Video production for consumer electronics
Until the keynote, the product does not exist. Electronics shoots handle devices that are secrets first and props second.
What this is about
Pre-launch devices move under NDA logistics — signed custody lists, locked cases, no phones near the set — and the footage inherits the embargo until a launch minute that marketing coordinates across markets. Screens are their own craft: refresh rates, moiré and brightness force shutter syncing, and the UI shown is rarely the shipping firmware, so screen content is composited or run from approved demo builds with legally cleared sample data. Glossy glass and aluminum turn every light into a reflection problem that product-shot rigs are built around. Claims about performance are drafted by legal against benchmark rules. And the launch date is immovable — the schedule buffers everything except that.
Sector routine beats general experience: knowing the field's approval paths and constraints produces more realistic plans than more shoot days without that context.
What runs differently here
Where this differs from the general case:
- Device custody is documented per unit and per hour — prototypes live in locked cases and never leave the set unaccompanied
- Screen work needs shutter sync, moiré control and approved UI builds; real user data or unlicensed content on displays is a rejection
- Embargo timing binds post-production too — renders, color and versions for every market finish before one global minute
- Reflective glass and metal demand product rigs, motion control and a reflection plan per angle
- Firmware is not final at shoot time: UI is composited in post, so tracking markers and clean plates are planned per screen shot
What the plan has to deliver
A production plan is useful to this role when it provides the following:
- A custody and NDA protocol for every device, from courier to safe to set
- A screen strategy per shot — live build, composite, or clean plate — decided in pre-production
- A post-production timeline that works backwards from the global launch minute
- Claim wording cleared by legal before supers and voiceover are produced
Common pitfalls
What most often goes wrong in practice:
- Filming the screen live and discovering flicker and moiré in the edit
- Letting an unreleased device appear in a crew member's story post
- Promising launch-day versions without counting the market adaptations
With TillyGen
TillyGen plans electronics launches backwards from the embargo minute — device custody, screen strategy and market versions all hang on scenes the whole team can see.
Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.
Frequently asked
How is an unreleased device protected on set?
Custody lists per unit, locked cases, a controlled set without private phones, and NDAs for everyone present. The device has a handler, and the handler has a log.
Why not just film the real screen?
Because refresh rates, brightness and unfinished firmware betray the shot. Standard practice is shutter-synced capture of approved builds or full UI compositing in post — decided per shot before the shoot.
What performance claims can the video make?
Only wording legal has cleared against the benchmark data — comparisons and superlatives are regulated territory. Lock supers and voiceover text before post, not during it.
How long does it take to get started with TillyGen?
A first project takes under an hour to set up. There is no configuration phase in which templates and fields have to be defined before the tool produces anything.
Can the results be exported?
Yes — as PDF for the crew, CSV for downstream systems and through the API for anything automated. The plan stays the source; the exports are views of it.