Beginner's Product Video Tutorial | Full Free Course

Let's learn how I made this from scratch, yo! It's Herman here, and we're gonna learn how to make a sick product video from scratch.

Are you looking for a quick filmmaking hack or a secret sheet that will instantly make your video better? If so, take your mouse, move it all the way to the X button, and click it, cause that's not what we're going over today.

Now, what I *will* be doing is taking a deeper dive into the entire process of producing a product video from start to finish. That means from first laying eyes on whatever you're shooting and knowing absolutely nothing about the product, all the way to editing and delivering the final result. Essentially, you'll be shadowing me through an entire project. Not the time to feel self-conscious! This is intended to be a guide for you to watch back whenever you're stuck on a project, or if you want to get into this type of filmmaking but don't know where to start. By watching this, I hope that'll give you the confidence to make a badass commercial while equipped with the knowledge that I share with you today. I believe that what you'll learn is not limited to just product videos, but techniques applicable to other genres of filmmaking as well.

But first, who am I, and why should you even listen to me yap for an hour? Now, some of you may already know me as an instructor on the Olufemi channel, but I'm a videographer and video editor that specializes in short-form content. I've been fortunate enough to have shot and edited for a variety of mediums, from commercials to live concert visuals, and made content for companies like Netflix and Reebok.

Just as a preface, I'm not saying that what I'll be teaching you is the *right* way or the industry-standard way of making product videos, because no one taught me this when I went to film school. They didn't teach you how to come up with good ideas for commercials, or music videos, or social media content; they focused more on the structure of creating a narrative film. A lot of that knowledge can be translated to what I do today, but uh, 80% of what I do is pretty much self-taught through YouTube tutorials like this one. But if people have been constantly giving me their money to make them videos for the past eight years, I might be onto something. So I want to save you the time that I've wasted through trial and error, and make the mistakes for you so you can benefit from the lessons I've learned along the way.

Now, who is this guide for? I think it's great for those who want to get started in this niche of filmmaking, especially with the rise of e-commerce and the growing demand for eye-catching advertisements. This is also for people who are experienced but want to see how it's being done from someone else's perspective; maybe there are some tips they can take away but never thought of, or they just want someone to criticize in the comments section below. I don't know, I can't stop you. With the rise of other amazing YouTubers in the field, like Daniel Schiffer and Austin Paul—I think their tutorials are amazing and they're fun to watch behind the scenes—but this video is designed to be more comprehensive and focus on the entire process from scratch. So hopefully, by watching this video, you can know absolutely nothing about making videos and end up still making something effective and engaging. This is best to learn from example. The plan is to make a spec ad for a cheap speaker that I was given away for free when I bought a pair of shoes from Puma. I figured that if I could make something as simple as this look epic, then it can convince you that making a cool product video may not be as intimidating as you think.

Let's dive into the juicy part and talk about the secret formula to why I believe makes an effective product video. This is the structure that has worked for me over the years and can be easily applied to any commercial with any duration. Now, product commercials for social media are the easiest example to apply this to because it needs to be short and straight to the point. So we've got three key elements: the hook, supplement, and money shot. The hook is something that instantly hooks the viewer's attention right away, so they don't scroll past your video or click away from it. Supplement is the term that I use to describe the shots that supplement the intention of your video; in this case, for a product video, you'll be shooting shots that highlight certain features about the product. The money shot is usually the climax of the video that presents the product in its most attractive way; usually it's at the very end of the video so that when they finish it, they're enticed to buy the product or click somewhere for more information. That's it! That's all I believe there is to creating an engaging product video. I honestly think all it takes is three good shots, and you can pull off something effective. To prove this, I'll show you three examples of the formula in action. The first one is a video I made to promote some kicks; it was a collaborative release by a few brands including Reebok. Let's check it out. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Uh [Music]

