Creator and UGC-style Ad Shoots in a Studio

A UGC-style ad is made to look as though a person filmed it on their phone, in their room, because that look reads as less like an advert. The look is the brief, and a studio is a good place to make it on purpose. You control the light, the sound and the time, and you can shoot several creators in a day without anyone's kitchen being involved.

It is not unmanaged footage. It is a controlled shoot made to look uncontrolled, and the control is where the craft is.

Dress a corner, not a room

Native does not mean cluttered. Pick one believable corner, a bedside, a kitchen counter, a desk with a lamp, and dress only what is in frame. A vertical frame shows a narrow slice, so you need less set than you think and the set has to be right. Check the edges on the monitor: one stray stand or a clean studio wall behind the bed gives the game away.

Studio A has the floor to build a corner against its white cove, and Studio B is the sound-treated room if the creator is speaking. For anything fixed to the cove, ask first, as in set building in a hire studio.

Use the rooms that can do part of the work

Two rooms can do part of the work. The podcast room is acoustically treated and camera-ready, with seating and professional microphones, and it is booked by the hour at a flat £40. It suits a creator talking from comfortable seating, which is most of this format. The client lounge has a sofa and plants, which is most of a living room; ask whether it can be used as a set on your day, and shoot a test frame before you rely on it.

Frame for the phone

Phone-native framing is a set of habits more than a camera choice: vertical, the subject at arm's length or a little further, a slight handheld looseness instead of a locked-off tripod, a direct address to the lens. Shoot 9:16 as the master and keep faces and text away from the top and bottom of the frame where platform buttons and captions sit.

A handheld camera is a choice, not an accident. Rehearse the move so it is steady enough to watch and loose enough to read as real.

Direct for a native performance

Creators are not actors, and the format depends on them not sounding like it. Brief them with the points to hit, not a script to recite, and let them say it in their own words. Run a take, then ask for it again shorter. The first take is usually the stiffest and the third is usually the one you use, so leave room in the slot for three.

Let them look at the lens, and tell them what the product has to be doing when they mention it, so the picture supports the line. Keep the monitor out of their eyeline: a creator watching themselves performs differently from one talking to a friend.

Natural-looking light that is controlled

The light has to look as if it came from a window or a lamp, and not be left to one. Use one large, soft source from the side, a gentle fill, and practicals in the frame, a lamp, a screen, that sit in the picture without doing the lighting. Blackout is what makes this reliable: a window look at ten in the morning matches the same look in the afternoon, so creator three matches creator one.

Lights are charged separately from the room rate in every room but the DJ room — please enquire about our lights and we will quote for what your shoot needs. Tell us it is a window look so we can quote for what that look needs.

Make it look uncontrolled and keep it controlled: the same light for creator one and creator six.

Shooting several creators in a day

The method is the same as any content day: one lighting set-up, many people. Set the look once, with a stand-in, and then run the creators through it in slots.

• Give each creator the same brief on the same page, with the points to hit and the lines to avoid, and let them put it in their own words.
• Keep the dressing, the light and the camera position the same, so the set of ads matches without looking identical.
• Use the dressing and prep room and the kitchen between slots, and the client lounge as the waiting area.
• Record every take with the audio checked at the start of each slot, not at the end of the day.
• Set-up and pack-down sit inside the booked time, so count them in the block.

Releases and usage rights

Creator work is people on camera, which means paperwork. Get a signed release from everyone who appears, and agree the usage in writing before the shoot: where the content may run, in paid media or organic, for how long, and whether the creator may post it on their own account. Put it on one page rather than leaving it in an email thread.

Clearance for music, logos and anything else in frame is the brand's job. The paperwork guide lists what to have signed. Scope's terms are that you own the content you make, and that you hold appropriate insurance.

Say it is an ad

In the UK, ads must be clearly identifiable as ads. A creator paid to make this content, and the brand paying for it, should follow the ASA's and the platform's current labelling requirements. Dressing a studio as a bedroom is a production choice, but the content still has to be clearly identifiable as an ad.

The rules and guidance change, so check the Advertising Standards Authority's current guidance on influencer and creator advertising rather than relying on a summary, including this one. Build the label into the brief so the creator has it before the shoot.