Reels Production.
Reels autoplay muted — tap the sound button on any reel to unmute.
The work — fifty vertical films, and why most reels fail in the first second.
A reel is a short vertical film made for a phone held upright — typically under sixty seconds, shot 9:16, designed to work with sound off and to earn a second view. It is not a TVC cropped to portrait, and the difference shows immediately.
Fifty reels sit above, concentrated in food and beverage (40) with real estate (4), events and conferences (3), beauty and wellness (2) and retail (1). Clients include Mastercard, Knight Knox Dubai, SCHÖN, Levante, The Studio by DH and One Hour Bakery.
How a reel is built
- Hook in the first second — the frame that stops the scroll, decided before the shoot
- Vertical framing from the start — composed for 9:16, not cropped into it afterwards
- Sound-off legibility — the story readable through motion and text alone
- Pace matched to the platform — cut rhythm that holds attention without becoming noise
- Native delivery — correct resolution, safe areas clear of platform UI
The first second does most of the work
Retention curves on short-form drop hardest before the two-second mark. Everything after the hook is optimisation; the hook is the film. We plan it at treatment stage — which frame opens, what question it raises, and how quickly the answer arrives — rather than choosing an opening from whatever the edit happens to offer.
Batching is what makes volume affordable
A single reel carries the full cost of a crew call. A day that produces eight carries roughly an eighth of it each. We plan reel work in blocks for exactly that reason — the same logic set out in our journal piece on shooting twelve months of content in three days.
Reels questions — format, hooks and batching.
What makes a good Instagram reel?
A hook that lands inside the first second, vertical framing composed for 9:16 rather than cropped into it, a story readable with the sound off, and a cut rhythm that holds attention without becoming noise. Retention curves drop hardest before the two-second mark, so the opening frame does most of the work.
How many reels can you shoot in one day?
It depends on locations and changeovers, but batching is the point. A single reel carries the full cost of a crew call; a day producing eight carries roughly an eighth of it each. We plan reel work in blocks for that reason rather than shooting them one at a time.
Can a TVC be cut down into a reel?
Sometimes, but rarely well. A film composed for 16:9 loses its framing when cropped to vertical, and an opening built for a broadcast slot rarely hooks a scroll. We will cut social versions from existing footage and tell you honestly when re-shooting vertical is the better answer.
Want reels that stop the scroll?
Tell us what you're building. We reply to every enquiry within one working day.
Start a project