[ Work · Product commercial · 2024 ]

SUGAR
& SMOKE

A thirty-second commercial for an artisan dessert house — caramel, ice cream and fire, stretched into slow motion until you can taste the screen.

Client — Maison Cacao Dessert HouseRole — Direction · Food styling · EditRuntime — 0:30 + cutdowns

Caramel pouring over an ice cream dessert against a black background

[ Overview ]

DESSERT,
DIRECTED
LIKE DRAMA

The challenge: make a familiar dessert feel new. No voiceover, no hands reaching in from off-camera — just the product, dramatic side light and a black void, performing for a high-speed camera.

We treated the pour like a stunt: rehearsed, timed and lit to the frame. The hero shot — a single caramel ribbon landing on vanilla bean ice cream — took eleven takes and one very patient food stylist.

[ Approach ]

HOW IT WAS SHOT

One table, one light
A single large source with negative fill carved the dessert out of darkness; everything else in the studio went black.
High-speed capture
Pours and drips were filmed at high frame rates so thirty seconds of screen time could stretch a two-second moment.
Styling on set
The dessert house's stylist worked beside the camera, rebuilding each plate between takes so every angle looked freshly made.

Close-up of caramel ribbon over ice cream and wafer

Styled overhead spread of the dessert house menu

[ Deliverables ]

30-second hero spot — 4K master with licensed score.
Three 6-second bumpers — one pour each, cut for social feeds.
Vertical & square versions — reframed, never just cropped.

[ Outcome ]

The spot became the dessert house's storefront. It runs on their site header, in-store screens and paid social — one shoot day now covers their menu launches for the season.

[ Keep watching ]