Launching a New Brand – Part 1

We were recently commissioned to collaborate on the launch of a new brand for a major food corporation headquartered in Toronto, Canada. A project of this size requires dynamite coordination to ensure the production goes flawlessly.

In this three part series, we're going behind the scenes to show you what it takes to prepare for a shoot of this size, what factors are taken into consideration and how decisions are made.

Our first challenge on this new brand launch was to capture still images for a print campaign. The client wanted a dark, rich setting that gave the imagery a dramatic look and feel. This required sourcing a multitude of backgrounds, surfaces, props and accessories. Once everything was pulled together, the client had a wide variety of options to choose from so we could achieve the desired look and feel. 

Next, we fried everything from onion rings to mac & cheese bites, beer battered fries to mozzarella sticks and pickles. It was a fried food lovers heaven! One of the great things about our commercial kitchen is that we have a commercial hood vent over the stove and fryers. If you've ever been a part of a fried food shoot, you know how invaluable this kitchen accessory is. It can take weeks for the "fried smell" to disappear from the studio if you don't have a hood vent. 

Another important factor you must take into consideration when shooting a food product that is distributed to restaurants is serving size. That is why we weigh the product used in every photo. There's a lot of discussion that goes into serving size – is it a shareable appetizer or a small plate? Will it be served at a casual dining restaurant or a gastropub? All of these factors must be considered when plating product. You don't want to visually over-promise the customer; otherwise, they'll be quite disappointed when their order arrives at the table..

With the first three days under our belt, we had a lot of fun and captured the rich imagery our client desired. Check back in a couple weeks for the next installment in this series where we'll take a look at how many people it actually took to pull off this production. 

Until then, enjoy these behind the scene photos!

We're not praying to the fruit god, although it might look like it!

Doing a little last minute refinement to one of the backgrounds.

Props, props and more props!

The Associate Creative Director and his client discussing prop choices for the next shot.

This isn't how you grill your steak?

Fry, baby, fry!

Our food stylist assistant frying up some hot onion scoops.

These beer battered jalapeño bottlecaps are ready for the spotlight in the next shot.

Now those are some nice looking rings!

The hero maxi cut fries are on set.

Everything gets weighed, even the fried pickles.

6 ounces right on the nose!

It's all about natural, beautiful lighting.

Trick of the trade – sometimes we use a sheet of white paper to control the light.

The food styling must go on, even with a bum finger!

This project required the main camera to be locked down in one position. To capture a few different angles,
David hooked up a DSLR to another computer and shot each recipe from multiple viewpoints.

There's nothing like a runny yolk to dip your fries in!