Today I'm going to show you a little Behind the scenes of how I film a recipe Video I told you in my last video the Thai chicken cauliflower Curry that I Filmed the behind the scenes so here it Is so I start off by adjusting my camera In this case for example I want to show How I cook rice in the instant pot and For that I need to make sure that the Whole pot is seen in the video but not More of my ugly kitchen Then I film just the quick movements and Move the instant pot out of the way and The actual plugging in and cooking Happens in another corner of my kitchen So I can keep my filming area empty for The next step in the video I always have to make sure my camera is Super level when I film top down or else To you it'll feel like all my Ingredients and my chopping board and Everything is sliding off the counter I Use a water level to ensure you don't Get weird motion sickness watching my Videos I also always align all my Ingredients out of frame so I don't Forget an ingredient there is nothing Worse than finishing filming a sequence And then realizing I forgot to add Something crucial that usually means I Have to restart the whole process Then to film the individual steps I Usually just do a one or two quick Movements of the step then turn off the
Camera and perform the rest of the work Closer to my compost For the onion for example I peel only One section in front of the camera then Move to the compost to finish peeling Same with the cauliflower I just remove One leaf and cut one floor in for the Camera and perform the rest of the work Off camera closer to my compost There is always a lot happening off Camera such as moving and adjusting the Camera from one angle to the other to Keep things interesting I try to never Film more than two actions in one angle So for example the cauliflower before I Filmed removing the leaves from a Frontal view then cutting the florets From a top-down view keeping the same Angle for too many actions and seconds Makes a video boring I also constantly constantly constantly Make sure everything is in focus and Well lit since I use a natural light for My videos and the sunlight and the Clouds keep changing I have to adjust my Camera just about every 5 to 10 seconds My biggest challenge though is always Staying on Focus because I can't stand Behind the camera I have to stand in Front of it and perform the action I Never truly know until I finish filming A clip if it was in focus This video actually has a shot that is Out of focus and I couldn't refilm that
Part because I had added everything to The hot pan and I'm still upset about This weeks later I use a plug-in induction stovetop to Film the actual cooking process in pots And pans because I have a better Lighting and more range of movement on My Standalone counter than the actual Cooking range Replace my cooktop though I think it's Not heating evenly so I show the cooking Steps there but then move the pot or My Pan to the actual range and do the Actual searing and simmering always There off camera I always try to film when my kids are at School so I can focus better on my work But sometimes I have no choice but film When they are home and there has yet to Be a filming day that they don't come Into the kitchen to ask all kinds of Random questions at least they're Trained enough to know to not stand in The light While food is simmering I always try to Do some cleanup so I have enough space Next to my filming area it's really hard To work in such a tight space our Kitchen in the rental apartment before Buying our house was a dream to work in Open plan huge counters big windows with Lots of light I cannot wait for the day we can finally Renovate this house in my kitchen to
Make my work life easier Once the food is finished cooking comes The part that takes me the longest this So-called hero shots I take my time to Film enticing clips of the cooked food I Obviously believe all my recipes are Delicious but how can I convince you to Believe me that's what hero shots are For the steam the saw stripping then Digging in with a fork or spoon those Shots take the longest to perfect Sometimes longer than the actual cooking That happened before lots of styling Happens off camera I often move cilantro Leaves individually to distribute them Better it's actually quite ridiculous Sometimes After that I take photos of the food for The blog post I always take side charts And top-down shots and for the top down Shots I have to stand on my counter and Just in case you were wondering yes I Have fallen off that counter more than Once despite being super careful all the Things I do for good food photos and Videos For the photo hero shots it's super Important that the sauce is nice and Shiny so I often have to add an extra Spoon because during the setup the sauce Obviously already traveled to the bottom Of the plate and it doesn't look super Delicious anymore the dish by the end of Photographing it is often swimming in
Sauce Fee at the end takes me a good 15 to 20 Minutes every single time so by the time I'm finished the food is cold and rice Soggy but still I can always hardly wait To dig in often even though it's 11 am And that's it that's how I film a recipe Video is it the way you imagined or is It completely different I'd love to know And I'll see you with my next video bye
Leave a Reply