No. 13 - BTS of an LG Commercial
Featuring celebrity chef Stephanie Izard.
A little over a month ago, I directed a shoot for LG’s Signature Kitchen Series in Napa featuring celebrity chef Stephanie Izard, of Iron Chef and Top Chef fame.
She’s also the James Beard Award–winning chef behind Girl & the Goat and a number of other acclaimed restaurants in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.
The shoot was produced by Arnaud Zimmerman through his company, MNTRA, and lensed by the talented Christopher Clark. This was my third time working on a project with Arnaud, and my first collaboration with Chris.
We first kicked off pre-pro in late March, and I had a rough shot list locked about a week and a half later, roughly three weeks out from the shoot. I kept fine-tuning things with Chris right up until we rolled. He took a lot of initiative in pulling references based on the shot list and work he’d seen and found stylistically aligned. It was also my first time using Milanote on a project, thanks to him, and I think it’ll become a regular part of my commercial process moving forward.
Shoot Schedule
We had a full day of scouting on Friday, April 25. Our locations were split between LG’s SKS showroom, where we’d be filming Chef Izard preparing a meal, and three local grocers where she would be sourcing ingredients. The vendor locations were fairly straightforward: a farmer’s market, a butcher, and a fish market—all relatively upscale, which made sense given the featured product was a luxury appliance. The SKS showroom would serve as our studio and conveniently included an industrial-style kitchen set, with our hero appliance built in front and center.
Shoot Day #1
We kicked off the shoot with our studio day at the SKS showroom. Our talent's time was split between our motion crew and a stills unit working on an adjacent set, separated by a massive 20x solid. Since motion required more setup time, we scheduled all of our product shots without talent for the first block of the day. Chris and our G&E team did a great job staggering the setups, which was no small task considering most of our lighting had to be recessed into the overhanging ventilation system above the ranges. Our world also moved three times throughout the day, which made things more complex.
We lived on the dolly for 95% of the day, aside from one shot on a ladder-pod and another down low on a hi-hat. We shot on the Tribe Blackwings (X-tuned) paired with an Alexa Mini LF. Having now shot commercials on both the Alexa 35 and the Mini LF, I can safely say I still prefer the LF and the way it renders space on the large format sensor. That said, I’m definitely curious to shoot the next couple on the Venice 2, which I haven’t had the chance to use yet.
After we shot out the product portion, we moved on to all of our talent work. A massive wide of her entering, some unpacking of ingredients, and then we worked our way into her preparing a meal while utilizing the different features of our hero appliance. The G&E team laid down track in front of the long counter where Chef Izard was working, and we bounced between the Blackwings and an Angie 45–135 zoom. Between the smooth lateral and vertical dolly moves and the controlled zooms on the Angenieux, we were able to get a lot of dynamic coverage in a short amount of time. Chef was also a good sport about me asking to run things once or twice more to make sure we had options for the edit. I should also note that she’s regularly on camera, so I lucked out working with someone who’s incredibly well-versed in the rhythm of filming.
We ended the day with a zolly of our chef garnishing the dish and walking out of frame, followed by a top-down shot of the finished meal. Overall, I was pretty happy with how the day wrapped. We netted a lot of strong shots, pushed the look more than what the scope allowed, and experimented creatively with slow shutter, diopters, and dynamic movement.
Some days you leave set feeling a bit underwhelmed, even if you covered your bases. This wasn’t one of those days. I was genuinely excited to get home and start making selects.
Shoot Day #2
We began at Oxbow Market in downtown Napa. Chris would be operating primarily between an Easy Rig and sticks for most of the day, and outside of a few zoom-specific transitions built into the shot list, we were on the Blackwings most of the day. Stills were less of a factor on location, aside from our first vendor, so we ended up with about an hour and fifteen minutes of shoot time per stop.
I didn’t take many photos after our first location since there was less downtime between setups and our morning was much more compressed than day one. That said, I was really happy with what we were able to pull off. All of the communication during prep and our scout at each location played a huge role in keeping the day running smoothly. We landed some great transitions between vendors and captured more stylistic coverage with diopters, giving me room to get creative with how I move through scenes and in and out of locations in the edit.
After wrapping our three vendor locations, we headed back to the SKS showroom and shot a 30-minute interview in front of our Day 1 set, which G&E conveniently left lit and ready overnight. The dialogue from this interview will serve as the voiceover for our hero deliverables.
Wrapout.
This was one of those shoots where I felt like I actually learned something and got better at the job. Coming from a doc background, I’ve often struggled to find real opportunities to lean into the more stylized, elevated visual techniques that commercial work can offer. A lot of what I’ve been hired to do so far leans into branded doc content. And while I’ve pushed to elevate the visuals and incorporate more narrative language—like on the Luxury Collection work—it hasn’t always hit the way I envisioned. This shoot felt like the start of that changing.
I know it’s work for an appliance company and not a feature film—but if you’re not taking pride in the work you’re doing and pushing yourself in some way with each project, then what’s the point?
And in no way is this me complaining about the work I’ve been hired to do so far—branded doc-style content has allowed me to make a living telling stories and doing what I love. I remember listening to an episode of the Art vs. Commerce podcast where a director encouraged listeners to lean into their niche if they ever wanted to make a living at directing. There’s absolutely some truth to that. But there’s also real value in casting a wide net, pushing for more, and continuing to build your creative arsenal. It just takes time and a little bit of graciousness.
I owe a massive thank you to everyone who made this thing come together. Your time and talent aren’t lost on me. In the meantime, I believe the client edits have started to make their way out into the world via paid media. I just finished up the DC of this project that I am looking forward to sharing soon. Till next time!
Cracking write up! Been thinking about writing some breakdowns of campaigns I've been working on for a while and this is the first similar thing I've seen, loved it. Enjoyed hearing your process!