Let's quickly break down what's going on here with the secret formula. The very beginning starts with a line of text to establish the theme, and then we get right into this impactful shot of the brick being slammed down. This was intended to hook the viewer by enticing curiosity with what the one-liner could mean, and then immediately hit them with literally a brick. Now, all the shots that follow after are supplement because they build on the narrative that only raw objects were being used, like these bricks and the sheet of metal, making the production of the shoes more impossible. Then we get into the money shot, which is the initial reveal of the sneakers. Now, the cards drop into these white shoes and then transform it into the new design. Now, I did say that the money shot is usually last, but this is a bit of a special case because we have this magical moment that I think excites the viewers the most. The end shot could also be considered the money shot since it shows the shoe uh, quite handsomely along with the other brands, and the viewers are thinking, "Oh, I gotta cop this!" Now, love fantasy, love deal, love Reebok, and these shoes are looking fresh. So that's a quick little breakdown on how it was structured using the secret formula. You might be thinking, "Herman, that's dope and everything, but just because the videos you work on use the formula, it doesn't mean everyone else uses it." You are absolutely right, and that's why I want to show you two more examples from a couple of creators that I all admire. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Austin's video starts with such a sick shot of the tilting box, which I consider the hook because it's a visually interesting shot that pulls you in and makes you want to see what's next. The shots that follow after supplement the idea of how tasty these pancakes are, and I mean, come on guys, just—just look at them! My mouth is kind of watering right now. Really well-executed shots with a nice variety so the video doesn't feel stale. Finally, we have the money shot: we've got the box, we've got pancakes, and it's placed really nicely in this cozy environment. Then the logo comes in. Awesome stuff! Sounds like Austin stuff! Awesome Austin stuff filmmaking! I'm gonna be a rapper!

Lastly, we have Daniel Schiffer. This guy has been blowing up on YouTube, and he deserves it. Remember how earlier I said I honestly think all it takes is three good shots and you can pull off something effective? Here's the proof. [Music] Boom! Done! Delivered! Everything you need to know about the product in three shots. The first shot hooks the viewers with a slo-mo shot of coffee beans flying at me, and just try ignoring coffee beans being thrown at you—it's kind of hard! Next, we have a shot that supplements the idea that it's coffee by having this beautiful shot of cream clouds. Finally, bang! Java Monster is revealed and drops on a bed of coffee beans. Hopefully, by breaking down these examples, you can start seeing the way that I see product videos and why I structure it the way that I do. It doesn't even have to be product videos; it could be a video promoting an event—the same structure can help make it more effective than just some shots that are slapped together. With this equipped in your tool belt of knowledge, let's move on to the first phase of making the video: pre-production.

During pre-production, it's a good start to gather all the ingredients before brainstorming, so you have enough props to come up with creative ideas. Good ideas don't manifest out of nowhere all the time, so you have to give yourself as much insight about the project or product as much as possible. And here are some ways to do so:

Number one: Ask the client themselves. Uh, they often already have the general vision of what they want to showcase, or keynotes on what aspects of the product they want to feature.

Number two: Study the product. What is it? What does it do for people? What does it look like? Who would want to use this? And what were your initial impressions of the product that stood out?

Number three: Study the brand. Uh, what's the theme of the brand? What style do they gravitate towards? What are their color schemes? Things like that.

Once you've done those things, what does this exactly accomplish? What does it do for you? A: You'll have a full understanding of what you're trying to accomplish with the commercial, so if there are any last-minute decisions or changes, you know how to stay on track with the important components or aspects to feature. B: From this, you can begin to develop a shot list and create a list of props or set deck, and start looking for music, arranging assets like motion graphics or overlays, or sound effects. It becomes a starting ground to get the gears moving in your head, and my gears are always rusty; that's why I try to gather as much information as I can. The goal is to tailor the ideas and apply your tool belt of filmmaking knowledge to convey the purpose of the product/commercial. Not sure if that made sense. English is my—my first language… it's my second language. Well, my excuse is pretty garbage. Anyways, moving on! Let's talk about generating ideas from scratch.

