Hospitality · 07 Sept 2026
Restaurant video production in Dubai: what to film before you open
Opening week is the best content a restaurant will ever have, and most venues film none of it properly. The countdown, the shot list and the cadence that keeps a Dubai venue in the feed after the launch.
By Baran Karaesen · OneByOne Creative Agency · 3 min read
A Dubai restaurant gets one opening. It is the densest week of content the venue will ever produce, and most of it is lost to a phone in the manager's pocket. Here is how to plan it so the launch is filmed properly and the account does not go quiet in month two.
The countdown
Content for an opening is a sequence that starts three to four weeks out.
- **Teaser.** The space under construction, the chef, a single dish in close-up, no name on screen yet. Curiosity is the only job.
- **Reveal.** The name, the room finished, the menu concept in one line.
- **Detail.** Dishes as short films: the pour, the cut, the steam, the hands. One dish per reel.
- **Opening night.** Real guests, the pass at full speed, the room at its best hour. Delivered the next morning, not the next month.
- **First reviews.** Guests saying one specific thing, filmed with consent, cut short.
What to film in one day
A well-planned day covers the room at two times of day, six to ten dishes, the chef and the team, and the details that make the place different: the bar, the terrace, the view, the ritual. Cut vertical and sound-on for the feed, with horizontal masters for the website and screens. The number of reels from one day depends on the venue and the menu, which is why we scope it in the plan rather than promise it here.
After opening: one day a month
Menus change, seasons change, brunches and events come and go. Content from opening week stops matching the room within a quarter. One shoot day a month, planned around your quiet hours, keeps the account current without slowing a single service. Hotels with several outlets need the same idea per outlet with one visual signature across the property, which is how we run our ongoing partnership with Kempinski The Boulevard.
What it costs
A venue film day is quoted in writing before the shoot, based on the number of dishes, spaces and formats. Brand films start from AED 8,000 and monthly partnerships from AED 12,000 per month, both from our published tiers. Paid distribution for the opening, meaning geo-targeted campaigns aimed at reservations, is scoped separately with media spend paid to the platform.
The mistakes that cost the most
Shooting only on opening night. Posting horizontal video cut for the website. Letting the photographer deliver the launch photos a month later. Boosting posts instead of running a campaign with a booking goal. All of them are cheap to avoid if they are planned before the date.
A restaurant's feed is its menu before the guest arrives. If it looks like a phone photo, the price looks like a mistake.
How to know it worked
Profile visits, taps on directions and calls, and reservations through a link or QR that only exists in your content. Set them up before the first reel; after 60 days you will know what the content did, not how many people scrolled past.
If you are opening in the next three months, the free Venue Content Plan comes back within one business day with what we would film first and what it costs.