How long does a TV open have to grab you?

About as long as it takes to reach for the remote

A healthy cooking show needed an animated open, sixteen seconds, that tells you the whole idea of the show before the host says a word

I produced and directed it

Food that flies

It's built from food photography and motion graphics. Chef's knives and utensils snap together into the first letter of the show's name, then tomatoes, salads, herbs and peppers fly through a rotating grid of green and yellow tiles

Green and yellow, because the show is about eating fresh, and you feel that before you read it

Then it lands on a clean white title card, the show name and the host in his chef's whites

Sixteen seconds is a long time

Here is the deal, an open is the most watched part of any show, it plays every single episode

So every frame gets worked like a magazine cover. If a tomato looks dull at frame eleven, people see it a hundred times

And the food has to look good enough to eat, real food photographed right, lit for color and shine, not clip art

A wilted leaf, a dull tomato, a knife with a water spot, all of it shows. Food is like fashion that way, the camera finds the one thing you hoped nobody would notice

It works off the screen too

That final title card does a second job. It's the show's thumbnail and its social avatar, so it had to read at the size of a postage stamp

Why pay for an open at all? because it makes every episode feel produced, and a show that feels produced gets picked up, shared and watched to the end

The same eye on fashion

Food, clothes, cars, it's the same job, light the product so the customer wants it, and frame it so the brand owns the picture

When the producer is the one framing, the color of a pepper or a shadow on the title gets fixed in the frame, no committee, no waiting

See how I light products in the Products Advertising gallery and more promos in the Promo gallery

Sixteen seconds, every episode, forever

Length: 0 min 16 s · Producer & director: David Victory, VRSET video production, Los Angeles & Orange County

Key moments

  • 0:00 Animated tiles open
  • 0:02 Chef's knives form a letter
  • 0:03 Fresh salad in the grid
  • 0:06 Ingredient tiles
  • 0:08 Herbs and greens
  • 0:11 Show title

See the matching photography in the Promo gallery.

More videos

The full video library

Also on our YouTube channel.

Planning a video or a fashion shoot? Contact David Victory or call (310) 988-6575 in Los Angeles, (949) 873-4551 in Orange County. Free consultation and quote for first-time clients.