OSHOOT enables two-day turnaround time using Profoto

With its launch in October 2020, the content creation studio OSHOOT started producing innovative photo and video content for brands like Golfer’s Paradise, Jelmoli, Mammut, and more. Located close to Zurich, Switzerland, OSHOOT consists of a team of creatives that tailor content to the individual needs of brands, setting them up for success in e-commerce. The OSHOOT family has extensive expertise – having worked for companies like Levi’s, Nike, Tesla, and Apple, the crew is always looking for new ideas and creative solutions for their customers.

We talked to Andy Jakopec, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of OSHOOT, within the scope of our coffee break webinar. Andy opened up about the difficulties OSHOOT’s customers are facing during the pandemic, how he and his team help overcome them using Profoto technology, and what the studio offers its customers.

OSHOOT’s customers face logistical difficulties besides challenges posed by the pandemic

Founded amid the global pandemic, many of OSHOOT’s customers face three main challenges. Preparing products to go live in a timely manner and creating visual content in the form of product photos and videos for the brand’s e-commerce platforms is difficult. On top of that, many employees are stuck working from home. Overall, interacting with customers and team members changed entirely right before the studio launch. Lastly, ensuring safety for team members and customers alike is, of course, a major hurdle to overcome. 

Three main challenges of OSHOOT and its customers:

• Speed - producing visual content and having products go live on time
• Cooperation - human interaction changed entirely due to the pandemic
• Safety - ensuring that the team and customers stay safe and healthy

“Simplicity and speed but also convenience are some of the keywords we think of when offering our systems and services to our customers.”

Supporting OSHOOT customers with simplicity, speed, and convenience

“Simplicity and speed but also convenience are some of the keywords we think of when offering our systems and services to our customers,” says Andy. The studio’s internal processes combined with the set up of Profoto automated solutions allow for a shorter time span to produce product photos and videos. Customers get their products back quicker - in most cases, with two days turnaround time, including post-production. Receiving their products back faster means being able to sell them quicker, which customers highly appreciate. “When products arrive, the next day we can produce photos and videos, and a day after, the products are already back in the package and ready to be returned.” Shooting a few dozen of pairs of shoes with Eclipse takes the team half a day. Post-production takes place either the same or runs until the next day, depending on the style guide of the customer. Due to consistency in the visual output of Eclipse, the team can automate the majority of post-production using plugins and scripting. 

OSHOOT’s customers can send their products to the studio by mail. Due to innovative internal processes and the ease of use of Profoto automated solutions, only a few team members are involved in the shoots, offering streamlined, contactless content creation. To ensure customers and team members are safe, everyone wears masks in the studio. The OSHOOT team hosts model shoots twice a week – even during the pandemic. Shooting with Live helps keep a safe distance between model and photographer “because you don’t have to get close to the model to take the photo. Everything is automated due to the Profoto system.”

Overcoming the three main challenges of OSHOOT and its customers:

• Speed - producing visual content and having products go live on time
  → Profoto’s ease of use and automation help create content faster and enable products to go live quicker. Together with establishing smart internal processes, this results in OSHOOT's customers being able to sell their products sooner. 

• Cooperation - human interaction changed entirely due to the pandemic
  → OSHOOT helps customers with contactless, streamlined content creation. Not many people are needed in the studio as Profoto automated solutions can be operated by one person. 

• Safety - ensuring that the team and customers stay safe and healthy
  → Shooting with Live provides a safe distance between model and photographer, enabling continuous content creation even in times of social distancing. 

What OSHOOT offers its customers

The successful studio works with the full array of Profoto automated solutions (one Live, two Eclipse, two Vertical, and one Horizontal). Eclipse is often used for shoes while Horizontal helps shoot sturdy climbing ropes; Vertical captures crisp mannequin shots of fashion, and Live is used for model shoots and, with a special set-up, even enables shooting oversized bed linen. OSHOOT doesn’t only offer contactless content creation as a full service but also establishes partnerships with its customers. The social team of Swiss department store Jelmoli visits the studio frequently to create visual content together. One of the OSHOOT team members guides from a technical point of view and explains what’s possible with the Profoto systems. The Jelmoli team communicates the creative vision and brings relevant props to support if necessary. 

OSHOOT is continuously searching for new ideas and ways to improve workflows. The creatives are always curious to learn and happy to try out tools that do the job better, faster, or offer more fun for the team members. Using Profoto automated systems, the OSHOOT crew finds innovative ways to shoot stunning content for e-commerce and editorial.

All images in this post were taken by the OSHOOT's team.