How a corporate or product film is made, from brief to delivery

A corporate or product film is produced in five stages: brief and objective, script and storyboard, pre-production, the shoot day and post-production, followed by versions for each channel. Most of the quality is decided before the camera rolls, during planning.

1. Brief and objective: what is the film for?

The first question is not "what kind of film do we want?" but "what should this film make the viewer do?" A launch film aims to create interest and drive purchase; a corporate film communicates trust and capability. A good brief pins down:

• The audience and where they will watch (trade show screen, website, social media, sales presentation)
• One core message and the action you expect from the viewer
• Tone and reference examples
• Duration, language versions, deadline and budget range
• Who approves, and at which steps

Agreeing the approval chain up front is the most effective way to avoid endless revisions in post-production.

2. Script and storyboard

The script turns the message into scenes and words: voice-over, on-screen text and dialogue. The storyboard shows each scene visually, with camera angle and approximate length. For product films, this is where you decide which feature is shown in which shot. For corporate films, you decide which facilities, processes and people appear. Moving to a shooting plan without an approved storyboard means making expensive decisions on set.

3. Pre-production: locations, casting, shot list

• Locations: Recce each site for light direction, power, sound, permits and health and safety rules. In working factories and warehouses, schedule around operations.
• Casting: Professional talent or employees? Either way, get written image release consent.
• Shot list: Number, description, lens, movement and priority for every shot.
• Schedule: Day order, crew, equipment, transport and a fallback plan.

4. The shoot day

The shoot is where the plan is executed with discipline. The director and director of photography work through the shot list by priority; having a decision-maker from the client on set speeds everything up. If vertical versions are needed, frames are composed with safe areas for cropping. Sound is recorded separately and footage is backed up after each scene. Leaving a little time for unplanned but valuable moments is a good habit.

5. Post-production: edit, colour, sound, subtitles

1. Rough cut: Story flow and length are set; first feedback is gathered here.
2. Fine cut: Pacing, transitions, graphics and on-screen text are finalised.
3. Colour grading: Consistency between scenes and a look that fits the brand.
4. Sound: Voice-over recording, licensed music, effects and the final mix.
5. Subtitles: Many people watch social video with the sound off, so subtitles matter for both accessibility and comprehension.

6. Versions per channel: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1

One film does not work the same everywhere. The 16:9 master serves the website, YouTube and trade show screens. Vertical 9:16 versions serve Reels, Shorts and TikTok, and 1:1 suits some in-feed placements. Short vertical versions need to earn attention in the first seconds, so they are usually re-edited stories rather than simple crops of the master. The Fabcio Airset and Solibra Logistics promo films are examples of this kind of work: a product film and a corporate logistics film respectively.

How Grafikare approaches it

We start every project with a written brief and an approved storyboard. We build the shot list with channel versions in mind from day one, collect feedback at the rough-cut and fine-cut stages, and deliver separate files tailored to each channel's format.