Commercial Product Video Production in Shanghai
We shoot and edit product video in our own Shanghai studio and on location, for importers, trading companies and Amazon sellers who need the film made while the goods are still in China. One shooting session produces every aspect ratio you sell on. Prices are published below in US dollars, and you do not have to send an enquiry to see them.
We have been shooting here since 2002 and working for overseas buyers since 2016. Video sits in the same building, with the same lighting and the same crew, as the stills on our pricing page — which matters more than it sounds, because the cheapest moment to shoot your video is the day your product is already on the set for photography. The sample is there, the colour is already matched to the physical piece, and the set is already built.
On this page
What a cut costs
From US$450 per cut — 15 to 30 seconds, finished| Deliverable | Price |
|---|---|
| Product video, 15–30 seconds, product only | From US$450 per cut |
| 360° turntable spin, shot not rendered | From US$90 per product |
| Drone, on location in or around Shanghai | From US$450 per day |
Every cut is delivered in 16:9 for your listing and website, 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and 1:1 for feed posts — three ratios, one price. Subtitles and a licensed music track come with a commercial licence letter. First cut lands three working days after the storyboard is signed off.
Video with models, a built set or a written narrative is a project, not a unit, and we quote it from the script. The published volume ladder applies to video the same way it applies to everything else: 20 to 49 cuts in one order comes down 10 per cent, 50 to 99 comes down 15 per cent, and above a hundred we quote against your shot list. The full published price list sets out the whole structure.
One shoot, three ratios — framed at capture
The part that gets this wrong everywhere else is framing. A 16:9 listing video cropped down to 9:16 afterwards loses the sides of the product, and a 9:16 video stretched back out to 16:9 loses the top and bottom. So we frame for all three at capture: the product sits inside the vertical safe area, the horizontal composition is built around it, and the square crop is checked on the monitor before the take is accepted. You get three native-feeling files rather than one file and two apologies.
Included at no extra charge
English subtitles, burned-in and as a separate SRT. A licensed music track with a commercial licence authorisation letter in English, so your marketplace team has something to file. Two rounds of revisions on the cut. Colour matched to the physical sample rather than to a screen. Sample collection anywhere in the Shanghai area.
What we shoot
Amazon and marketplace listing video
Fifteen to thirty seconds, product only, built to be understood with the sound off and the thumb hovering. Hands enter to demonstrate the thing the listing bullets cannot prove: the zip actually runs, the lid actually seals, the fabric actually falls that way. Hand modelling is included in the price, not charged on top. Delivered inside the marketplace specification so your team uploads it rather than reformats it.
360° turntable spin
Shot on a motorised turntable, not rendered — so the reflections, the texture and the shadow under the product are real. Supplied as video and, on request, as a numbered frame sequence for the 360 viewers that Shopify and some B2B platforms use. This is the cheapest line on the page for a reason: once the product is lit, the turntable does the work.
Short-form for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Vertical-native, cut fast, with the hook inside the first two seconds and English subtitles throughout. If you are running paid social, tell us at storyboard stage and we will shoot two or three alternative openings off the same set so you have something to test against each other rather than one cut and a hope.
Brand and brand-story film
Sixty to ninety seconds with a written narrative, a model or a built set. This is the work we quote from the script rather than from a rate card, because the cost sits in the people and the build, not in the camera. For reference, a studio day with a model, hair and make-up and the signed English portrait release is published on our pricing page, and a video project built on top of that day costs far less than booking the day twice.
Drone and location
In and around Shanghai, by the day, where the product or the place genuinely calls for it — outdoor gear, vehicles, furniture in a real room, a factory line your buyer wants to see. We fly inside Chinese airspace rules and we tell you in advance whether the location you want is permitted, before you have paid for anything.
CGI and 3D, when the camera cannot go there
From US$179 per still image — C4D and 3ds Max, in house| Deliverable | Price |
|---|---|
| 3D modelling, per product — built once, reused for ever | From US$410 |
| Still render, per still image — from a model that exists | From US$179 per still image |
| Animation, per second — animation only, five seconds minimum | US$120–150 |
| Typical complete project, modelling and animation together | US$1,800–2,500 |
Two in-house 3D artists working in Cinema 4D and 3ds Max. First draft in ten working days. We have delivered animation for blood-glucose meters, injection pens, footwear, automated production lines and mineral processing plants — the kind of work where the inside of the product matters as much as the outside, or where the thing being shown is the size of a building, and where no camera can go. A cutaway through a sealed housing, a liquid path through a valve, a sole unit exploding into its layers: that is a render, not a shot, and no amount of lighting will get a lens in there.
