The SECRET to FOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY- How I shot this food broll

In this video I breakdown the basics of food cinematography and how I shot this kitchen scene. From the gear I used to the story telling elements and creative direction for the project. Prepare to see the secret to food cinematography.

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Contents of this video:
00:00- Intro
00:21- Creative decision making
01:02- Lighting
01:34- Camera gear
02:47- Shot Composition
03:43- Filming toward the light
04:26- Peace out!

We decided to shoot these cinematic slow motion food shots of our subject making crapes because it was an important part of her family's tradition. Our goal was to create an intro that invited the audience into something more personal.

The next thing I want to talk about is the lighting for this scene, We wanted it to feel like you we getting to see her in her natural environment so we wanted to use the natural window light coming so the first light we added was an Aperture 300D with a light dome and a honeycomb grid and we angled it at about 45 degrees from our subject accentuated the natural light coming in from the window.

The next light that we added was an Aputure 120D for a backlight/fill light and depending on the shot we might have adjusted it to either be a fill or backlight.

Now we are into gear and settings, I shot all these scenes on my Ursa mini pro 12K at 4K 120 FPS and at a 5:1 compression. And the lens I used was a sima 50mm Prime at a 1.8-2.2 F stop depending on the shot.

Now this is by far my favorite lens especially for detailed shots like this you really get such a sharp image from this lens and the fact that you can drop down to a 1.4 aperture gives you so much depth to your shots.

The last thing that I want to talk about is shot composition and this is extremely important and this is why I love shooting on the easy rig. You can very easily frame up your shots and adjust quickly on the fly without having to set up a tripod and reframe or stop because your arms get tired.

If you notice most of my shots are eye level to whatever action shes doing and theres two reasons for this.

The first one is that it allows for more depth because your filming a larger background thats further away, the second reason is that the shot just looks more interesting. If its shot with the camera angled down like this one right here its an ok shot but theres a lot less depth to the shot because all your shooting is a bowl.

Now obviously this is part of the story so this is why we shot it but if you look at the difference in angle it's clear which angle is better.

The last tip and probably the most important tip for the cinematography was shooting toward the light. Now I have a whole video on this breaking down this concept way more in depth and if you guys want to check that video out ill leave a link right here.

But pretty much the goal is to shoot your subject or an object against the light so it causes a backlighting effect making your shots a lot more interesting then if you were to just shoot them front lit.

And if you notice all of these shots have that in common I shot everything on the darkside giving more depth and character to my shots.

So that is it for this video let me know if you guys want me to do a video on my editing process for this scene showcasing the edit and coloring for the project in the comments below.

Thanks for watching. My name is Alex Zarfati. Please like and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and I'll see you in the next one piece!