← Back to Sunday Office

Build notes · Chutneys

Commercial + photography

Notes by Hana · Sunday Office

A commercial and a table of plates, shot in their own light.

These are my notes on the work I made for Chutneys in Bellevue: a commercial, plus promo photos for their social media and website. One question guided all of it. Would someone scrolling past want to come in and eat?

For: Chutneys, a North Indian restaurant in downtown Bellevue
What I did: A commercial, plus promo photos for their social media and website, shot and edited by me
Where: City Square, 938 110th Ave NE #5, Bellevue

Take the tour · Tap a moment

Photos by Hana.

chutneysinbellevue.com ↗

The cocktail — 01 / 04 · The cocktail

00 · Where they started

A modern Mumbai menu in downtown Bellevue.

Chutneys is an upscale North Indian restaurant in downtown Bellevue, serving modern Mumbai flavors. The menu mixes comfort food and street-food favorites with Chinese-inspired dishes.

They also cater, from small dinners to big celebrations, with live cooking and regional dishes. They needed a commercial and a set of promo photos for their social media and website.

The photos · Photos by Hana

A pink cocktail in a coupe glass, set over a smoking dish at Chutneys

A plated starter on slate with apple crisps and greens, on a wood table at Chutneys

Glazed lollipop chicken with tall crisps, in a dark bowl at Chutneys

A skillet with a fried egg, pickled vegetables and soft buns on a wood board at Chutneys

Brief · Rules I set myself

Four rules before the first frame.

The food leads

Each plate gets its own frame, so people can see what they would order.

Use their room

Their wood tables and dark dining room are part of the place, so they stay in the shot.

One look for both

The commercial and the photos should feel like they came from the same evening.

Made for where it lives

Everything has to work on their social media and on their website.

The calls · Decision by decision

What I decided, and why.

01 · Format

Moving pictures and stills.

The call: A commercial for Chutneys Bellevue, plus promo photos of the plates and the dining room. I shot and edited all of it.
Why: Their social media and website each need both kinds of content. Doing the film and the photos myself keeps the color and mood the same across all of it.

The commercial · made for Chutneys Bellevue

02 · Light

Dark room, warm wood.

The call: I kept the backgrounds dark and let the light fall on the food and the grain of their tables.
Why: A dark ground makes the colors on the plate stand out. The wood keeps it warm and tells you this is a sit-down dinner.

Glazed lollipop chicken with tall crisps, in a dark bowl at Chutneys — Glazed chicken against the dark room

03 · Drinks

Let the smoke do the work.

The call: The cocktail sits over a smoking dish, framed so the smoke fills the space around the glass.
Why: Movement in a still photo makes people stop. The smoke shows what it feels like to be served that drink at the table.

A pink cocktail in a coupe glass, set over a smoking dish at Chutneys — The cocktail and its smoke

04 · Edit

One hand on every frame.

The call: I did all the editing myself, for the commercial and the photos.
Why: When one person edits everything, the set holds together. A plate on their website looks like it belongs with the post on their feed.

A skillet with a fried egg, pickled vegetables and soft buns on a wood board at Chutneys — The skillet, edited with the rest of the set

The short version

Good food deserves to be seen properly.

Chutneys now has a commercial and a set of photos that show their menu the way it looks on the table.

Start a project →