How is a promotional film made?

Say 'promotional film' and people picture the shoot day: camera, lights, crew. But the shoot is the most visible and the shortest part of the job. Whether the film will be good is settled before it.

1. One sentence

Every film starts with one sentence: what should the viewer know or feel at the end? 'Let's present our factory' is not a sentence; 'we test this product in our own laboratory' is. Without that sentence the film turns into a collection of footage.

2. Script and shot list

The script is the order of scenes that will tell that sentence. The shot list says where, at what time, with whom and with which equipment each scene will be shot. Shift times in a factory, service hours in a restaurant, daylight outdoors: these set the shooting plan.

3. The shoot

A well-prepared shoot day is a calm one. The location has been seen in advance, permissions are in place, the products are ready. If stills are being shot on the same day, plan for it from the start; video and photography need different light, and squeezing one into the gaps of the other weakens both.

4. Edit, sound, colour

Editing is mostly throwing footage away. Music, voice-over and colour grading set the tone. In the Merry Berry campaign the product photography, the video and the jingle were produced around the same idea; sound was part of the work, not decoration added afterwards.

5. Versions

One film is no longer enough. From the same shoot you cut a horizontal version for the website, a vertical one for social media and short ones for ads. Knowing this before the shoot changes the framing: horizontal footage shot without the vertical version in mind leaves half the subject off a phone screen.

At Redesign Ajans shooting, editing and design sit in the same team. In practice that means the film speaks the same language as the rest of the brand.