Our senior video producer, David Busse, has learned a lot about shooting video for the food industry, filming everything from chefs in action to rotisserie chickens to inactive equipment in its professional setting. Here, he shares his five unbreakable rules when creating video content for and about food industry clients.
1. Food isn’t always the star
While food is an important part of anyone making products for the foodservice industry, the people behind the food, products, and manufacturing have great stories to tell and can help to create compelling content as well.
2. When food is the star, make sure to spend time styling it on set and in post
Food is delicious-looking when it’s on a plate in front of you, but on camera it’s usually less appealing. If you want your food to be the star of the show, spending time to make sure it looks just right on camera is a must. If time and budget allow, a food stylist can use their tricks to make everything look amazing. If that isn’t a practical option for your project, color grading in post-production can also go a long way to make your food look tantalizing.
3. Make sure your crew has experience filming stainless steel
There is A LOT of stainless steel in kitchens and kitchen products. Stainless steel can be difficult to photograph due to reflections. Make sure your video team is experienced with this to ensure that what they are capturing looks great.
4. Understand your customer’s customer
I love cooking. I like cooking anything from a steak to a squash quinoa bowl. However, I quickly learned that my experiences as a home chef don’t translate into understanding the needs of a restaurant, cafeteria, or banquet hall. It’s important to understand the final application of your customers’ product and figure out what the gaps in your knowledge are so that you can effectively support those customers.
5. Don’t force formal
Anthony Bourdain shined a beautiful light on the inner workings of the modern-day kitchen, revealing that many chefs aren’t comfortable in polite society, preferring the more laid back atmosphere that you find in a back-of-the-house setting. This extends to video shoots as well. I’ve found that chefs like it when things are less formal and more easygoing, so keeping it light and casual on-set is crucial to a video’s success.
Want to see David’s knowledge in practice? Check out some of the fantastic video projects the in-house team at CI Design has worked on recently.
Find out how our Emmy award-winning video team can help bring your food industry products to life on camera. Drop us a line at hello@cidesigninc.com.
David Busse is our in-house Senior Producer and leads our video production department. He’s won several Emmy awards for broadcast spots CI Design created for the Milwaukee Brewers, and is an all-around nice guy.