A 3D job is two lines on the quote, not one
Modelling and animation are separate pieces of work and we price them separately, because they behave differently. The model is built once: one product, from US$410, and from that day on it can be re-lit, re-coloured, re-rendered and re-animated without ever being rebuilt. The animation is then run on top of the model and charged by the second, at US$120–150. That per-second rate is for the animation only. It does not include the modelling, and the minimum we take is five seconds, because below that the rigging, lighting and render-farm time dominate the job no matter how short the clip is.
A worked example, so nothing on the quote is a surprise. One product, ten seconds of finished animation: US$410 to build the model, plus ten seconds of animation at US$120–150 a second — US$1,610 to US$1,910 in total, depending on which end of the band the movement sits at. The typical complete project figure in the table above, US$1,800–2,500, is a step up from that: one or two products modelled plus ten to fifteen seconds of finished film, which is what most launch films actually need. Jobs come in under both figures when the model already exists from an earlier order, because then you are only charged the animation line.
Still images work the same way and are the cheapest way in. One new product modelled plus a single render is US$410 plus US$179 per still image — from US$589 — and every further angle, colourway or background off that same model is another still at the published per-image rate, with nothing to rebuild.
Which end of the band you land on
Rigid movement sits at the bottom: a product rotating on its axis, a lid lifting, a handle folding out, an assembly sliding apart into its components. The top of the band is for what has to be simulated frame by frame rather than keyframed — liquid pouring or flowing through a channel, cloth and soft bodies, glass and transparent housings where the light has to be traced through the material. Those multiply render time per second of screen output, which is the real cost driver in animation, and we tell you which end you are at before the model is started rather than after.
CGI is also the honest answer when a product does not exist yet. We can build listing images and animation from your CAD files, STEP or OBJ exports, or from dimensioned technical drawings, before the first production sample is off the line — which is the difference between launching with your shipment and launching a month after it. The same applies to colourways: the model is built once and rendered in as many finishes as your range has, which is cheaper per image than photographing twenty physical samples that do not exist yet.
Four of our own 3D films
Every frame below was modelled and rendered in this studio, and no client is named on any of them. They are here in the order of the argument above: the first two are the same injection pen, one showing what a camera cannot reach and one showing what a built model costs to re-use, and the last two are whole facilities, which is the case where filming is not expensive but impossible. Nothing autoplays — the films are only fetched when you press play, so this page stays light on a phone.
All four are silent by design. A product film that has to explain itself with a voiceover usually has not been storyboarded tightly enough, and buyers watch these on a desk in an office. If your market needs narration, subtitles or on-screen callouts, those are set per language at the end of the job, after the animation is signed off, so one render serves every market you sell into.
Five campaigns you can watch
Each of these case pages carries the film from the shoot alongside the stills, so you can judge the grade, the pacing and the subtitling rather than take our word for it.
- Women’s apparel autumn lookbook — studio, on model, cut for both listing and social.
- Men’s fashion outdoor location campaign — location, natural light, movement.
- Kids’ swimwear indoor beach campaign — a built set standing in for a location, in February.
- Kids’ down jacket studio collection — a full collection shot as one continuous session.
- Glass art and décor lifestyle — transparency, refraction and reflection, which is the hardest thing on this list to light.
More of the work is on our portfolio page, and the studio itself is described on our Shanghai studio page.
How a project runs
1. Storyboard, before anything is shot
You tell us what the video has to do — prove a function, carry a launch, feed a paid-social test. We come back with a shot-by-shot storyboard in English, with the ratios, the length and the on-screen text written down. Nothing is filmed until you have signed that off. This is where length gets decided, by what the video has to do rather than by a package.
2. Samples in, shoot day
Most of our clients are already manufacturing in China, so samples arrive by domestic courier from the factory in a day or two. Sample shipping anywhere in China is on us — it is already inside our published prices; only freight from outside China is at your cost. Garments are steamed and prepared before they go in front of the camera. You are welcome to watch the shoot live over video call in your own evening — several of our buyers do, and it removes an entire revision round.
3. First cut in three working days
Three working days after storyboard sign-off for a standard cut, counted from the day the samples are in the studio. Two rounds of revisions are included. Projects with models, a built set or a narrative run on a schedule we put in writing with the quote, and CGI runs to ten working days for the first draft.
What moves the price up
- People on camera. A model, hair and make-up, and the signed English portrait release is a day rate, not a per-cut rate. It does not get cheaper by shooting less, so if you want a face in the film, fill the day.
- A built set. Carpentry, paint and props are charged at cost and quoted before we build. We do our own set building and lighting in house, which is why this line is usually smaller than buyers expect.
