Production · Puzzle Media
Egypt · Saudi Arabia · Since 2017Commercials& Branded Content
A campaign is one argument carried across many surfaces. A commercial is many crafts converging on a single frame. This is how we make one — nine scenes, in the order the work actually happens.
2017
Producing since
One crew
Creative to delivery
Broadcast
Cleared and aired
In-house
Edit, sound, grade
Scene 00
Every film starts in an empty room.
Before the lamps are struck and the crew arrives, a commercial is a dark stage and an unanswered question. Everything that follows is the discipline of answering it in the right order.
A production house is not a camera for hire. It is the group of people who decide, in sequence, what a film is for, what it looks like, how it sounds, and how it leaves the building — and who stay responsible for that decision from the first page of the treatment to the last delivered master. We work as one crew across Egypt and Saudi Arabia: the people who write the treatment are the people who grade it. That continuity is the reason the film you approve on paper is the film you receive.
One crew
Treatment, shoot, edit, sound, and grade held by the same team under one roof.
Two markets
Crewed, permitted, and delivered in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Nine scenes
The arc below is the real order of the work, not a diagram of it.
Phase 01
Brief
The film has a job.
Before anyone talks about a look, we establish what this film has to do, who it is speaking to, and where it will be watched. A beautiful film pointed at the wrong job is an expensive mistake.
Most weak commercials are not badly shot. They are badly briefed — commissioned to impress a room rather than to move a specific audience toward a specific action. We start by narrowing: one primary audience, one message the film is allowed to carry, one place it will be seen first, and one measure of whether it worked. Duration is treated as a creative constraint from this moment, not as a trimming exercise in the edit, because a film written at sixty seconds and cut to fifteen is always worse than a film written at fifteen.
The Single Job
What this film must change in the mind of the person watching it.
Primary Audience
Who is watching, where, and in what state of attention.
First Screen
The context it is written for — broadcast break, pre-roll, feed, or room.
Duration Contract
Lengths agreed before writing, because runtime is structure, not trimming.
Message Discipline
The one claim the film carries, and the claims deliberately left out.
Mandatories
Legal, brand, and product requirements surfaced now instead of in the grade.
- Output
- A one-page film brief: one job, one audience, one duration set.
- The question this phase answers
- What is this film for, and how will we know it worked?
Phase 02
Treatment
The idea, written before it is expensive.
A treatment is where the film is really made. It commits the story, the tone, the visual language, and the reason the whole thing holds together — on paper, while changes are still cheap.
We write the film as a sequence of intended images, not as a mood board. That means a narrative spine, a stated tone, a reference language for light and lens, a sound direction, and an explicit argument for why this approach serves the brief rather than merely looking good. A treatment that cannot survive a hostile question in a meeting will not survive a difficult day on set. Everything after this phase is execution of a decision made here, which is exactly why this is the phase worth arguing about.
Narrative Spine
The structure: what happens, in what order, and where the turn lands.
Tone Statement
Written, not implied — so everyone is defending the same film.
Visual Language
Light, lens, palette, texture, and movement described as intent.
Sound Direction
Music, voice, and silence planned as part of the idea.
Casting Intent
Who is on screen and why that face carries the message.
Feasibility Pass
An honest read on what the schedule and budget will actually support.
- Output
- An approved treatment: story, tone, visual and sonic language.
- The question this phase answers
- Is this idea right, and can we defend every part of it?
Phase 03
Design & Prep
Everything in frame is a decision.
Nothing appears on camera by accident. Prep is where the world of the film is designed, cast, located, boarded, and scheduled so that the shoot day is execution rather than invention.
Production design, wardrobe, casting, location, and props are resolved against the treatment, not against taste. Boards and shot lists translate the film into a plan the crew can actually run, and the schedule is built backwards from the hardest setup rather than forwards from call time. Prep is also where problems are meant to happen: a location that will not hold the light, a product that photographs badly, a performance the script cannot support. Every one of those found in prep costs a conversation. Found on the day, each one costs the day.
Production Design
Sets, surfaces, and props built or sourced to serve the frame.
Casting
Sessions and callbacks against the performance the film needs.
Location & Recce
Chosen for light, sound, access, and the shots actually planned.
Boards & Shot List
The film drawn and ordered before a single setup is lit.
Wardrobe & Styling
Costume, grooming, and continuity resolved against the palette.
Schedule & Logistics
Built around the hardest setup, with permits and safety cleared.
- Output
- A locked plan: boards, shot list, cast, locations, and schedule.
- The question this phase answers
- Can this film be shot as planned, on this day, with this crew?
Phase 04
Light & Lens
The look is a decision, not a preset.
How a film feels is decided by light and glass long before it reaches a grade. Format, lens family, contrast, and movement are chosen deliberately, then tested before the shoot depends on them.
