Service / Video production
Reels and aerial cinematography that don't look like stock.
Native UGC for Instagram and TikTok, drone cinematography for properties and coastline, hospitality b-roll, ad-ready vertical edits. Produced in-house with DGAC-registered drone operations and a single-day shoot model that powers 30 to 60 days of content.
Why video has become the only honest channel.
Static photography has its limits. A boutique hotel feels different in motion than in a photo. A restaurant's ambience comes through in 12 seconds of plating sequence in a way it never does in a flatlay. A real-estate property at golden hour, captured aerially, communicates more in eight seconds than fifteen exterior photographs.
The other reality: Instagram, TikTok, Meta Ads and YouTube Shorts now reward vertical video far more than they reward static images. The platforms have shifted. Reach for static posts has dropped roughly 40 percent year over year on Meta. Reach for reels has gone up. If your brand isn't producing video, your social spend is paying for less every month.
We run video production as part of our retainer engagements -- and as standalone production days for brands that need a content infusion. Either way the model is the same: one well-planned shoot day produces enough material for 30 to 60 days of social and ad use.
Why most boutique brands struggle to produce video.
We see four problems repeatedly when we audit a brand's video pipeline.
- Production happens in isolation. The shoot is great, but nobody planned which platforms it would feed -- so the editor has to chop horizontal landscape footage into vertical reels and the result feels like a compromise.
- Drone use is unauthorized. The hotel posted aerial footage shot by a friend with no DGAC registration, which is technically illegal in Costa Rica and a real liability if it goes wrong.
- Creator content is gifted, not directed. The brand handed a creator three nights free and got a reel that mentioned the property in passing -- once. No usage rights, no brand alignment, no scripted moment.
- Raw footage is lost. The shoot day produced 40 minutes of usable b-roll. The agency edited three reels and quietly deleted the rest. There's nothing to repurpose six months later.
What we shoot.
We work with hospitality, F&B, real estate and wellness brands across Central Pacific, Costa Ballena and Osa. Our default kit handles 4K capture, gimbal-stabilized handheld, and DGAC-licensed drone work.
- User-generated content (UGC) -- creator-style vertical reels for Instagram, TikTok, Meta and TikTok Ads
- Aerial cinematography -- drone footage of properties, retreats, coastline, restaurants, real-estate developments
- Hospitality b-roll -- room reveals, breakfast service, guest moments, golden-hour exteriors
- Restaurant content -- plating shots, kitchen sequences, signature dishes, ambient and crowd scenes
- Real estate walk-throughs -- vertical reels for social, horizontal listing videos for the site, 9:16 ad cuts
- Wellness retreats -- class footage, jungle scenery, testimonial-friendly sit-downs, sound-bath ambient
- Editing for IG, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and paid placements -- captions baked in, platform-native cover frames, audio licensed
- Raw footage delivered alongside edits so you can repurpose for years
- DGAC-registered drone operators and property-owner consent on every shoot
How a production day actually runs.
A standard production day is six to eight hours on location, plus pre-production planning and post-production editing. We deliver finished cuts within ten business days. Here's what happens at each step.
- 01
Brief and shot list
Week beforeWe send a written brief and a shot list. The brief covers brand voice, banned moments, must-haves, and approval points. The shot list is platform-specific -- 'we need a 9:16 hero reel for Instagram, three b-roll clips for the website, two 6-second cuts for paid media'.
- 02
Pre-production day
Half day on-siteWalkthrough of the property or location with your team. Lighting check at golden hour. Confirmation of permissions for any spaces with guests or third parties. Drone airspace check for the shoot location -- some areas of Costa Ballena and Osa overlap with restricted zones and need DGAC notice.
- 03
Shoot day
Full dayOn-location production. Gimbal handheld for interior and movement, drone for aerial, fixed for plating and product. We capture 60 to 90 minutes of usable footage and 200 to 400 stills. Your team is on set for any moments that need staff -- breakfast service, guest moments, plating sequences -- but the production load is on us.
- 04
Editing and grading
Week afterWe cut platform-native: vertical 9:16 for reels and ads, square 1:1 for feed, horizontal 16:9 for site and YouTube. We grade to your brand palette. We embed captions and platform-native cover frames so the video reads with sound off.
- 05
Review and delivery
Day 8 to 10First-cut review with you. One round of revisions baked in. Final delivery on day 10 in all required formats, plus the raw footage in original resolution so you have the source for future repurposing.
What a quarter of video production looks like.
Three production days per year is the most common cadence for boutique hospitality and F&B clients on retainer. That cadence produces around 30 to 40 finished pieces (reels, b-roll cuts, ad creatives, listing videos) -- which is enough to keep social fresh, keep paid creative rotating, and have a video library for future brand work. Brands that move to four or six days a year are usually running a more aggressive paid program where creative refresh cycles need new material every six to eight weeks.
- 30 to 60 days of social and ad creative from a single shoot day
- Native vertical formats with captions baked in
- Drone footage shot legally with DGAC registration and property consent
- Raw footage retained so you can repurpose for years
- Finished cuts delivered in 10 business days
- All platform formats covered -- reels, feed, ads, YouTube Shorts, listing videos
How we price video.
Video production is included in our Premium retainer (one production day per month) and is available as a standalone day for clients on Starter or Growth, starting at $800 per shoot day plus drone and editing fees as needed. National parks and some restricted airspace zones require advance permits which we coordinate at cost.
See pricingCommon video questions.
- Do you have proper drone certification in Costa Rica?
- Yes. Our drone work is operated under DGAC-registered pilots with property-owner consent on every shoot. National parks and restricted airspace zones (around airports, certain biological reserves) require advance permits from DGAC and the relevant authority -- we coordinate those before the shoot day.
- Can you produce vertical and horizontal in one shoot?
- Yes -- it's actually our default. Modern productions are framed for both vertical and horizontal use from the start. We capture in 4K with vertical-safe framing for the moments that need to ship as reels, and frame separately for moments destined for site headers or YouTube.
- Who owns the footage?
- You do. We deliver finished cuts plus the raw footage at original resolution. We keep a backup for one year so we can re-edit if needed, but you have the source files and full usage rights.
- Can you do creator-style UGC where the talent is on camera?
- Yes -- when it's a fit. For boutique hospitality and F&B we either bring an external creator (vetted, paid, with usage rights baked into the contract) or we coach a member of your team into a credible on-camera role. We don't recommend uncredited 'pretend creator' content -- the audience clocks it.
- What about audio and licensing?
- All audio used in our edits is properly licensed -- platform-safe music libraries, original recording, or licensed catalogs. We don't use copyrighted commercial music in posts or ads. If you have brand audio you want us to use, we'll work it in.
Plan your next production day.
Tell us the property, the moments, and the platforms. We'll come back with a shot list, a quote and a date.