- A written narrative. Scripting, a voice-over artist and a longer edit are the main cost in a brand film. The camera is the cheap part.
- Liquids, food, steam, ice and anything that behaves badly. These need a food stylist or a longer shooting block, and sometimes several duplicate samples. Send more than one.
- A location you cannot shoot in yet. Permits, access and travel outside Shanghai are quoted separately, with the honest answer about whether it is permitted at all.
What we will not pretend to do
We would rather lose the job than take it on a promise we cannot keep.
- Western faces on demand. We cast in Shanghai, and we book only models who hold a valid Chinese work visa and can lawfully be paid for commercial work here. A specific requested face, an agency exclusive or a model flown in from outside China is quoted separately and is not where our price advantage lies.
- Native English voice-over from inside the studio. We write and subtitle in English, and we commission voice-over from native speakers when a project needs it — as a quoted line item, not as something bundled and hoped for.
- Same-day video. Stills we turn around in 24 hours. Video has a storyboard, an edit and a revision round in it, and three working days is the honest floor for a cut we are willing to put our name on.
- A finished film from a single photograph. If the product is not in Shanghai and there is no CAD file, there is nothing to shoot and nothing to model. Tell us which of the two you have and we will tell you what is actually possible.
Product video FAQ
How much does product video production cost in Shanghai?
From US$450 per cut for a finished 15 to 30 second product video, product only, delivered in all three aspect ratios. A 360 degree turntable spin is from US$90 per product, and drone work in or around Shanghai is from US$450 per day. Video with models, a built set or a written narrative is a project rather than a unit, and we quote it from the script. Every price we charge is published in US dollars on our pricing page, with no enquiry gate in front of it.
Do I get vertical and square versions, or just one video?
You get all three, at one price. Every cut is delivered in 16:9 for your listing and website, 9:16 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and 1:1 for feed posts. The important part is that we frame for all three at capture rather than cropping one master afterwards, so the product is never cut off at the sides in the vertical version or at the top in the horizontal one.
How long should my product video be, and who decides?
You do, at storyboard stage. Length is set by what the video has to do rather than by a package. A marketplace listing video that has to prove one function works best at 15 to 30 seconds. A paid-social cut wants the hook inside the first two seconds and rarely needs more than 15. A brand film with a written narrative runs 60 to 90 seconds. We put the length in the storyboard and nothing is filmed until you have signed it off.
Are subtitles and music included, and is the music properly licensed?
Both are included, and yes. English subtitles are delivered burned in and as a separate SRT file. The music comes with a commercial licence authorisation letter in English, which is the document your marketplace or legal team will ask for if a claim is ever raised. We do not hand over a track we cannot paper.
How fast is delivery, and can I watch the shoot from abroad?
The first cut lands three working days after the storyboard is signed off, counted from the day the samples are in the studio, and two rounds of revisions are included. CGI runs to ten working days for the first draft. You are welcome to watch the shoot live over video call in your own evening, which is afternoon in Shanghai, and several of our buyers do exactly that because it removes a whole revision round.
When should I use CGI instead of filming the real product?
Three situations. First, when the product does not exist yet and you have CAD files or technical drawings but no production sample, so you can launch with the shipment rather than a month after it. Second, when the inside of the product is the selling point and no camera can get there, such as a cutaway through a sealed housing or a liquid path through a valve. Third, when you need twenty colourways of one shape, because the model is built once and rendered many times. We work in Cinema 4D and 3ds Max with two artists in house, from US$179 per finished still image and US$120 to US$150 per second of animation, with a five second minimum. First draft in ten working days.
Does the per-second animation price include building the 3D model?
No, and this is the thing to be clear about before you compare quotes from different studios. A 3D job is two separate pieces of work. Building the model is from US$410 per product and is charged once, after which the model can be re-lit, re-coloured and re-animated without being rebuilt. Animation is then charged on top of that at US$120 to US$150 per second, with a five second minimum, and that rate covers the animation only. So one product modelled plus ten seconds of finished animation comes to US$1,610 to US$1,910 in total, and a typical complete project of US$1,800–2,500 is one or two products modelled plus ten to fifteen seconds of finished film. Rigid movement such as a rotation or an exploded assembly sits at the bottom of the per-second band, while simulated liquid, cloth, glass and transparency sit at the top.
Send one product. The first one is free.
One physical sample, any category. We shoot and retouch the complete stills set and send you the finished files with nothing held back and no obligation to order — the fastest way to judge our lighting and our colour before you commission a film. Tell us what you are importing and what the video has to do, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it.
See every published price · Twenty questions overseas buyers ask us