Ad Film Production for FMCG

01

FMCG context

Fast-moving consumer goods brands operating at national media scale.

For fmcg teams, ad films sits inside an approval chain, not outside it. FSSAI and ASCI compliance on every claim. We build that into the schedule rather than discovering it at the sign-off stage.

• TVCs — briefed, scripted and delivered as a distinct asset rather than a cutdown afterthought.
• Digital ad films — briefed, scripted and delivered as a distinct asset rather than a cutdown afterthought.
• Trade films — briefed, scripted and delivered as a distinct asset rather than a cutdown afterthought.
• Recipe and usage content — briefed, scripted and delivered as a distinct asset rather than a cutdown afterthought.

02

What good looks like in this sector

Trade films move distributor behaviour as much as consumer ads move sales.

We would rather cut a scene in the script than discover the problem in the grade. In fmcg, the most common failure is a film that is technically excellent and commercially silent — beautiful footage that never states the proposition. We test the script against the buying decision before the camera is booked.

03

What ad film production actually involves

Ad films engineered for the first three seconds, then built to hold attention through the payoff.

We would rather cut a scene in the script than discover the problem in the grade. For ad films, that means deciding early whether the film is doing persuasion work, explanation work or proof work — because those three jobs need different structures, different running times and different crews.

A typical engagement runs 4-8 weeks and is delivered by ad film director, dop, casting director, stylist, production designer. The technical package is built around alexa mini lf, zeiss supreme primes, ronin 2, scaled up or down against the brief rather than the invoice.

04

What you receive

Deliverables are agreed in writing before the shoot, so nothing is negotiated after the fact. The standard package for ad films includes:

• Hero ad film
• Platform cutdowns
• Static key-art frames

05

How we run the project

Six stages, each with a named owner and a dated checkpoint.

• Post production: Offline cut, client review, online conform, colour grade, sound mix and graphics. You see the film at rough cut, fine cut and final.
• Delivery and measurement: Platform-specific masters, captions, thumbnails and an asset index. We review performance after 30 days and feed it into the next brief.
• Discovery: A 90-minute session with the people who own the outcome. We leave with the audience, the proposition and the single action the film has to drive.
• Strategy and script: A written treatment and shooting script, reviewed against the brief. Two revision rounds are built into the schedule so feedback does not delay production.
• Pre-production: Recce, permissions, casting, art direction and a call sheet issued 72 hours ahead. Everything that can be decided before the shoot day is decided before the shoot day.
• Production: A crew sized to the brief. We shoot to the edit, capture protection coverage, and review selects with you at wrap.

06

Investment and what moves the number

Ad Film Production projects typically sit between Rs 12L - Rs 90L. The variables that move that figure are crew size, number of shoot days, cast and location fees, and the depth of post production.

We quote in three tiers against the same script so you can see exactly what an extra day or an extra grade session buys. What we do not do is win the brief on price and rebuild the margin through change requests.

• Included as standard: footage backed up in triplicate before the unit leaves site.
• Included as standard: colour and audio finished in a calibrated suite, not on a laptop.
• Included as standard: delivery specs matched to each platform, not one master for everything.
• Included as standard: a named producer who answers the phone on shoot day.

07

Where we film fmcg projects in Mumbai

Sector sites cluster in specific pockets of the MMR, each with its own access process.

• Panvel (Navi Mumbai) — Infrastructure, real estate and logistics growth corridor. PMC and airport authority clearance near the airport zone.
• Kharghar (Navi Mumbai) — Planned township with premium residential projects. CIDCO permission for park and hill filming.
• Vashi (Navi Mumbai) — Trading, commodities and corporate satellite offices. APMC market authority permission required.
• Belapur (Navi Mumbai) — Government and BFSI back-office headquarters. CIDCO and departmental clearance for government buildings.
• SEEPZ (Western Suburbs) — Export processing zone for jewellery, electronics and software. SEZ development commissioner approval, 5 working days.

08

Five ways fmcg ad films projects go wrong

Most failed video projects fail for the same handful of reasons. These are the ones we plan against.

• Briefing a format instead of an outcome: Asking for a two-minute corporate video is a specification, not a brief. Start from what has to change in the viewer's mind.
• Approving a script by committee: Every extra approver adds a message. Nominate one decision maker and let them arbitrate.
• Shooting without a distribution plan: A film with no media plan and no owner on the marketing side quietly dies on a shared drive.
• Underestimating audio: Viewers forgive soft focus. They abandon a video with bad sound within seconds.

09

Working with us

We are a Mumbai production company that works to a written scope, a fixed schedule and an agreed deliverable list. Briefs come in from marketing heads, founders, HR leads and agency partners, and all of them get the same first step: a conversation about the outcome.

If a video is not the right answer, we will say so. That has cost us projects and won us clients.