Turning Crystals, Statues, and Lightbulbs into Butter: My Journey Creating ASMR Surrealism with Veo 3
# Creative generation
# Creative inspiration
# Video generation
Exploring the surreal side of ASMR with Veo 3—where geodes, statues, and lightbulbs become buttery, textural dreamscapes.
July 10, 2025
Tim Bowers
There’s something quietly magical about ASMR—the right textures, sounds, and motions can mesmerize. But I wanted to push the genre into something weirder. Surreal, even. Could I generate that deeply textural, hypnotic ASMR feel using Pencil and Veo 3… with objects that definitely shouldn’t be butter?
Turns out: yes. Here’s how I created a series of AI-generated ASMR butter-spreading videos that feature an amethyst geode, a miniature Michelangelo's David, and a glowing lightbulb, each transformed into luscious, spreadable butter.
✨ Step 1: Start With One Great Prompt
I began by focusing on just one scene: the amethyst geode. My approach was to iterate and refine my prompt until it struck the right balance between surreal visuals, detailed sound cues, and smooth, satisfying motion. To guide this, I developed a prompt framework built around the following structure:
Medium (video style + framing)
Subject (the object being buttered)
Description (textures, colors, materials)
Setting (toast type, lighting, effects)
In-scene motion (knife movement, interaction)
Camera motion (static, continuous)
Audio design (scraping, crunching, ambient)
Here’s the final, fully dialed-in prompt that unlocked the first successful video:
"Single locked top-down close-up shot. A large, glittering amethyst geode rests on thick-cut black toast. Two hands in frame from start —one steadies the toast while the other slowly drives a matte obsidian butter knife into the geode. High-pitched crystalline crunching fills the soundscape. The blade scoops glistening diamond-like amethyst-purple butter, which spreads smoothly but audibly across the toast with fine clinks and scraping textures. Geode shards fracture and shift into purple butter under pressure. Subtle sparkle effects dance in the light—purple, silver, and icy blue. Steamless, cold elegance. No dialogue, no cuts, just one continuous hypnotic motion. Deeply textural, rich ASMR, visually exquisite."
That prompt became the template for the rest of the series.
🧱 Step 2: Create a Reusable Prompt Framework
With the amethyst scene complete, I abstracted it into a flexible prompt framework to generate other concepts. Here’s the format I used:
"Single locked top-down close-up shot. A (OBJECT) rests on thick-cut (TOAST TYPE) toast. Two hands in frame from start —one steadies the toast while the other slowly drives a (DESCRIPTION) butter knife into the (OBJECT). (FOLEY DESCRIPTION) fills the soundscape. The blade scoops (COLOR AND TEXTURE) butter, which spreads smoothly but audibly across the toast with (SECOND FOLEY). (OBJECT) shards fracture and shift into (COLOR) butter under pressure. Subtle (EFFECT TYPE) effects dance in the light—(COLORS). (TEMPERATURE STYLE) elegance. No dialogue, no cuts, just one continuous hypnotic motion. Deeply textural, rich ASMR, visually exquisite."
Then I just swapped out the variables to create new surreal spreads.
🗿 Video 2: Michelangelo’s David in Marble Butter
“Single locked top-down close-up shot. A miniature marble figurine of Michelangelo’s David lies on thick-cut brown toast. Two hands in frame from start —one steadies the toast while the other slowly drives a matte gold butter knife into the statue. Low-pitched rumbling crunching fills the soundscape. The blade scoops smooth marble-like grey-white butter, which spreads smoothly but audibly across the toast with fine scraping textures. Marble shards crumble and shift into white butter under pressure. Subtle dust effects dance in the light—white, silver, and dusty grey. Steamless, cold elegance. No dialogue, no cuts, just one continuous hypnotic motion. Deeply textural, rich ASMR, visually exquisite.”
💡 Video 3: Electric Lightbulb Butter
“Single locked top-down close-up shot. A glowing illuminated incandescent lightbulb rests on thick-cut white toast. Two hands in frame from start —one steadies the toast while the other slowly drives a shiny iridescent butter knife into the lightbulb. High-pitched clinking and crunching fills the soundscape with sparking electrical fizzing. The blade scoops glowing electric blue butter with orange streaks like filaments, which spreads smoothly but audibly across the toast with fine scraping textures and electrical jolts and sparks. Glass shards shatter and shift into glowing butter under pressure. Subtle electrical arcs and sparks dance in the light—electric blue arcs and orange-yellow sparks. Steamy, hot elegance. No dialogue, no cuts, just one continuous hypnotic motion. Deeply textural, rich ASMR, visually exquisite.”
🧠 Why This Worked
What made these videos click was a combination of tight prompt structure, intentional detail, and knowing how to speak ASMR’s language—texture, pace, clarity, and emotional tone. Using Veo 3 in Pencil allowed me to go deep on realism while keeping full control over motion, lighting, and surreal flourishes.
🎬 Your Turn: Make Your Own Surreal ASMR
Have an odd, elegant, or impossibly textural idea stuck in your brain? Try building your own prompt using the same structure. Start with one object that shouldn’t be butter—and make it irresistibly spreadable.
👉 Try it out in the Video Tool with Veo 3
📎 Drop your creations in the comments—I’d love to see what you butter.
Want help coming up with prompt variables? Need feedback on your ASMR flow? Tag me in the community, and I’m happy to help.