Now, people will often wonder, "How did this creator come up with such an amazing idea? They must be a creative genius!" Actually, they might be, but most of us aren't, and we can't come up with amazing things from thin air. And I find comfort in believing that it's intuition that can be built. Here are a couple of ways to get the ball rolling and build momentum when brainstorming ideas:

Number one is to brain vomit. And what I mean by that is you take all the ideas that are floating around in your head, or kind of half-baked ideas, but you want to try them out—actually write those ideas down in as much detail as possible, because these are simply dots that can be connected later on when things are a little more fleshed out. While you're creating a shot list, for example, you can think back, "Oh yeah, I want to try this idea out."

Number two is to break it down. Now, what I mean is, if you're in a situation where your client simply trusts you to make something cool and doesn't really tell you clearly what they're looking for—it means they don't know what they want—it'll give you the freedom to be creative. However, with great freedom comes great anxiety, because now there's this pressure of making sure it's amazing without even knowing where to start. If that ever happens, try this: look at the product and list everything about the product. Usually it takes a little more time, but there's no need to rush yourself. Just go out for a walk, make coffee, and really try and break down the components of the product and brand. Let's look at the list that I came up with. So these were some words that came to my mind when I was looking at it uh, for a little longer and off-camera. First one was that the speaker is black, and then I wrote in parentheses, "midnight eclipse," because it's round, reminds me of an eclipse, and it makes me think of midnight with how dark it is. I know it's obviously black and it doesn't really mean much, but it can come into play later when I'm trying to think of ideas of shots that I can incorporate. Number two is speaker, and then it produces sound. I'm a genius! But this is what I meant when I talked about breaking down the components of the product. So if it's a speaker, maybe I can think about how can I visually show sound? So maybe not sound itself, but the way that its environment might be affected by the sound. Number three, I wrote cylindrical, so maybe there's a shot of the speaker rolling. Next, I wrote that it has a circular top and bottom, so I thought there could be some potential for a graphic match cut in the edit. Next, I wrote that it was compact, so maybe I could place it in a pocket or a bag. And then I wrote the name of the brand, Puma, which you know is an animal, and it's a fierce one, so maybe I can incorporate that kind of vibe. Next, I wrote that it was durable, and I don't know if this thing is actually durable because it looks like a cheap speaker. Since this is a spec ad, I can just pretend that it is, and it's important that you do write down the features that you want to actually highlight. Lastly, I wrote Puma brand, which as we know is an athletic clothing brand, so I thought maybe I can incorporate some athletic lifestyle shots or attire to help really build that theme. Honestly, I don't know how many ideas from this list I'm going to be using; it could be just one idea out of the eight, it could be all of them, I don't know, but at least it's helping me kind of get the gears moving, and that's the goal of this phase.

Now, the third way to generate ideas is to apply techniques to your breakdown. Now, you may naturally generate ideas just from breaking down the product earlier. For example, having the item cylindrical already lets me imagine that the product could be rolling on a surface with the camera at surface level, or having the dirt rumble on the surface to visually show sound. If there are certain aspects you want to highlight but you don't know how to show it, literally go through a list—whether mentally or physically—of different shots or framing that can be applied to your breakdown. An example would be the product being cylindrical in this case, so it can roll. How would it look like eye level with the product if it was rolling? How would it look like from a bird's-eye view? Would it look better as a wide shot or a tighter frame? What's the advantage of one over the other? Keep doing this until something sticks. If your brain is fried and you just blank out all the time like me, just move on and go back to it later. Repeat the step for each aspect that you broke down.

Number four is to steal like an artist. It's a book by Austin Kleon that does an amazing job conveying some key points to remember as a creative. Now, what that basically means is to take the best bits of someone else's work and apply it to your own. Do that with multiple different sources, and then you get this hybrid of best bits, and congratulations, you created an original idea! You have to know that nothing is actually original; it's just a remix of other ideas, and being able to hide their sources well—of course, make sure to credit your sources as well. But how does this apply to creating an effective product video? A: If you are making a product video, watch other product videos that have been effective, are successful, or have inspired you. Write down all the things that you like about it and how you can apply them to your own video. Do this with multiple product videos, and now you have the best bits of multiple sources. Another way is to basically not limit yourself to just one medium; so, for example, look at product photography and the way that they light their scenes or use set deck to enhance the product. Take these bits as well and add it to your mental tool belt.

