fashion_campaign_production v1.0.0

name: "fashion_campaign_production" description: "Producing fashion campaign shoots and clips: casting and fittings, garment care and steaming on set, movement direction for fabric, hero product shots, and delivery sets for retail and social. Use when planning or running a fashion campaign, lookbook, or ecommerce shoot, building its shot list, or delivering retail and social cuts from one shoot day."

Fashion Campaign Production

Purpose

Run one fashion shoot that feeds every channel at once: a hero campaign set, clean ecommerce product images, and vertical social clips, without a second shoot day to fix gaps. The method covers the brief, casting, fitting, garment prep, the shoot day system, fabric movement direction, colour control, and a delivery set that is checked against a manifest before anyone calls it done.

Workflow

1. Lock the delivery set before the brief

Start from where the work will live, not from a mood board. Write the delivery list first, with counts and ratios:

• Hero set: campaign stills for homepage, press, and ads.
• Ecommerce set: on-model and flat or ghost product images per SKU, one consistent ratio per product group.
• Social set: vertical clips and stills per hero look, plus one behind the scenes clip if the brand posts them.
• Paid set: any crops ads will need, named by placement.

For each set, record ratio, file type, naming pattern, and deadline in writing. If a channel is not on this list, it does not get shot time. Mood, references, and casting all serve this list. See references/delivery-specs.md for the ratio matrix and the recheck rule for platform specs, and references/worked-campaign-plans.md for three worked plans (half day studio, full day location, and clip first mini shoot) to scale to the job.

2. Build the shot list by look, not by idea

Number every look (L01, L02, and so on) and tag every physical garment with its look number before shoot day. Each look gets required shots, in this order:

• hero: the campaign frame for that look, best light, best backdrop.
• full: full length on model, garment silhouette readable head to toe.
• detail: one construction detail that sells the garment: closure, stitching, texture, hardware.
• movement: the garment in motion, still burst or clip, fabric behaviour visible.
• ecom: clean ecommerce frame, neutral light, true colour, no props stealing focus.
• vertical: 9:16 clip or still reframed on purpose, not cropped as an afterthought.

Write the list as a CSV and run bin/campaign_check.py on it before the shoot. The checker flags any look missing a required shot, any garment not marked fitted or steamed, and any ratio outside the delivery plan. Fix every flag on paper, where it costs nothing. Format and a worked example are in references/shot-list-system.md and examples/example-shot-list.csv.

3. Cast against the sample, not a headshot

Casting decides whether fittings will be calm or a fight.

• Ask for current digitals and a short walk video, not only portfolio images. Portfolio shots are lit and retouched. Digitals show what arrives on the day.
• Check the comp card stats against the sample sizes in hand: height, bust or chest, waist, hips, dress or suit size, and shoe size, plus hair and eye colour. Measurements get checked on arrival, so a card that rounds in the model's favour wastes a fitting slot and breaks trust. Source detail is in references/casting-and-fitting.md.
• Cast for the buyer the brand sells to and for the movement the clothes need. A look built on drape and spin needs a model who moves well on camera, which the walk video shows and a headshot does not.
• Confirm usage in writing before the shoot: media, territory, term, and whether paid social and ads are included. Usage sorted after the shoot is more expensive and sometimes not available at all.
• Book a backup for the hero look on any shoot that cannot be rescheduled, and say plainly in the call sheet that they are the backup.

4. Fit every look before shoot day

Never fit for the first time in front of the camera.

• At the fitting, the model tries each assigned garment, the stylist pins and marks adjustments, and the model walks in the actual shoes planned for the shoot. Shoe height changes garment length and posture.
• Log each look on a fitting sheet: garment SKU, size tried, pins or alterations needed, shoe paired, accessories paired, and a phone photo of the fitted look front and back.
• Resolve sample size mismatches at the fitting: clip or pin at the back where the camera will not see it, swap the size, or swap the look assignment. Do not plan to fix a bad fit in retouch. Retouch can clean a background. It cannot make a pulling seam look like drape.
• After the fitting, update the shot list CSV so fitted is true only for looks that were actually fitted on a body.

5. Prep garments like the camera is a magnifying glass

The wardrobe team has the earliest call on set for a reason. Wrinkles, lint, and loose threads read louder under studio light than they do in a fitting room.

• Steam hanging garments first, in look order, then check each one at camera distance: loose threads, missing buttons, construction flaws, stains, and lint, especially on dark fabrics.
• Choose the tool by fabric and finish. A steamer relaxes fibres with steam and no direct contact, so it suits delicate fabrics such as silk and chiffon, embellished pieces, and anything where drape matters. An iron gives the crisp crease a steamer cannot, on fabrics that take heat and pressure such as cotton and linen. Check the care label first, test an inside seam on anything fragile, and never guess on velvet, beading, bonded seams, or heat sensitive prints: steam only, or send it to the stylist lead for a call. Full decision table in references/garment-care-on-set.md.
• Steam on the hanger working top to bottom, keep the head moving, and let a steamed garment rest before it goes on a body so it does not wrinkle again in dressing.
• Keep a set kit within arms reach of camera: steamer, lint rollers, fabric tape, safety pins and dress clips, needle and thread in garment colours, small scissors, static spray, and spare hangers. The stylist or an assistant watches the monitor and steps in between frames for pins, lint, and drape, instead of fixing ten frames later in post.
• At wrap, repack borrowed and sample garments in the condition they arrived. Log any damage or stain the moment it happens, not at pack out.