Sensor, lens family, aspect, and lighting design are chosen together, because they are one decision wearing four names. A wide anamorphic on a soft key and a long spherical on a hard key tell different stories from the same script. We commit to a contrast ratio, a colour intent, and a movement grammar — when the camera moves, why, and what it is following — then shoot a camera test against the real wardrobe, real skin tones, and the real product, so the look is proven under the actual conditions rather than approved from a reference frame someone else shot.
Format & Sensor
Resolution, codec, and frame rate chosen for the finish, not the fashion.
Lens Family
Anamorphic or spherical, and the character that comes with it.
Lighting Design
Key, fill, practicals, and the contrast ratio the film will hold.
Movement Grammar
When the camera moves, what motivates it, and when it stays still.
Colour Intent
The palette agreed on set so the grade finishes an idea, not invents one.
Camera Test
Shot against real wardrobe, skin, and product before the look is locked.
- Output
- A tested look: format, glass, lighting plan, and colour intent.
- The question this phase answers
- Does this image feel like the film we wrote?
Phase 05
The Shoot
One day the whole film depends on.
The shoot is not the creative moment — it is the day the creative decisions are executed under time pressure, with performance protected and coverage banked against the edit that follows.
A disciplined set is a quiet one: the plan is known, the order is known, and the director spends attention on performance rather than logistics. We protect the performance first, because it is the only element that cannot be fixed later, then cover the film properly — the hero take, the alternates the edit will need, the cutaways that buy rhythm, and the inserts that carry the product. Client approvals happen on the floor against the shot list, so the day ends with a film that is agreed as well as captured, and nothing is discovered missing three weeks later.
Performance Direction
The one thing post cannot repair, so it gets the attention first.
Hero Coverage
The film as boarded, shot to the standard everything is judged by.
Alternates & Safety
The reads and beats the edit will need but nobody boarded.
Inserts & Product
Controlled passes for pack, detail, and macro on the same light.
Continuity
Wardrobe, props, eyelines, and screen direction held across setups.
On-Set Approval
Signed off on the floor against the shot list, not from a rough cut.
- Output
- Approved, complete coverage with the performance protected.
- The question this phase answers
- Do we have the film, and does anyone still need convincing?
Phase 06
Edit & Sound
Rhythm is the second script.
The edit decides how the film actually feels. Structure, pace, performance selection, music, and sound design are the difference between footage that exists and a film that holds someone to the end.
We cut for the film's argument before we cut for its length: find the structure, find the performance, then find the duration. Sound is treated as half the picture rather than as a layer added at the end — music choice, sound design, silence, and voice are worked while the picture is still movable, because a cut that only works with the music is not yet a cut. Versions are built from the same finished timeline rather than reassembled from memory, so the fifteen and the six are the same film compressed, not different films that happen to share a logo.
Assembly & Structure
The film found in the material before it is trimmed to length.
Performance Selection
The read that carries the scene, not merely the cleanest take.
Pace & Rhythm
Where it breathes and where it cuts hard, tuned against the duration.
Music & Voice
Chosen or scored while the picture can still move to serve it.
Sound Design
Space, texture, and silence built as part of the storytelling.
Versioning
Shorter cuts derived from the master timeline, never rebuilt from scratch.
- Output
- A locked picture with music, voice, and sound design in place.
- The question this phase answers
- Does it hold from the first frame to the last?
Phase 07
Grade & Master
The last ten percent people feel.
Colour, finish, and mastering are where the film becomes one object. This is also where a campaign is protected — every version leaving here has to look like it came from the same shoot.
Grading is the completion of the colour intent agreed on set, not a rescue operation. Skin, product, and palette are finished together, titles and endcards are built to the brand spec rather than approximated, and the mix is balanced for the places the film will actually be heard — a broadcast loudness spec and a phone speaker are different problems. Masters are then delivered to each destination's published specification, checked before they are submitted, and archived with the project files so the next film can be matched to this one rather than guessed at.
Colour Grade
Finishing the intent agreed on set, on calibrated reference.
Skin & Product
The two things a client will notice instantly if they are wrong.
Titles & Endcards
Built to brand specification, legible at every delivery size.
Audio Mix
Balanced to broadcast loudness and checked on a phone speaker.
Master & QC
Delivered to published spec and checked before it is submitted.
Archive
Project, source, and masters stored so the next film can match this one.
- Output
- Delivered masters, QC-passed, archived and matchable.
- The question this phase answers
- Will every version of this look like the same film?
Scene 08
Then it stops being ours.
A delivered film goes out to screens we do not control, in rooms we are not in, to people who owe it no attention. The work is judged there — which is why every decision above was made with that room in mind.
Delivery is not the end of the responsibility. Masters are archived with the project and source files so the next film can be matched to this one rather than guessed at, usage terms are documented so a campaign can be extended without renegotiating from memory, and performance is read back against the single job agreed in Phase 01. A commercial that looked beautiful and moved nobody was briefed wrong. We would rather learn that in writing than repeat it in the next budget.
Archived
Project, source, and masters stored so future versions match the original grade.
Licensed
Talent, music, and location usage documented by territory and term.
Measured
Read back against the job the brief committed to, not against applause.
