How we made a 30-second product film from nine catalogue photos

Loving Home Collection is a porcelain factory in Chaozhou. Its Safari collection is matte black tableware with hand-painted wild animals. For this collection we made a 30-second product film from nine photos in the factory’s catalogue. We always say clearly that the film is AI-made.

What we started with

Nine catalogue photos: plates, bowls and dishes from one collection, photographed on a white background. No lifestyle photos, no video.

That is normal. Most factories have good product photos on white, and nothing that shows the product in use. For a buyer, a photo on white answers the question “what is it?”. A film answers “how does it look on a table, in a home, in a shop?”.

Step 1: Plan the film on paper

First, decide what the film is for: introducing a new collection to buyers, a post for LinkedIn and Instagram, or the header of a website. That decides the length and the formats.

Before any AI is used, we write the film as a list of shots, each about three seconds long. The Safari film is simple: an evening table with a candle, a close-up of a hand-painted zebra, a hand placing a bowl, a giraffe-pattern bowl up close, the full table from above, and the factory’s logo at the end.

Simple shots work best. Each shot shows one thing.

Step 2: Build each scene around the real product

For every shot we first make a still image with AI. The catalogue photo is the reference, so that the plate in the scene is the factory’s plate: the same shape, the same pattern, the same colours.

Then we compare each image with the real product. If the AI changed the pattern, added a detail or changed the shape of the rim, the image is rejected and made again. This check takes the most time, and it is the most important step. A buyer who orders after seeing the film must receive exactly that product.

Step 3: Turn the stills into short clips

Each approved still becomes a short moving clip: a slow camera move, a candle flame, a hand putting a bowl down. We keep the movement calm. Fast or complicated movement is where AI most often changes the product, so we avoid it.

Step 4: Edit, titles and sound

The clips are cut together to 30 seconds, with short titles, music and the factory’s logo at the end. The titles name the collection and what makes it special. In the Safari film, they say that the animals are painted by hand.

The titles are short and in plain English, so that the film also works with the sound off, for example in a LinkedIn feed.

Step 5: Three formats

One film is not enough for all channels. We delivered three versions: 16:9 for the website and LinkedIn, 4:5 for the Instagram and Facebook feed, and 9:16 for reels.

Four rounds

The film went through four versions before the final one. Plan time for rounds like this. The first version is never the last.

What an AI film is good for, and what it is not

It is good for showing a collection in use, in a Western setting, without a photo shoot. It gives your website, your LinkedIn page and your Instagram something stronger than a photo on white, in every format you need.

It does not replace real footage of your factory. A buyer who wants to know how you work needs to see your real kilns, your real production lines and your real people. For that we use the factory’s own phone videos, filmed with a shot list we send. We never pass off AI scenes as real footage of your factory: every AI film is labelled as AI, and it only shows products the factory really makes.

What a factory needs to provide

• Sharp product photos on a white background, from more than one angle if possible.
• The product facts: sizes, material, finish, and what is painted or made by hand.
• One person who checks the product details in every round.

If you have good catalogue photos, you already have most of what a product film needs.