So before we start shooting, you want to make sure you've got a few things ready:

Number one is idea approval from the client. So you will want to create a pitch deck, an outline, a treatment—whatever your preferred method is to convey your idea to the client—because your job is to get whatever that's in your head into your client's head, and the more fleshed out your idea is, the better. So here are some ways that you can do it: One way is to create a pitch deck, and I use Canva to create a presentation with descriptions, mood boards, images, and other video references that are similar to my idea. Not sponsored by Canva, by the way. Incorporate as many visuals as possible instead of words so that your client can actually see in their head what you're going for. Another way is to create a rip-o-matic, and basically what that means is to make your product video by editing a bunch of shots from other existing product videos. That way, it'll give your client the general idea of the mood or the style or shots that you're going for. It's kind of like a Frankenstein of other videos to make your own and piece only the shots that are relevant to your idea. Third way is to create a dummy ad and shoot it yourself. So for the Reebok ad that you watched earlier, it was actually shot in Taiwan, but not by me; I was a creative director, but I wasn't the on-set director. With the state of the world, traveling is a no-no, so what I did was shoot everything shot-for-shot in my basement first as reference on how I imagined the shot should look like, and then sent that off for approval. So you can shoot this all on your phone and film all the shots in the general framing and movement that you have in mind, cut it together with your chosen music, and have a baseline of what your video will kind of look like.

