Why product footage usually looks cheap
Because it is shot on the shelf it lives on, under whatever light is in the room. The product is fine. The lighting is doing nothing for it, and no amount of grading afterwards puts back a reflection that was never there.
A proper product pass is a small set, built on a table, with light shaped around the object. On a can that means getting the condensation to catch. On something matte it means the opposite. Either way it is slow, and that is the job.
What you get out of a session
- Several products in one go: the setup is the expensive part, not the product.
- A main cut plus vertical versions, because that is where most of it will be posted.
- Stills pulled from the same footage, which usually covers a website refresh at the same time.
- Looping clips with no sound, for stand screens and product pages.
Your place or a set
Most product work happens on site, because a table and a dark corner is all it takes and it saves you packing anything up. If the product can’t leave the floor, because it’s too big or too hot or bolted down, the set comes to it.
