How to Plan a Shoot for a Product Highlight Reel

Hey everybody, I’m so glad you’re here! My name is Adrienne and today we’re going to talk about how to make a highlight reel for a product. This post will talk about the pre-production - how do you plan for a shoot like this? The product that I’m going to be using as an example is a candle. It comes in a tin with a pretty blue design and smells amazing :)

Usually in pre-production you want to make something called a storyboard. A storyboard is a document that shows how you have actually drawn out every single shot you want to get on set. It is usually critical because it keeps you on track. It’s your guideline. Each shot is a guidepost getting you from beginning to end of your story. It helps you to not overshoot and you wind up with far too much footage in post production. But it also helps you to not accidentally miss the most critical shot you were hoping to get while filming. I am not going to be doing a formal storyboard for a shoot like this. I am, however, going to be doing a shot list. I’m going to be taking some notes of some different angles I want, different movements that I want to capture, and different ways to play with my lighting. Then I’ll be taking those shots and that footage into post production to edit the reel together. I don’t think I’m in danger of getting too much footage, and I’m going to do my best to not have too little, either. I’m going to have plenty of options to choose from.

I thought I’d start on my dining room table. That is where I film all my overhead videos. I thought to start on this table because the very first thing that I thought to address on a shoot like this is - What background do I want for this candle?

I immediately thought of my dining room table because that is where I always am. But part of me just wants to mix things up! Let’s shoot somewhere else. Let’s find a different background. Let’s have some fun.

So if I’m not going to be recording on my dining room table, I immediately thought of our coffee table. I thought of it because it is made of a beautiful walnut with a nice wood grain, and I thought it could be a nice background. Seeing it on camera, however, I’m not sure I like the difference in the materials. And I’m also not sure that I like such a distinct pattern in the wood grain vs the distinct pattern on the tin of the candle. I want the candle to pop - I don’t want people to be distracted by the background.

Now the end table in our living room … YES! I love it! The top of the table is marble and it has a nice, simple pattern running through it. We are all familiar with that material - we know it is cold to the touch and we know the tin the candle is in is cold to the touch. I really like how these two go together. I think the white makes the blue really pop. I don’t think the grain in the marble are distracting from the pattern on the candle. I love it.

There is a lamp on the table that I will definitely be turning off. I don’t want it to be competing with sunlight or my own lighting and the color of this light bulb. Sunlight and my lights are a different color than this. This is a tungsten light and it’s going to be a little bit orange.

This table is right up against the wall and there are two windows on either side of the table. Depending on the time of day, the sun will shine through those windows and I may wind up with sunlight on the table, so I’m going to be closing those blinds to make sure I don’t get any direct sunlight or hot spots on the table. Also, the blinds might cast shadows and make lines on the table that I don’t want.

I’m also going to get a nice, wooden plate that I use to serve cheese when guests come over. No, I’m not hosting a party! I’m going to set it upright against the lamp, behind the candle, in order to have a nice background, should I need it. I can use that plate to cover up the lamp, the wall, the blinds, the windows, if necessary.

The other little trick that I’m going to try is I’m going to get a piece of computer paper and I’m going to use it as a reflector. I’m going to move it around the candle in order to manipulate the light and how it is bouncing off the tin in order to simulate movement.

The last piece of this setup is the lighting. I have a small light and I’m going to try lighting directly over the candle. For this shoot I’m interested in getting some highlights and some shadows off the tin. I want to use the material, the tin, to my advantage. And an overhead light is hopefully going to give me some highlights and some shadows to play with.

As for something like a shot list, I’m going to film directly parallel to the candle. I’ll raise the tripod up and tilt down to film onto the candle. I’ll pan left and right. I won’t move the tripod left or right because the candle is a circle with a continuous pattern on it, so moving the tripod won’t give me any different angles. But I might move the candle a bit left and right to push it from one side of the frame to the other.

A big key for a shoot like this is to record as many things as you can. Don’t stop yourself from shooting and recording something. You can always put it in the computer when you’re sitting down to edit and make the decision then about whether it works or whether it doesn’t. But if you don’t capture it, then you’ll never know.