The next crucial thing that you want to do in pre-production is to make sure that you have a shot list. What's that? As the name implies, it's a list of shots that you want to shoot. So all those ideas that you generated earlier during your brainstorm session, make a list of the shots that you want to do and you envisioned in your head. So what I do is list out all the shots I would like to see and can visualize in my head, and then order them in a way that's coherent when played one shot after another. Now, if you have a hard time imagining some of these shots visually in your head, what you can do is draw them out onto storyboards, which is a standard practice in film, especially if you need to communicate these visuals to your client. Basically, it's like drawing out a comic strip with information about your shots. The advantage of this is that you can cut out these frames out of your storyboard and you can move them around to reorder them and then visually see in front of you how your video plays out. Now, I won't be covering this since I usually only do these for bigger shoots, and if I can't do a rip-o-matic or a dummy ad. So when creating a shot list, you may want to physically write one out or have one printed out, which is how it's traditionally done, but I don't personally like carrying paper around with me while I'm shooting, especially if I'm a solo shooter and I'm just like running and gunning. My preferred method is to just write it out onto Google Keep and then have them as checklist items so that I can check them off as I finish shooting them. Which leads me to going over the shot list that I made, and I want to talk about the logic of how I chose the shots that I wanted to use, or at least try my best to explain it. Alright, this section is about to get a little bit beefy. Alright, so we got a shot list right over here, right, right over there, and uh, let's go through each shot one by one. And as it indicates on the top in the title over there, it says that it is an edit order, and what I mean by that is that I first like to lay out my shots in a chronological order in terms of editing so that I can, you know, have it play out in my head and know what shot comes after another, and it'll all make sense. But later on, I'll also make a copy of the shot list and rearrange them into shooting order, so it'll be grouped together in a way where it is more efficient when I am on set. Now we'll be talking about how to prioritize your shots later on in this video, and there will be a specific category talking about prioritizing your shots, so don't worry. But for now, I just want to go through what each shot is and why I chose to—I guess—include that in my list. Now, this isn't the neatest shot list, but it works for me. I just like to, you know, put in some keywords so that I have the general visual in my head. And the first one on the list is the bird's eye; it says that it's a bird's-eye shot and the speaker sits on the surface; the light will swing to create a light movement along the rim of the speaker. So the reason I want to go with the bird's-eye is because it shows the top circular uh, shape of the speaker, and it kind of builds this mystery; it's like you don't know what it is yet, but you kind of know where the shape is. So it's—it's these shots that kind of like establish and build up to the reveal of the product uh, which happens later on. But uh, this is kind of like that hook; it's kind of like a rumbling kind of circle, so it builds this mystery as to what is this? Why is it rumbling? It's so dark and mysterious, and it kind of adds to this mood, you know, this dramatic tension. That make any sense? I don't know if it does, but it makes sense in my head. And then the shot afterwards is an insert, and when I write insert, you know the framing is really loose; it's mostly just so I have coverage of the shot, so I don't know exactly how I want to frame it, but I do know that it'll be kind of tight on whatever is that—that's happening. In this case, it is a rumbling surface with rock/dirt. So I wasn't sure if I was gonna go with, you know, tiny little like pebbles or rocks or like sand or something like that, but whatever that was, I guess like thick enough so that you can see it kind of like vibrate and jump around. And the reason that I chose this shot is to—like I said kind of before—is that is there any way that I can show the effects of sound instead of showing sound waves itself? Because uh, you can do sound waves and VFX as I mentioned before, but I wanted to see some shots where uh, sound can affect other things and make it feel more powerful, you know? It feels like it's part of physical space instead of having to rely on VFX, so I thought that this was a great way to do so. The next one was a push-in shot, so the camera pushes in to the speaker that is center frame, and in the front there isn't any light, so you don't see like the design very clearly. And this is kind of going back to what I was saying before; these first few shots are kind of, you know, built towards the reveal of the product, so you start seeing kind of the shape and you're slowly revealing the product until you actually see it in the next shot, which is the finger spin shot. Uh, this one I wrote that it's a match cut from the position of the previous shot, so as you can see over here—hopefully on the screen right now—it's from one shot to another, it's that silhouette sort of shot uh, over to the product reveal shot where it lands on my hand. And I wanted to—you know—I thought it was a great opportunity to do a match cut, so that makes sense that I was showing kind of the shape of the product, and then boom, finally we see the product, and it all kind of like pieces together. So I wrote that the speaker drops off frame, so like it spins on my finger and it drops out of frame, and then I replace the keyed clean plate of speaker spinning. Feels weird when I'm reading it out loud, but in my head I know what I'm trying to say. Basically, I have a clean plate shot of the spinning speaker so that I can kind of swap it from the real one that falls off the frame and then just have it spinning on my finger because I can't actually do that with the speaker itself. I mean, you can probably make like a practical prop, but I'm not a prop designer; that's not really my area of expertise. And then over here in capital letters that says MG TEXT; MGS stands for motion graphics to me. I don't think it's a normal thing that people abbreviate, but I like doing that. And I wanted to add in this note that there will be motion graphics so that I can frame it so that the speaker in my hand is a little bit heavier on the frame, right? And that means I want to leave space for the left side for there to be text. Otherwise, if I don't do that and I just shoot everything in the center, then I'm not going to really have much space for text, so this is something I need to plan ahead of time, and that's why I just wanted to include it in my shot list in case I forget while I'm on set. So uh, the next one is this arrow pointing up to the shot above it, saying that I want a clean plate of the speaker spinning on fishing wire. I wrote to shoot it in slow-mo, although