How to photograph and film a product launch

Four moments, not one

Everyone plans for the reveal, and the reveal lasts eight seconds. The material a product team uses for the following six months comes mostly from the hour before it and the hour after it. So the coverage plan has four parts: the venue and the product clean before guests arrive; the reveal itself from two angles; the product being held, tried and explained afterwards; and the executive and product lead on camera in a quiet corner. Each needs a different position, a different light and a different amount of time, and the reveal is the only one that cannot be repeated.

Before doors: the room and the product

Sixty to ninety minutes before guests arrive, the room is as designed: the stage lit, the branding clean, the chairs straight, nobody in frame. That set is taken first, because it disappears the moment the first guest puts a bag on a chair. If the product can be shown to the crew before the reveal, it is photographed on its plinth under controlled light, from the front, the three-quarter and the details that matter, with the drape off and then with the drape on for the teaser post. These are the images the product pages, the press kit and the catalogue use for months, and they exist only in that hour.

In the ballrooms along Sheikh Zayed Road and at Madinat Jumeirah, this hour overlaps with the AV company's final checks and the caterer's set-up, so the slot is agreed with the production manager the day before. Embargoed products are handled under NDA and the clean set is delivered only to the named approver.

The reveal

Two cameras on the reveal, one wide for the room and the moment, one tight on the product, and a third on the audience's faces where the budget allows. The lighting cue is rehearsed with the AV company before doors so the exposure is set for the light that comes up, not for the darkness before it; a reveal that goes from black to full stage white in half a second will blow out a camera that is not ready. Haze, dry ice and confetti are discussed in the same rehearsal, because each changes the exposure and the focus. The run of show gives the crew the cue times.

Stills and video divide the work: the photographer takes the frame the press release needs, the videographer records the reveal and the audience reaction for the launch film. Selects go to the approver within the hour for the release and the first post; the press photo guide describes that hour in detail.

After the reveal: hands, demos and interviews

The hour after the reveal is where the launch film is made. Guests hold the product, try it at the demo stations and photograph it with their phones; the crew covers hands on the product, the detail of its use, the queue at the demo and the executives explaining it to press and partners. Close-ups of the product in use are often more useful than the clean packshot, because they show scale and context.

Interviews with the executive and the product lead are recorded in a quiet corner on lavaliers, three questions each, five to ten minutes, framed so the vertical cut works. Guests and press are given the first fifteen minutes with the executive before the interview is taken; the interview goes better when the room has calmed down.

A launch on a stand against a launch in a ballroom

On an exhibition stand the reveal is usually at 11:00 or 14:00 on day one, with the aisle cleared by the stand team and the hall's visitors as the audience. The light is the hall's mixed light plus the stand's own, the noise is constant, and the crew has to hold position against people with phones. The advantage is the audience: buyers who were not invited walk past and stop. The reveal is covered within the stand booking.

In a ballroom the crew controls more: the run of show is fixed, the AV company lights the stage, the room is quiet and the guest list is known. The disadvantage is the lack of daylight and the stage lighting, which is designed for the eye rather than the camera; the rehearsal before doors is where that is resolved. In both settings the four moments are the same.

A worked example at Beautyworld Middle East

A fragrance brand launching a new line on a 36 square metre stand at Beautyworld Middle East, reveal at 14:00 on day one. 09:00 to 09:50: the clean stand and the bottles under controlled light on the display, drape on and off, delivered only to the brand manager. 10:00 to 13:30: visitors, the team, the counter demonstrations. 13:45: the aisle cleared, two cameras positioned, the lighting change on the back wall tested once. 14:00: the reveal, 90 seconds including the founder's short introduction. 14:20: three selects with the brand manager; 14:40: the release and the first post go out. 14:30 to 16:00: guests and buyers trying the fragrance, hands and bottles, the founder with press. 16:00: founder and perfumer interviewed in the meeting corner, lavaliers, eight minutes each. 21:00: the link arrives.

Delivery and what we need

Reveal selects within the hour. The launch film of 60 to 90 seconds in 16:9 and 9:16 the same day. Interview cuts with subtitles in English and Arabic the same evening. The full set sorted into product, presentation, guests and venue, with a hero selection, in the same link. Two revision rounds and usage rights for the brand's own channels are included.

From the client: the run of show with cue times, the name of the approver, the embargo time if there is one, the product shown to the crew before the reveal where possible, and the AV company's contact for the rehearsal. The product launch coverage page describes how this fits into a booking, and the product reveal entry defines the terms used here.