Film the I love the Smiths trend in one shot

What you need

• Two people: the listener and the one who speaks first.
• Over-ear headphones, the bigger the better; they are the only prop.
• An elevator, or any narrow space with a plain wall behind you: a hallway, a bus stop, a park bench.
• A phone on a stand at chest height, close enough to frame you both from the waist up.
• A sound: use the audio from a take you like on the trend’s tag page.

The I love the Smiths trend, step by step

1. 1

   Set the phone still at chest height and frame both of you from the waist up, the listener on the left.

2. 2

   The listener puts the headphones on and looks straight ahead, lost in the music.

3. 3

   The other one glances over, then turns and says the line.

4. 4

   The listener pulls the headphones down to the neck and turns, as if to ask what was said.

5. 5

   The line again, a little louder: "I said I love the Smiths."

6. 6

   Hold the look for a beat, then both smile. Stop recording there; the scene works in one shot.

Who does what in the scene

Mistakes that flatten the scene

• Skipping the unheard first line: say it once while the headphones are still on, then again once they come off.
• Earbuds instead of big headphones: nobody can see them, and the pull-down is the cue.
• A camera too far away: the scene lives on two faces, so keep it waist-up.
• Both people talking at once: one speaks, the other reacts.

Ideas for your take on the trend

• Move it: a park bench filmed from behind, as in one popular take, or a street at night.
• Swap the band: name your own favorite artist instead, and let the headphones give it away.
• Play it as friends: an inside joke about one of you never listening.
• Shoot it wide: many versions are 16:9, as in the AI template, with bars above and below on TikTok.

TikTok

TikTok

The AI way: the I love the Smiths trend from two photos

Since early November 2026 the trend has an AI version: two photos in, the elevator scene out. I Love the Smiths AI on Capafy AI follows a CapCut template result of two AI-made people and puts the two of you in their places, 14 seconds for 23 credits at 480p, and a free 2-second preview comes first: photo 1 on the left in the headphones, photo 2 on the right doing the talking, your faces, hair and clothes from the photos.

Two things to know. The voices and sound are the template clip’s own, so they will not sound like you. And it is for you and someone who said yes: many AI posts of the scene use celebrities, which this template is not for. The studio at the top of this page opens on it. Capafy AI is an independent studio, unrelated to the film’s makers, The Smiths, TikTok and CapCut.

TikTok

Before you post

• Tag it #ilovethesmithstrend so it sits with the other takes.
• Turn on the AI label if you post the AI version.
• Say where the line comes from if your followers are too young for the film: (500) Days of Summer, 2009.
• What the line means, for the caption: "I said I love the Smiths" explained.