A couple of weeks ago I had a video shoot with one of my clients Whitney Bond. She’s a successful food blogger here in San Diego. She features a lot of recipes under 29 minutes, healthy recipe bowls, quick and easy recipes and she has her own cookbook.
I really enjoy working with Whitney Bond. When I get there, I usually set up and she greets me with a cup of coffee. Our setup is simple (i’ll provide photos next time I do a blog). I usually bring a c-stand (shout out to voice & video for lending me one out) that I put my camera on, so that way we can get an aerial shot. I set up a small monitor so we can view the overhead shot. From there, I will use one of her cameras and set up a side shot so we can switch off angles when needed.
We typically shoot anywhere from 2 to 4 videos per session and it takes us anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. The experience was great. While I’m filming, I’m also learning about new recipes, so it’s nice having her as a client periodically. I also come with an appetite. I forgot to mention that Whitney and I have been working together for over 4 years at this point, maybe longer. So with that being said, we both know what the expectations are on our shoots.
The most important part of each recipe is capturing the final produce of the dish and getting a nice action shot. We like to call it the “spooning” or “forking” shot. Those shots will show how we start and end each video. I think showing the viewer what the dish looks like at the very beginning will draw them into the video. These videos are typically under 60 seconds because the goal is to use them on social platforms like instagram.
The editing process is pretty simple and usually takes a few hours, usually no more than 3 hours per recipe, depending on distractions. The simpler the recipe, the faster I can edit down the footage. Editing process usually consist of speeding of clips, trim out dead space, adding text, adding graphics/logos, adjusting brightness & color and music.
The outcome is usually a couple finals per recipe. A quality and resolution for Instagram and a resolution for youtube/website.
Here’s an example of a video for youtube.
We filmed this one last year. I didn’t want to share any of the videos we filmed a couple of weeks ago until she posted them. So I might update this blog at some point.
Here’s how they look on Instagram.
Be sure to follow Whitney Bond and check out her website if you’re looking for new recipes.
In addition, If you need any assistance on creating recipes for social media, rather it’s full videos, short form content for any platform including Instagram reels and Tiktok. Please feel free to reach out. I’m happy to share my video rates with you.