At the project initiation stage, first determine whether the liquid and container are worth setting up a separate unit shoot.
Liquid flow and container materials often serve as core visual elements in TVC commercials, but not every product is suited to live-action capture. When launching a project, the brand must first define the film's communication objective: emphasizing product functionality, shaping brand texture, or creating a memorable visual moment for social media. If the objective leans toward functional demonstration—such as the way a beverage clings to the glass, the spreadability of a skincare product, or the color of a liquor—then live-action liquid details offer direct persuasive power. If the objective leans toward abstract brand character, the liquid and container may serve only as atmospheric background, in which case CGI or AIGC-generated imagery is more controllable.
The production team needs to request three basic sets of materials from the brand: first, the physical product or a high-precision sample; second, technical parameters for the container material, including glass transmittance, ceramic glaze reflection, metal brushing direction, and plastic surface treatment; third, screenshots from competitor or reference films. When no physical product is available, at least a material color swatch and surface roughness description must be provided. If the brand cannot provide these materials, the project will go through repeated trial and error during the shooting stage, and both budget and timeline will become uncontrollable.
The kickoff meeting must also clarify one key question: whether the liquid needs to interact with the container. Liquid resting inside a container, liquid being poured into a container, liquid sloshing within a container, and liquid being poured out of a container—these four states involve completely different shooting difficulty and post-production workload. The production team should require the brand to label each shot in the creative script with its interaction type, and then split the shooting plan and post-production compositing plan accordingly.
Creative breakdown must distinguish physical realism from visual impact.
The physical laws of liquid flow are the foundation of filming, but TVC commercials pursue visual impact, not laboratory documentation. Slow-motion capture of liquid splashes, high-speed photography freezing bubbles, and macro shots of liquid adhering to container walls—these techniques all enhance visual impact. When breaking down creative concepts, the production team should divide each shot into three layers: first, the motion state of the liquid itself; second, the container material's response to the liquid; and third, the behavior of light at the interface between the liquid and the container.
Take glass containers as an example: the refraction and reflection of glass will simultaneously show the liquid color and the background environment, so a soft light screen needs to be placed behind the container during shooting, and hard light placed at the side to outline the edges. Ceramic containers absorb light strongly, making liquid colors appear darker on the surface, so the key light brightness needs to be increased or fill light added. Metal containers reflect a cluttered environment, so the reflection area needs to be controlled and flags used to block excess light sources. Plastic containers are prone to scratches and fingerprints, so they should be treated with lint-free cloths and specialized cleaner before shooting, with multiple backup containers prepared.
When reviewing the creative script, the brand should pay special attention to the contrast between liquid color and container material. Transparent liquid is almost invisible inside transparent glass and requires adding suspended particles or using backlight illumination. Dark liquid loses dimension inside dark ceramic and requires adding rim light. If the product itself has a single color, the production team can mix in auxiliary substances that do not affect the product's properties, such as thickeners, pearl powder, or food coloring, but this action must be communicated to the brand in advance and written confirmation obtained.
During the preparation phase, create a liquid physical parameter table.
The visual effect of liquid flow is directly affected by viscosity, surface tension, density, and temperature. The production team should create a liquid physical parameter table before shooting, recording each liquid's brand, model, mixing concentration, ambient temperature, viscosity range, and a list of adjustable additives. This table must be sent to the brand client for confirmation, because different batches of liquid products may have slight differences, and TVC commercials require the liquid state on screen to match the actual product.
On set, liquid preparation should be divided into multiple batches. The first batch is used for testing lighting effects and camera movement, the second for formal shooting, and the third as backup. Sufficient resting time should be allowed between batches so bubbles in the liquid can naturally rise and dissipate. If the liquid needs to maintain a specific temperature, such as condensation droplets on beer or the cling effect of iced drinks, a constant-temperature box and thermometer must be prepared on set, and a designated person should check every fifteen minutes.
Container material preparation also needs to be list-based. For each material, prepare at least three sets of same-spec containers: one for pre-testing, one for formal shooting, and one for emergency replacement in case of damage. Container surfaces must be free of scratches, bubbles, impurities, or fingerprints; during acceptance, use a strong flashlight to inspect from the side. Glass containers require special attention to whether edge thickness is uniform, because edge refraction directly affects the shape of the liquid in the frame.
Camera and lens selection should match the speed of liquid motion.
The shooting speed of liquid flow determines the camera frame rate selection. Slow-flowing liquids, such as honey or syrup, can use a standard frame rate. Fast-splashing liquids, such as water droplet impacts or the moment liquid is poured, require a high-speed camera. The production team must clarify the desired speed of each shot before shooting and select the camera frame rate accordingly. High-speed photography generates larger data volumes and longer post-production times, so the brand should reserve production time for this.
Lens focal length selection affects the spatial relationship between liquid and container. Wide-angle lenses exaggerate container volume and are suitable for showing large-scale splashes when liquid is poured. Macro lenses capture the details of liquid adhering to container walls, but have extremely shallow depth of field and require precise focus control. Telephoto lenses compress space and are suitable for shooting abstract images of liquid slowly rotating inside a container. The production team should mark the focal length and aperture used for each shot during the storyboard stage to avoid inconsistent visual styles caused by on-site adjustments.
Motion control equipment is very important in liquid shooting. When shooting stationary liquid from a fixed position, any slight vibration will be magnified in the frame. When using a dolly or jib to shoot liquid being poured, the movement speed must match the liquid's falling speed, otherwise visual misalignment will occur. When reviewing the shooting plan, the brand should confirm the start and end positions of each moving shot, as well as whether the movement duration matches the post-production music rhythm.