I realized that I didn't really need to do that because I ended up playing real speed, but I just wanted to make sure that if I decide that later on I want a moment where there's like a speed ramp where it like slows down dramatically, then I want to have that option. But in this case, I just went with real time; makes less work in VFX as well, so my future self was quite happy with that. And I didn't write it here, but I'm shooting it in front of a green screen so that I can key out the green and then slap it on top of my finger spinning. And the next shot is to push in—another pushing shot—but this time a full shot of the speaker pushing tighter to end of speaker as it hits the surface. Okay, I understand what I'm trying to say. Basically, I wanted to kind of get this kind of close-up on the point of impact so that the speaker falls. So remember how in the previous shot it falls out of frame? So the next shot I wanted to showcase durability, and I thought that a great way to show that is to basically just have it slam against something or like drop down or something like that, because that's a common occurrence that'll happen sometimes; you'll drop things and you want to find out if it'll break or not, like your phone or something like that. So same for the speaker; one of the features I wanted to showcase was that it was durable; that's part of the reason why there's a spinning on my finger shot, so it justifies it kind of falling off and then landing on the surface, and then it's like, "Don't worry, it's got a durable build!" And that's when the text will come up, which is why I wrote MG TEXT: DURABLE BUILD. So the next shot is the revolving shot, and what I mean by that is that um, I'm gonna whip tilt down to reveal the finger, so it'll—the camera will kind of follow the tilt—the words are not my friends today—so the finger will come down; it'll press basically the screen on a phone, and it'll kind of do this indication where it's connecting to the Bluetooth, because I wanted a creative way of showing Bluetooth, and I also thought it would be a creative camera movement, like a bit of an ambitious shot that I really wanted to try where the surface spins around 180, so it'll be like pressing the phone and then the surface will kind of like spin around and then reveal the speaker that it has connected to Bluetooth. And it didn't necessarily have to be a shot like this to showcase Bluetooth pairing; you know, there are so many ways that you could do it, but this is just one of those things where I kind of like attached an idea of camera movement to the idea of showcasing Bluetooth pairing, and then alright, just put it simply: I just wanted to make it look cool. Next, we also have a bird's-eye shot; now this time also a light swing, but a static shot of the speaker on the surface. Now it's the same thing; it's the same setup as the very first shot, that very first bird's-eye shot, but this time the lighting is a little bit different. And then something that I plan to do is also a light swing, and what I mean by that is I'm going to basically take this LED light stick—there's one actually behind me that's lighting me like that, that one right there—oh my god, it can't point! And the plan is to take that light and then just kind of move it around the speaker so that there's like this movement of the shadow across the surface, and that's what I have the visual of in my head at least. And part of the reason that I wanted to showcase the shot, not only to, you know, make it dynamic and have there be movement, but not necessarily just the product moving itself, but also the shadow; I wanted to kind of showcase that 360 surround sound, and I plan to put in text, and I also plan on putting in some motion graphics, like a waveform type of thing to go around the circular speaker, like along the edge of it. But basically, the shadow is kind of moving along, you know, like a circular fashion if that makes any sense, and that showcases 360. Let's just move on to the next shot. There's an insert of glass breaking; now that goes with the idea of—like I said before—how sound can affect the environment and other objects and how they can react to it. In this case, I thought, you know, sound waves could be so loud that it breaks glass, right? Like you think of this cliché of someone singing like their high note really loud and then like a wine glass breaks, right? You got that visual in your head, so I thought, "Why not incorporate that somehow?" So that's going to be stock footage so that I don't have to do it myself; I don't want to clean up glass; I don't have the space for that. Next, I've got an insert of Puma eyes, and this will be a stock image that I'll animate because I—I don't have an animal wrangler; I also don't have a Puma. So going down that safe road, I'm just gonna take a stock image of one and I'm gonna animate the eyes so it looks like that it like opens its eyes or something like that. And this kind of goes with that idea that I was saying before where you studied the brand, and I wanted to kind of incorporate that animal because it feels fierce, you know? The tag that I'm using here is like "Play Louder," and adding to that fierce uh, atmosphere and aesthetic, I thought, you know, incorporating the animal would be a nice way to do so. And then I think that it also inspired me to go with this color theme of kind of like a black and yellow, kind of the color of a Puma—a black Puma with yellow eyes—so that'll be kind of the lighting that I'll be using and the color scheme that I will be going with, and that's the kind of mood that I want to go with because it's quite dramatic and still works with that whole like fierce feeling. And then finally, what I think would be a good money shot is a gimbal shot where it will orbit—I don't know if orbit is really the right word—but basically the idea is that it's going to go from a bird's-eye—like this speaker's over here—and then the camera will just go like *[mimics camera movement]* and then it'll just be to surface level and frame the speaker slightly heavier on the left, like I said before; I like to leave these notes so that I can potentially leave some room for text later on so that I can make sure that I have the right framing for that. But the reason that I want to end on this gimbal shot is because I think that it really adds to the dynamic of the video; I really wanted to feel like a, you know, hype video with quick pacing and, you know, like continued camera movement—like a lot of camera movement—so it feels like it's very like driving. I'm like running out of adjectives here; I gotta pull up a thesaurus here. But yeah, that's kind of the logic of these shots that I went for. I know I didn't explain it super clearly; hopefully you get a gist of how I came up with them and using the brain vomit that I did earlier and kind of those notes that I had and just connecting those dots with some of the shots that I know I can kind of pull off. These shots didn't come out of nowhere, right? They're based off some of the features that I wanted to showcase or some of the notes that I had previously that I showed on screen as well. So hopefully you're excited to try this out yourself as well.

