We film a lot of properties, and the ones that come out best are rarely the most expensive. They're the ones someone prepared. A half-day shoot can't fix a dark living room with the blinds down, a terrace full of builders' rubble or an agent who hasn't decided what to say. This is the list we send clients before every shoot.
A week before
Decide what the film is for. A listing tour for a finished apartment, a launch film for a development, a progress update from site and a lifestyle reel are four different films. They need different shots, different lengths and sometimes different days. Tell your crew which one, and who the buyer is.
Pick the time of day for the light. In Cyprus, exterior shots look best in the first two hours after sunrise and the last two before sunset. Midday sun flattens everything and blows out white façades. Interiors depend on which way the windows face: east-facing rooms in the morning, west-facing in the afternoon. A good crew will ask about orientation before setting the call time.
Confirm access and permits. Keys, alarm codes, the gate, the roof. Drone flights need airspace clearance in some areas, particularly near airports and the coast, and your crew needs a few days to arrange it.
Book the presenter. If an agent or the developer is going on camera, lock the date now and send them the script a few days ahead. Nobody has to memorise it; we bring a prompter. But they should have read it.
The day before: the property itself
Clear every surface. Kitchen counters, bathroom shelves, bedside tables. Fewer objects read as more space on camera. Leave one or two deliberate items: a bowl of fruit, a book, a plant.
Lights, all of them. Replace dead bulbs and make sure every fitting matches in colour temperature. Mixed warm and cool bulbs look wrong on camera in a way you don't notice in person.
Windows and glass. Clean inside and out. Half the value of a sea-view apartment is the window, and a dirty one is visible in every shot.
Outside. Hose the terrace, straighten the furniture, hide the hose. Pool skimmed. Cars moved out of the drive and out of the drone's path. On a construction site, ask the contractor to tidy the entrance and park the machinery where it looks like work, not like chaos.
Furniture and staging. An empty apartment films larger but colder. If it's unfurnished, a few rented pieces in the living room and main bedroom make a real difference. If it's furnished, less is more: remove the extra chairs.
On the day
Be there, or have someone who can decide. We'll ask questions: can we move this sofa, can we open that gate, is the roof terrace in scope. Decisions on the spot save a second visit.
Keep the property empty of people for the duration unless they're in the film. Cleaners, builders and neighbours wandering through cost time.
For construction sites, the crew will need a site induction and PPE. Have a contact on site who knows what's being poured or lifted that day, both for safety and because that's the shot.
For presenter-led tours, the first few takes are always stiff. That's normal and we plan for it. The good take is usually the fourth.
After the shoot
Expect a first cut within about a week. Watch it on a phone, since that's where most buyers will see it. Give feedback in one round, in writing, with timestamps. "The kitchen shot at 0:42 shows the neighbour's building" is useful. "Make it more premium" is not.
Then post it, run it as an ad, send it to the buyers already on your list, and put it on the listing portal. A property film that only lives on the agency's website is a wasted shoot.
We shoot property and project films across Cyprus and in Athens with our own crew and drone pilot. If you've got a property or a site to film, send us the address and a few photos and we'll tell you the best day and time to do it.