Lighting setup must consider both liquid transmission and container reflection.
Liquid and containers are two completely different optical media, so lighting setup must be handled separately. Liquid needs transmitted light to show color and transparency, while containers need reflected light to show material and contour. The most common solution is to place a large soft light screen behind the liquid, allowing light to pass through the liquid and into the lens, while using hard light on the side of the container to outline the edges. This combination makes the liquid look transparent and gives the container a sense of three-dimensionality.
For transparent containers, the color of background light directly affects the liquid's hue. If the liquid is amber, warm background light will enhance its color, while cool light will make the liquid appear clearer. The production team should prepare lighting gels of various color temperatures on set and shoot test footage for the brand to choose from. For opaque containers, such as ceramic or metal, the liquid can only be seen through the opening, so a small spotlight should be placed above the opening to shine directly onto the liquid surface.
Controlling highlights on the liquid surface is a shooting challenge. The liquid surface creates specular reflections; if the lights are positioned incorrectly, harsh hotspots will appear in the frame. The production team should use a polarizing filter to reduce some reflections and adjust the light angle so the reflection falls on the edges of the liquid rather than the center. When the brand approves the lighting, it should check whether the liquid surface has an even gradient of light rather than patchy bright and dark areas.
Post-compositing must distinguish live-action footage from CGI additions.
Post-production for liquid flow usually includes three stages: first, editing and color grading the live-action footage; second, correcting and enhancing the liquid's form; and third, repairing flaws in the container material. Before post-production begins, the team should organize all metadata for the live-action footage, including frame rate, resolution, and color space, to ensure all assets match correctly within the same project file.
In live-action footage, the shape of splashing liquid is often imperfect and needs to be reshaped in post-production software. For example, if splashing droplets are not round enough, a warp tool can adjust them. If the liquid flow is not slow enough, optical flow can be used for slow-motion frame interpolation. Reflection flaws on the container surface can be fixed with a clone tool. These operations require frame-by-frame work and involve significant effort, so the production team should state post-production duration and costs during the quoting stage.
CGI completion is typically used for shots that cannot be captured in-camera, such as liquids flowing in non-physical ways inside a container, or container materials that need to change color and texture. The CGI must match the light and shadow direction of the live-action footage, or obvious compositing artifacts will appear. When the brand reviews post-production effects, it should pay special attention to the transition at the edge where the liquid meets the container, as this is the area most likely to reveal compositing flaws. If the edge shows a harsh cut or color jump, the production team must be asked to rework it.
The acceptance checklist should cover picture, sound, and delivery formats.
When reviewing a TVC commercial, you cannot look only at the visuals; you must also check the sound design and delivery format. The sound of flowing liquid usually cannot be used directly from the shoot, because on-set environmental noise will contaminate the audio track. The production team needs to re-record or synthesize liquid sounds in post-production, including pouring, flowing, bubble bursts, and container collisions. The brand should confirm whether these sounds are synchronized with the on-screen action and whether the sonic texture matches the product's tone.
Picture review should be checked item by item against the storyboard, verifying whether each shot's liquid state, container material, light direction, and motion path match expectations. Special attention should be paid to the accuracy of the liquid color, because monitor color differences can cause post-production color grading to deviate from the true product color. The brand should ask the production team to provide a color-calibrated reference monitor image and view it under both natural light and a standard light source.
Delivery formats should be output separately for each publishing platform. TVC commercials usually require a TV version, a web version, and a social media version, each with different resolution, frame rate, encoding format, and subtitle requirements. The brand should confirm all publishing platforms at the start of the project and specify each platform's delivery specifications in the contract. Source files, masters, subtitle files, and project files should also be archived separately to facilitate future revisions and re-edits.
Identify early the cases where a liquid practical shoot is not applicable.
A liquid practical shoot is not suitable for every project. If the product liquid itself is unstable—for example, prone to volatilization, discoloration, or separation—it will be impossible to maintain visual consistency during the shoot, and CGI production should be prioritized. If the container material is too expensive or a physical sample cannot be provided, such as custom glass or rare metals, the risk of a practical shoot is too high; 3D modeling is the safer choice.
If the production schedule is extremely tight, a liquid practical shoot requires extensive testing and reshoot time, which may not meet the delivery deadline. In this case, the production team should recommend that the brand use AIGC to generate liquid footage or use stock assets for compositing. The brand should understand that AIGC-generated liquids may not be as physically accurate as practical footage, but they allow greater creative freedom.
If the budget is limited, the costs of high-speed cameras, professional lighting equipment, and post-production compositing software will increase significantly. The brand can ask the production team to provide a phased quote, starting with a liquid test shoot and deciding whether to commit to the official shoot after confirming the results. The cost of a test shoot is far lower than an official shoot, yet it allows the brand to see the actual performance of the liquid and container firsthand, avoiding rework later.
The next step is to start with test shots.
When launching a TVC commercial project, brands should ask the production team to provide a thirty-second liquid-and-container test shot first. This test does not require a full script; it only needs to cover three typical liquid states and two container materials. Through the test shot, brands can evaluate the production team's technical capabilities, confirm whether the liquid color and container texture meet expectations, and accumulate lighting and motion parameters for the official shoot. The cost of a test shot is relatively controllable, yet it provides the most important decision-making basis for the entire project.
If you are preparing a TVC commercial project, you can start by organizing the brief, reference images, product or company materials, delivery platforms, and copyright scope, then viewTVC Commercial Services Page, to move the conversation from abstract preferences to executable production boundaries.