Now, the third thing that you want to prepare in pre-production is equipment. Now you're going to want to collect all the equipment that you're going to use for your shoot. Make a checklist for yourself before you leave so that you don't miss anything; that means your lights, your camera, your lens, your gimbal, batteries, etc. Just throw it out—all onto a list—and take a load off of your mind. Don't be like me and head to the shoot only to realize that you didn't bring your memory cards and you had to drive all the way back home for an hour and have people wait for you as you come back. Rookie mistakes; we all make them; just don't make this one specifically like me. And here is the list of equipment I'm going to use. Hopefully it's showing up.

The fourth thing you want to prepare is the product that you're actually going to be shooting. You got nothing to shoot if you don't bring it, but you do want to make sure that it is in its most optimal condition to actually shoot. So, for example, if it's an electronical device, then make sure that it's actually charged before you head to the set. A quick but important tip is to communicate with your client if there is a specific way that they want the product to be shown; so if there's an attractive angle, for example, then this is something that you should know.

The next thing is your props and set deck. So these are the additional props that you may need for your shoot or the set decoration to build the atmosphere that you're going for. You may have ideas that involve other objects placed in the frame to enhance the narrative or composition. I don't think it's something that should ever be overlooked, but for this spec ad, I decided to keep things fairly minimal and not introduce many props; I'm going with just the concrete vinyl background and keeping everything else fairly dark so that the center of attention is always going to be on the speaker. I do have some footage lying around though that's behind the scenes of a promo that I did that did involve a little more props and set decks, so if that's something you guys want to see, leave a comment down below, and maybe it's something that you can see in the future. But in this case, I do think that simple is best.

Next is the location. Now, if you have an ideal location to shoot this in, then make sure that you've booked a reasonable amount of time that you've budgeted for your shoot. So maybe you rented out a location and you have to pay for your time there; maybe you're shooting this outdoors and you have to work around the weather or sunlight. These are things that you'll have to think about now so you don't have another thing to stress out about on the day of the shoot. Thankfully, I'll just be filming downstairs where I'm staying, so I have the luxury of filming anytime. The introvert inside of me loves this.

Next thing to prepare is your crew. Now, if you're primarily a solo shooter like myself, or you have one or two

Making product videos takes longer when you're starting out. It's a great opportunity to identify areas needing improvement or where outsourcing might be beneficial. Don't be unrealistic about your budgeted time. If you think a shot takes 20 minutes, allot half an hour. Be time-efficient, but don't rush; panic leads to poor work. Pre-production provides peace of mind, reducing on-the-spot decisions. I've found making effective on-the-spot decisions to be a weakness, so I plan thoroughly to reduce stress and allow time to process information before crucial decisions. Need to decide on dinner? Give me two hours.

You've planned your shoot, but things happen. What if your camera malfunctions or your product explodes? I prioritize my shot list this way: I organize by the shots that ensure a minimally viable video. I shoot the most important shots first. If time runs out, you'll still have enough footage for something acceptable. Don't save your "money shot" for last.

My priority ranking: Number one, close-ups or money shots of the product. If the product is damaged, you've already captured the essential details. Number two, locations and sets. Grouping shots by location minimizes travel time. Don't shoot outdoors, then indoors, then outdoors again. Number three, lighting setups. Group shots with similar lighting to avoid constantly readjusting. Number four, camera setups. Changing lenses or tripod positions is faster than re-lighting. Number five, ambitious shots. These are the difficult, creative ideas that your video can survive without. Include at least one, but don't panic if it doesn't work.

