How to make a product video that sells: types, steps and examples

What a product video is and what it is for

A product video is a piece that shows a product so someone understands it, wants it or buys it. It might be ten seconds in a delivery app or three minutes in a sales presentation, but the aim is always the same: whoever watches should have fewer doubts and more desire than before.

It works in many places. On an online shop's product page, where a video answers what photos cannot: how it moves, how it opens, how big it is in your hand. In social ads, where it has to stop the thumb in the first seconds. At a launch, where it presents something new with a sense of occasion. And in business-to-business sales, where it explains technical products a salesperson would need half an hour to describe.

The question that comes up most is whether it really sells. The practical answer is that a well-made product video reduces doubts, and doubts are what stop a purchase. Will my laptop fit in this backpack? Will this kit connect to what I already have? Does this pizza look as good as it seems? If the video answers the main doubt in the first seconds, it has done its job.

So, before thinking about cameras, write that doubt down. The whole video is built to answer it.

The types of product video

There is no single product video. There are six types, and each solves something different.

The demo: how it works. The product is shown doing what it promises, step by step. It sells best when the product has something to explain, such as a mechanism, a feature or an advantage you cannot see in a photo.

Product in use, or lifestyle: the product in someone's hands, in context. A backpack on the street, a coffee machine in a kitchen, a garment in motion. It sells a feeling more than a function.

Rotating or 360 product: the object on its own, on a clean background, turning so it can be seen from every angle. The classic for online shop pages.

Explainer with motion graphics or 3D: when the product is hard to film or what matters is inside, such as software, a technical part or a process. Graphics and renders show what the camera cannot.

Comparison: models in a range side by side, to help people choose. Very useful in technical catalogues.

Short video for social and apps: pieces of a few seconds, built for fast scrolling, that show one thing with real force.

In practice, a good product shoot usually produces several of these types at once, because the same lighting set-up and styling work for all of them.

How to make a product video, step by step

This is the process we follow, and it works for simple and complex products alike.

First, the goal and the place. Where will the video be seen and what must it achieve? A product page video is not made the same way as an Instagram ad or a sales presentation.

Second, one idea. Each piece shows one thing: how tough it is, how easy it is to use, how good it looks. If you want to say three things, make three short pieces.

Third, the script and shot list. What is seen at each moment, in what order and with what on-screen text. The shot list makes sure nothing is forgotten on the day.

Fourth, preparation. The product in perfect condition, with several units if possible, backgrounds, props, hands or models, and lighting designed for the material: metal, glass, fabric or food are lit very differently.

Fifth, the shoot. In a studio for the isolated product and details; on location for the product in use. Lots of short shots, with smooth movement and close-up details.

Sixth, the edit and versions. Pace, music, on-screen text, subtitles if there is voice, and a version for each format: horizontal for the website, vertical for social, square for some ads. The same shoot should also produce the product photos.

Real product video examples

Here are four very different projects, because they show well how the video changes with the product.

With Bunker we went beyond video: we designed their anti-theft bum bag from scratch, with hidden compartments, security closures and choice of materials, through to the final product. Then we did the product photography, with technical details and model shots, and demo videos explaining the security system. Here the buyer's doubt was "does it really protect?", and the videos are built to answer that.

With Audiovisuales Data, which sells technical audiovisual equipment to other businesses, the challenge was complexity. We made technical demos, use cases and model comparisons, with 3D renders and feature infographics, and built them into a digital catalogue their sales team uses in presentations and on the website.

With Qilimanjaro, a quantum computing company, we made a piece of almost two minutes about their SpeQtrum product with motion graphics, because what matters cannot be filmed with a camera. If your product is technical, we cover it in more detail in how to explain a tech product on video.

And with Dr. Pizza, in its campaign with Glovo, we did the opposite: videos under ten seconds and more than sixty product photos, designed for an app where people flick from one dish to the next. There the product has to make you hungry in a second.

With a phone, Canva or AI: when it works and when it does not

Many searches ask how to make a product video with a phone, with Canva or with artificial intelligence. All three work, each for something different.

A phone is fine for quick social content, especially if the product is simple and whoever films it has a good eye. With window light, a clean background and a steady stand you can get decent pieces. For a rotating product video, a photography turntable is enough. The limit is light and detail: close-ups of textures, reflections or mechanisms need more kit.

Canva and other template tools are useful for assembling pieces from photos or clips you already have, adding text and adapting formats. They do not film the product for you, but they help you make the most of what you filmed.

Generative AI can now create backgrounds, settings and even characters around a real product, and it can cut the cost of pieces that used to need a big shoot. We used it, for example, in Bunker's Christmas campaign. But the product itself is best filmed for real: AI still changes details, logos and proportions, and a buyer who receives something different from what they saw does not come back. We cover it in AI ads: what actually works.

The practical rule: do it yourself for day-to-day social media and commission it for the pieces that will sit on your website or in your ads for months.

Length and format by platform

A product video's length depends above all on where it will be seen. These are the references we use.

On an online shop product page, fifteen to sixty seconds, horizontal or square. It must work without sound, because many people will watch it muted.

On social media, six to thirty seconds, vertical. The product has to appear in the first two seconds and on-screen text has to do the job a voice would.

In delivery apps or marketplaces, very short pieces, sometimes under ten seconds, that work on a loop.

On a trade show or in-store screen, loops of thirty seconds to two minutes without sound, with lots of image and few words.

In a sales presentation or a business demo, one to three minutes, with voice-over or text explaining each feature.

At a launch, a main piece of thirty to sixty seconds and a family of short versions.

On format, the most efficient approach is to plan the shoot so every frame works horizontally and vertically. That way you do not have to shoot twice. We explain it in which video format to use on each social network.

How we make product videos at Bostak

At Bostak Films we make product video and photography for brands in Barcelona and beyond, as a video production company in Barcelona and creative agency at once. That means we do not just film the product: we work out with the brand what each piece needs to say and where it will work.

We start from the buyer's main doubt and the places the video will be seen. From there we propose the pieces: the demo, the product in use, short social versions, the rotating product for the online shop or the explainer with graphics if needed. We shoot at our studio in Viladecans, about twenty minutes from Barcelona, or on whatever location the product calls for, and use the same lighting set-up for the product photography.

Then we edit every version, with text, music, subtitles and each channel's formats, and deliver a package ready to use on your website, social media and ads.

We have made product video for brands as different as Bunker, Audiovisuales Data, Qilimanjaro, Dr. Pizza and NouVelleMaison's fashion collections. If you have a product to launch or an online shop whose photos are not quite selling, tell us what it is and where you sell it. In a first call we will propose which pieces you need.

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