Zuma: restaurant film for a global group
Promotional film for a restaurant group that operates at the top of the international dining market.
Selected films
Zuma Las Vegas restaurant promo
Restaurant promo, Las Vegas.
Restaurant Promo Video — Zuma
Restaurant promo.
The brief
A restaurant at this level is not selling food, it is selling an evening. The film has to carry the room, the light, the noise and the pace of service, and it has to do it without looking like a commercial, because the audience it is aimed at has a finely tuned sense of when it is being sold to.
Restaurant production is technically hard for one reason: the light. These rooms are designed to be dark and warm, which is beautiful to sit in and punishing to film. It needs fast glass, careful exposure and lighting that adds without ever being visible in frame.
The other constraint is service. A restaurant cannot close for a crew. Filming happens either before doors or inside a live service where the camera has to be invisible and completely out of the way of anyone carrying a plate.
The food itself gets shot separately with its own set-up, because a dish that has been sitting under a light for twenty minutes is no longer the dish that leaves the pass.
How this work gets made
Built for low light
Fast lenses and careful exposure. These rooms are dark by design and that is the look, not a problem to fix.
Around service, not through it
Filming before doors or invisibly during service. Nothing slows a plate down.
Food shot separately
Dishes get their own pass with their own lighting, so what is on camera is what leaves the kitchen.
Cut for social first
Vertical cuts from the same shoot, because that is where restaurant discovery actually happens.
Questions about this work
Can you film during service?
Yes. It takes a small crew and a plan agreed with the floor manager, and it is usually the only way to get a room that looks alive.
Do you shoot food as well as the room?
Yes, as a separate pass with its own lighting so the dishes look the way they look at the table.
Do you deliver vertical cuts?
Yes, as standard. Restaurant video is largely discovered on a phone.
What does a restaurant film cost?
There is a breakdown on the pricing page.
Tell us what you are trying to make
Send the goal, the audience and roughly when you need it. You get a plan, a range and a date back.