You're prepared; you've envisioned the shoot. Have confidence! Before production, remember everything you're learning is free. That leads me to today's sponsor...

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You've arrived at your location (my basement). Gear is laid out, the product is ready, and you have coffee (where's mine? I just finished it). Let's review the five steps:

Step one: Gather everything. Camera equipment and lighting are essential. Unpack everything in your workspace; don't leave items scattered. Step two: Your product is crucial; keep it safe. Step three: Maintain product quality. Use air dusters, microfiber cloths, and lint rollers. Dust and scratches are hard to fix in post-production; never tell yourself "I'll fix it later." Step four: Props and set. Prepare any additional props. Step five: Food and drinks. Fuel yourself and your crew (if you have one). If solo, take breaks. Step six (if solo): Bring something enjoyable – music, coffee, etc. Make it a treat.

Step two: Set up your scene. Arrange props and set up the most important scene first, based on your prioritized shot list. Step three: Set up your camera. Frame your most important shot before adjusting lighting. Step four: Set up your lights. Flattering, even lighting is best; use a softbox or diffuse harsh lights with a cloth. Step five: Shoot! Use your categorized shot list. Cross off shots as you complete them. As a solo shooter, it's easy to lose track of time. Build intuition for when a shot is good enough; time is finite.

(Behind the scenes footage description removed)

Post-production: Import footage into your editing software (I use Premiere Pro and After Effects). I won't cover software navigation, but I will explain my workflow. If you want a deeper dive on specific editing or VFX decisions, comment below.

Step one: Set up your project. Import and organize clips into folders and rename them (I number mine). Step two: Find your best takes. I usually start with the last take, but if you have time, take notes on set. Step three: Rough cut. I usually cut music first if there are specific requirements; it helps determine shot lengths. This rough cut focuses purely on pacing and shot length.

Step four: Placeholders. Use placeholders for VFX shots. Step five: VFX. I use After Effects; import your VFX into your editing software. Step six: Sound design. Add sound effects and adjust audio levels. Sound design is crucial; don't overlook it.

Step seven: Color grading. I color grade in Premiere Pro. Match your grading to your project's theme.

Step eight: Export and review. Take a break before reviewing to catch mistakes (like light stands or blemishes). Aim for shorter videos, especially for platforms like Instagram.

This video is being published on social media, so when reviewing your product video, remove shots that don't serve a purpose. If a shot is similar to another and doesn't offer new information about the product, get rid of it. Perfection is when there's nothing left to take away. None of my work is perfect, but the final videos are always a big improvement from the first draft because of this.

So, if you've made it this far, congratulations! You've created an entire product commercial from scratch, from first seeing the product to having a fully fleshed-out video. That's amazing, especially if you're just starting out. I hope this guide provided a solid outline. If you ever feel stuck or intimidated to take that first step—and taking that first step is always the hardest—just dive in! Don't worry if it's not amazing; the more you conceptualize, shoot, and edit, the better you'll become. As I said, you can always revisit this video and jump to specific timestamps if you forget something or have creative block. We've all been there! I'll probably even rewatch this a few times.

Don't worry, the concepts discussed aren't limited to product videos. I hope you apply what you've learned to other filmmaking aspects. If you made a product video using this guide, leave a link in the comments! If you haven't started, comment on what product or brand you'd like to shoot for. Set that goal and hold yourself accountable by typing it out. If you found this helpful, help me out by liking this video, sharing it, and subscribing for more content. I'm just starting out and would love to know if I should continue.

To take the next step in making great product videos, my friend Quinn has an online course, Product Video School. She shares her experience and techniques through a project-based program for all skill levels. Different perspectives are great, so check it out! Click the pop-up (somewhere over here) or the link in the description. Everything you learned today is free. To support me, and if you could use some motion graphic assets, check out my pack, "Enter the Future." I used these assets throughout this guide. For a modern edge, consider checking it out. Click the pop-up or the link in the description.

To stay in touch, follow me on Instagram (@coffelicker). That's all for now! My name is Herman, and I'll see you in the next video. [Music]