How a fashion show is filmed and all the content you can get from it

Why filming a show well matters as much as the show itself

A fashion show lasts ten to twenty minutes. For months, the brand has designed the collection, cast the models, prepared the styling, the music and the staging. And all that work is seen live by, at most, a few hundred people.

What reaches the rest of the world is the video and the photos. The buyers who could not come, the press writing the next day, customers following the brand on Instagram and the shops deciding what to order for next season. For all of them, the show is whatever was filmed.

That is why a badly filmed show is a lost opportunity that does not come back: it cannot be repeated. A camera in poor light, a shot that cuts off the models' feet, music that later cannot be used on social media or a lack of detail shots turn months of work into a video nobody shares.

In Barcelona, the best-known event is 080 Barcelona Fashion, the city's fashion week. But there are also design school shows, collection presentations in shops and showrooms, shows within brand events, and runways for childrenswear, bridal or swimwear. The rules for filming them are very similar.

What follows is how we work on them, with a real case at 080.

The cameras and shots you cannot do without

To film a show reliably you need at least three cameras.

The front camera, at the end of the runway. It is the classic fashion show shot: the model walks towards the camera from the back and stops or turns at the end point. It is placed in the photographers' pit or on a riser, centred and at just the right height to see the whole look, head to toe. This shot cannot be improvised: you have to request the spot from the organisers well in advance, because it is the most contested.

The side camera. It follows each model along the runway, in profile or at an angle. It adds movement and shows how the garment falls and moves when walking, which is exactly what a photo cannot show.

The roaming camera. With an operator on the move: fabric details, shoes, accessories, audience faces, the front row, the designer's final bow. These are the shots that give the recap its rhythm and the clips their life.

If possible, a fourth camera backstage before the start, with hair, make-up, last fittings and nerves. It is the most shared material on social media after the show, and we cover it in what a making-of is.

All cameras roll at the same time without stopping, with room sound on each so they can be synced afterwards. And you always film with margin: from a few minutes before the first model comes out until the last round of applause.

Lighting, music and permissions: what to settle beforehand

Three things decide the result, and all three are settled before the day.

Lighting. Runway lighting is designed for the audience and the photographers, not always for video. It is worth talking to the venue's technical team, watching a rehearsal if there is one and setting the cameras to that light. If the brand is staging its own show, it pays to design the lighting for the camera too: a well-lit runway looks twice as expensive on video.

Music. This is what causes most problems later. Many shows use commercial tracks that can be played in the room but cannot be published on social media or YouTube without rights: the video gets muted or blocked. There are three ways out: commission original music, use music licensed for social media, or publish the full show with room sound and the clips with different music. We explain it in what music you can use in your video.

Permissions. At an official fashion week, the organisers issue accreditation and camera positions, and you need to request them in advance. Models and other participants must have agreed to their image being used in the brand's communication, which is normally covered in their contracts. And if you film in a public space or a venue, you need the venue's permission.

With these three settled, on the day of the show the crew only has one thing to worry about: not missing anything.

What pieces to get from a fashion show

A well-filmed show yields pieces for weeks. These are the ones we always prepare.

The full show. Edited from the three cameras, start to finish, for the brand's website, buyers and press. It is the record of the collection.

The recap. One to two minutes with the best of the show, details, atmosphere and the final bow. It is the main piece for social media, the customer email and the website.

One clip per look. Short vertical videos of each exit in the collection. They work for online shop product pages, alongside the product photos of each garment, and for posting one look a day for weeks. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to make the most of a show.

Backstage. A short piece on the preparation: make-up, hair, final adjustments, the countdown before going out. It works very well on Instagram and TikTok.

Photography. If there is a photographer as well as the video crew, runway and backstage photos round out the press material.

And if the brand is more ambitious, the show can be the starting point for a fashion film, a piece with its own narrative that uses the collection's world. We cover it in what a fashion film is.

One recommendation: publish the recap or a first clip the same day or the next. That is when the show is most talked about, and a week later interest has already dropped.

A real case: LARHHA at 080 Barcelona Fashion

For LARHHA we handled the full audiovisual production of their L23 collection at 080 Barcelona Fashion, in collaboration with stylist Andrea Falcceto.

The work went beyond filming the runway. We made a fashion film capturing the movement and drape of the garments, a complete editorial lookbook, product photography and social media content, with minimal, careful art direction in keeping with the brand's look. In the editorial photography we wanted the design to be the star: neutral backgrounds, controlled light and compositions that highlight cut and fabric.

That material is what the brand used for its official communication at 080. In other words, the show did not stay a show: it became the content for the whole season. You can see it in the LARHHA at 080 case.

We also work with other Barcelona fashion brands on the same idea of building a visual world around each collection. For NouVelleMaison we made the fashion film, the editorial, the lookbook and the website for their Aires de Grandeza collection, with original music, seeking a visual language that would work both on the runway and online.

What these projects have in common is that filming was planned before the event, with the collection, the stylist and the brand. That way you know which shots are needed, which garments deserve a detail and which pieces must be ready the next day.

How we help you film your show

At Bostak Films we are a video production company and creative agency, with a studio in Viladecans, twenty minutes from Barcelona. We film fashion shows, collection presentations and brand fashion events, and we produce everything that comes out of them.

Our process starts weeks ahead. We talk to the brand to understand the collection and what it wants to achieve, coordinate accreditation and camera positions with the organisers, sort out the music and prepare the shot list and the list of pieces. On the day, we bring the camera crew, backstage included. And in post-production we edit the full show, the recap, the clips per look and the backstage piece, with a first teaser ready straight away.

If you want to go beyond the show, we also make fashion films, lookbooks and editorial shoots with the same art direction, so all the season's material looks like the same family.

See how we work as a video production company in Barcelona. If you have a show or a collection presentation in the coming months, book a free diagnosis and we will tell you how we would film it.

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