6. Shoot the day in look order, tethered, with colour locked

• Set white balance for the actual light, then shoot a grey card or colour checker frame at the start of each lighting setup. That frame is the colour reference for the whole set that follows it.
• Shoot tethered when the setup allows it, with a digital tech or assistant checking focus, colour, and garment problems on a bigger screen in real time. A pulled seam or a twisted strap caught on the second frame costs seconds. Caught after wrap, it costs the look.
• Work each look through the shot list in order: hero, full, detail, movement, ecom, vertical. Call the shot code out loud as you move on. The stylist resets the garment between shot types.
• Shoot the hero look that matters most early, while light, energy, and makeup are fresh, not last as a reward.
• Keep a running selects mark in camera or in the tether software. End of day selects from memory are slower and worse.

7. Direct movement for the fabric, not poses for the model

Static poses show fit. Movement shows what the fabric actually does, which is what a buyer cannot get from a product page thumbnail.

• Give a verb and a path, not a pose: walk toward camera and turn at the mark, spin once and let the skirt settle, sit, stand, and smooth the front once. One clear action per take.
• Match the action to the fabric job. Flowing fabric: turns, walking, and a step up so the hem moves. Structured tailoring: reach, button, put hands in pockets, sit and cross legs, so seams and shape hold under use. Knit and jersey: stretch, raise arms, twist at the waist, so recovery and cling show honestly.
• Shoot movement as both a short clip and a still burst from the same action. The clip feeds social, the burst gives the hero still options, and neither needs a reshoot.
• Count the model in and let fabric settle before the still. A garment photographed mid swing lies about its length and drape.
• Stop a move that fights the garment. If a spin twists a wrap dress open or a walk pulls a trouser hem under the shoe, change the move. The garment is the subject, the move is there to serve it.

8. Guard colour and honesty in post

• Edit on a calibrated monitor, use the colour checker frame from each setup to set white balance and exposure, and deliver web files in sRGB. Compare the hero ecommerce frame against the physical garment under neutral light before the set goes out. Colour that drifts is a returns problem, not a taste problem.
• Retouch limits: remove dust, lint, temporary pins and clips, and background flaws. Do not reshape the garment, change its colour, smooth away its real texture, or slim the model. The delivered image has to match the product a buyer receives.
• Keep the raw files and the checker frames with the job archive, named by look and shot code, so a later reshoot or crop can match the original set.

9. Deliver against the manifest, then handle rights and disclosure

• Export per channel from the masters, not from each other: ecommerce set at its one ratio, hero set, vertical social clips at 9:16 (1080 x 1920 is the standard export target, check current platform minimums in references/delivery-specs.md), and paid crops by placement.
• Run bin/campaign_check.py a second time on the final delivery CSV. Every look needs every required shot present in the delivered folder, with file names matching the shot codes.
• Name files by look, shot, and SKU, for example L03_hero_SKU-1182.jpg. Names like final_v2 are not a delivery system.
• Attach the usage record to the delivery note: model usage agreed, photographer licence, and any location or brand restrictions, so the client knows what they can run and for how long.
• If any delivered content will be posted by a paid or gifted creator, the disclosure plan goes in the delivery note: a clear word such as Ad or Sponsored with the post itself, visible without opening more text, not buried in hashtags and not only in a bio. A platform paid partnership label adds to that disclosure, it does not replace it. See references/delivery-specs.md for the source notes.

Output Contract

A finished job delivers:

• The delivery list agreed before the shoot, with ratios and deadlines.
• The shot list CSV with a clean campaign_check.py report, before and after the shoot.
• The fitting log per look, with sizes, pins, shoes, and front and back photos.
• Hero, ecommerce, social, and paid sets, named by look, shot code, and SKU, colour checked against the physical garments.
• The usage and disclosure note that travels with the files.

Operating Rules

1. Delivery list first. A shot that serves no named channel does not take time from a shot that does.
2. Every factual claim verified or cut. Garment claims in captions and product copy (fabric content, care, fit, performance) come from the garment label, the brands own product record, or a measurement taken on set. Unverifiable means it does not go out.
3. No look shoots unfitted and unsteamed. If a look was not fitted, the checker flag is a stop, not a warning to wave through.
4. Colour is checked against the real garment, not against memory or a mood board.
5. Retouch cleans the scene, never redesigns the product or the body.
6. Platform specs get rechecked on the live help pages at delivery time. Specs change, and the numbers in the references are the verified values at the time of writing, with their sources.
7. Usage and disclosure are sorted in writing before posting, not cleaned up after a complaint.
8. Plain language in every call sheet, caption, and client note. No em dashes. No marketing filler.