Planning a Christmas and Black Friday Ad Shoot in a Studio

Christmas and Black Friday ads run in the last months of the year and are shot in the autumn. By the time the media plan goes live the creative has to be finished, approved and cut into every shape the plan needs, which puts the shoot a long way back from the date anyone is looking at, and the booking further back still.

This guide works through it from the media-live date backwards, and ends with two running orders you can lift.

Work back from the date the media goes live

Start with the day the first ad runs, not the day you would like to shoot. Subtract in order: whatever the platforms and any approvals take to accept the ads, the client's rounds of changes, the grade, captions and exports, the edit, and only then the shoot. The shoot is the one step that has to leave room for all the others.

The durations are yours to fill in, because they depend on your agency, your client and your platforms. Write the sequence down as a dated list before you look at a studio calendar, and the shoot date stops being a preference and becomes a deadline.

Shoot once, cut for every placement

A seasonal campaign needs the same moment in several shapes. Decide them before the shoot, as for any content day, and shoot each look once for all of them.

• Stills for the shop, email and the retailer listing, shot with space around the subject so they crop for different layouts.
• Vertical for Reels, TikTok and Stories, composed as a 9:16 master. The craft is in shooting paid social video ads in a studio.
• Widescreen for YouTube, the website and anything that plays on a TV or a laptop.
• In-store: screens and print, which usually want a clean plate with room for a headline and a price.

Set dressing and props lead times

The shoot is a day; the dressing starts long before it. Seasonal props are bought by everyone at once, so source them early. Anything that has to match the product, a colour, a packaging detail, a particular tree, is approved before it is bought. Anything made to order needs a deadline of its own. Bring it all in labelled and in the order you will use it.

Set-up and pack-down sit inside the booked time, so a build that needs a lot of dressing needs a longer block. Studio A loads in at ground level through the roller door, with parking in the yard in front of the unit. Ask before the day what can be fixed to the cove and what cannot. Set building in a hire studio covers the rest, and Christmas product photography is the stills side of the same job.

Talent and seasonal clothing

The clothes are a month ahead of the weather. Knitwear and velvet under lights is a different day to plan from a summer one, so allow for the heat and the touch-ups. Book talent against the same dated list as everything else, hold a fitting if you can, and bring two of any key garment that will be handled.

There is a dressing and prep room in the building, and Studio B has make-up and styling zones. Releases for anyone on camera, with the use stated, are in the paperwork guide.

Book early, and read the terms first

Seasonal campaigns all want the same weeks, which is the reason to book the date first, because under the published terms a date is only held once payment is made, and settle the detail after. We do not publish a lead time and will not invent one: enquire as early as your plan allows and ask about the date directly.

You can cancel or reschedule with at least 48 hours' notice. Same-day cancellations and no-shows are non-refundable. Whether a deposit applies, the cancellation fee and the overtime rate are confirmed at the time of booking, so ask before you commit. The booking guide sets out the terms.

Write the dates down from the day the media goes live, and the shoot date stops being a preference.

A sample half-day and full-day running order

Times are counted from the start of the booked block, because set-up and pack-down sit inside it. Studio B's half day (four hours) is £220 and its full day (eight hours) is £420; Studio A's are £320 and £620. Two Studio B half days cost £440, so a shoot that needs all eight hours saves £20 on the full day. Lights are charged separately from the room rate — please enquire about our lights and we will quote for what your shoot needs.

Half day, four hours

• 0:00 — Load in, dress the set, prelight with stand-ins.
• 0:45 — Set-up one, the hero: product and presenter, with the vertical master, hooks and calls to action as separate takes.
• 2:00 — Stills for the shop and email from the same dressing, changing the light only if the picture needs it.
• 2:45 — Clean plates and the widescreen and in-store alternates.
• 3:15 — Contingency. Nothing scheduled.
• 3:30 — Pack down and load out, clear by 4:00.

Full day, eight hours

• 0:00 — Load in, dress, prelight.
• 1:00 — Set-up one, the hero film: presenter and product, every hook, payoff and call to action.
• 2:45 — Set-up two, a second look or second colour wash, with the stills for the same look.
• 4:15 — Lunch, a full hour.
• 5:15 — Set-up three: pack shots, in-store plates and widescreen alternates.
• 6:30 — Contingency and pick-ups.
• 7:15 — Pack down and load out, clear by 8:00.

A short checklist

• The media-live date, and the dated list back from it.
• Placements and shapes, decided before the shoot.
• Props sourced, approved against the product and in shooting order.
• Talent and wardrobe booked, with releases that state the use.
• The lights quote, and the booking terms confirmed in writing.
• A test export viewed on a phone before the day ends, as in why social video looks worse.