visible through it; the clipper snips the very tip of the claw cleanly, the clipping drops into the transparent guard. The cat stays calm. Real footage look, no music, no text, no subtitles.",
    "files": [{ "url": "PRODUCT_PACKSHOT_URL" }],
    "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
    "resolution": "720p",
    "duration": 6
  }'

• One image in files is the first frame on most models, but seedance_2_5 (≤9 images), kling_v4 (≤7) and wan_3 (≤10) take it as a reference and build the scene around it. Name each one in the prompt (@image1, @image2).
• Hooks are 4-8 s per clip; plan 2-3 clips (13 s in total covered the hook in every reel studied). Seedance 2.5 can do 2-3 shots in one 8-12 s clip with "Shot 1 (0-3s): … Shot 2 (3-8s): …".
• Price it first: POST /v2/estimate (same body) or MCP estimate_cost. A 6 s 720p seedance_2_5 clip cost 231 credits in our test (Oct 2026). Drafts: wan_3 at about a quarter of that, then the keeper on seedance_2_5.
• Keep audio off when a voiceover goes on top. Turn it on ("audio": true) for a hook that plays with its own sound (a scream, a snap, a crash), as in "Backyard camera caught this".

5. Check before you use it

• Is it the same product? Compare shape, color and logo against the packshot frame by frame. If it drifts, add a second photo from another angle as @image2, and add "do not change the product's shape, color or size".
• Does the action read in 1 second with the sound off? If not, shorten to the moment of impact.
• Hands and animals: count fingers, check paws. Regenerate the clip instead of fixing it in the edit.
• Product scale: Seedance sometimes makes the product too big or small; say its real size ("palm-sized").
• Re-running with a byte-identical body is a free cache hit; change one word to get a new take.

Tested 2026-10-28, four more hooks from one packshot each, all on seedance_2_5: a backyard security camera with a solar flood light (night IR, the light flares on), a torture test with cut-resistant gloves (knife across the glove, grabbing the blade, a mandoline), a dog version of the nail clipper, and a Father's Day gift reaction with a neck massager. All read as phone or CCTV footage on the first take; the full reels are in varg-dropship-reel. A 21 s "The problem → Vs → The solution" ad for car seat gap fillers (2 kling_v4 dashcam clips + 2 seedance_2_5 product clips, PNG text overlays, a mureka_9_5 music bed): https://s3.varg.ai/files/194b94d0-58ff-4e8b-91de-4f1959d04013/file_a2aa0853b683.mp4. Its reveal clip drifted from long foam wedges to boxier blocks; pass a second product angle as @image2 for products with an unusual shape.

Tested 2026-10-27: an LED pet nail clipper packshot (gpt_image_2_5) + the prompt above on seedance_2_5 at 6 s 720p gave a usable handheld close-up on the first try: the product stayed recognizable, the LED lit up, and it looked like phone footage.

Rules

• Don't claim the AI clip is a real customer or a real event. Label AI content where the platform asks for it (TikTok and Instagram AI labels).
• Don't use real brand logos you don't own, real people's faces or celebrity lookalikes.
• Don't repost someone else's video as your hook. Remake the idea with your own product.

Related skills

varg-dropship-reel (the full 60-second guide reel this hook opens), varg-ai (models, uploads, prices), media-download (save reference clips), varg-character-design (a person who stays the same across clips), video-skills (other ad formats).