The language of the image
Six variables an audience reads without naming.
These are the controls a director and a cinematographer are actually choosing between in Phase 04. Nobody in the room lists them, and everybody feels all six.
Light
01Contrast and direction
Hard light accuses, soft light forgives. The ratio between key and shadow sets how serious the film is before a word is spoken.
Lens
02Focal length and character
A wide lens puts the audience inside the moment; a long lens makes them observe it. Anamorphic adds romance a spherical will not.
Movement
03Motivation and restraint
A camera that moves for a reason builds tension. A camera that moves out of habit reads as nervousness on a screen.
Colour
04Palette and restriction
A disciplined palette makes a brand recognisable in three frames. Restriction on set is what makes a grade look intentional.
Texture
05Surface and grain
Skin, fabric, steam, dust, and grain are what stop an image reading as rendered rather than photographed.
Sound
06Music, design, and silence
Half the emotion arrives through the speaker. Silence, used deliberately, is the loudest tool in the edit.
What we produce
Eight formats, one standard of finish.
Runtime, aspect, and delivery spec change the film that gets written. They do not change the standard it is finished to.
- 01
Television Commercial
60s · 30s · 15s
Broadcast-spec masters with legal supers, mandated endcards, and network QC.
- 02
Brand Film
90s · 2–4 min
Longer-form storytelling for launches, anniversaries, and brand repositioning.
- 03
Product Film
Macro · tabletop
Controlled studio passes where the product is the performance.
- 04
Documentary & Testimonial
Interview-led
Real people, real locations, directed for truth rather than polish.
- 05
Digital & Social
9:16 · 4:5 · 1:1
Shot natively for the frame, sound-off legible, hooked inside two seconds.
- 06
Launch & Event Film
Live · scripted
Stage films, reveal content, and same-week event edits.
- 07
Corporate & Internal
Explainer · culture
Films that have to be watched by staff, partners, or a regulator.
- 08
Retail & In-Store
Loops · POS
Silent-legible versions built for screens nobody stands in front of.
Under one roof
Ten departments that never hand the film over.
Every craft below sits inside the same company. Nothing is briefed out to a stranger halfway through, which is why the intent set in the treatment survives to the master.
Direction
The film's point of view, held from treatment through the final grade.
Cinematography
Camera, lens, and lighting design executed by a crew that has shot the format.
Production Design
Sets, surfaces, and props built or dressed to serve the frame.
Producing
Schedule, budget, permits, and the logistics that keep a day on its feet.
Casting & Talent
Faces, performance, usage terms, and the contracts behind them.
Styling & Grooming
Wardrobe, hair, and make-up resolved against the palette.
Grip & Electric
Rigging, movement hardware, and the power a lighting plan assumes.
Sound Recording
Location dialogue captured clean, because post cannot invent it.
Editorial
Structure, pace, and performance selection through to a locked picture.
Finishing
Grade, titles, mix, mastering, and QC against published delivery specs.
How we work
Six rules we do not negotiate.
Most of what separates a film that works from one that merely exists is decided by process, not by talent. These are the rules that hold when a schedule gets tight.
The treatment is the contract
If a decision on set contradicts the approved treatment, it gets raised, not quietly made.
Performance before repair
Nothing in post fixes a performance. It gets the time on the day, every time.
Test before you depend on it
Look, product, and wardrobe are shot and reviewed before the schedule assumes them.
Approve on the floor
Client sign-off happens against the shot list on the day, not against a rough cut.
Sound is half the film
Mix and design are scheduled as craft, not appended in the final week.
Deliver to the published spec
Every master is checked against the destination's own specification before submission.
Track record
Cleared, aired, and archived.
Work accepted by regional network QC rather than only by a client review — a different and considerably harder bar.
2017
Producing since
Operating across Egypt and Saudi Arabia under one roof.
One crew
Creative to delivery
The team that writes the treatment is the team that grades the master.
Broadcast
Cleared and aired
Work accepted by regional network QC, not only by a client review.
In-house
Edit, sound, grade
Finishing under the same roof as production, so intent is not handed off.
Before you brief
The six questions we are always asked.
How long does a commercial take from brief to delivered master?
A straightforward single-location commercial typically runs four to six weeks: about a week to agree the brief and treatment, two weeks of prep and casting, a one or two day shoot, and two weeks of edit, sound, and grade. Larger builds, talent negotiations, or multi-location schedules extend prep rather than post. We give a dated schedule with the estimate, and the milestone that moves most often is client approval, so we plan review windows into the timeline rather than assuming them.
Do you write the concept, or do you shoot an agency's script?
Both. We regularly develop the idea from a business brief and write the treatment ourselves, and we equally often execute an agency-approved script as a production partner. When we are producing someone else's concept we still write a director's treatment, because the agency script says what happens and the treatment says how it will look, sound, and feel — and that document is what keeps the shoot and the grade pointed at the same film.
Can you shoot in Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt?
Yes. We operate across both markets and have produced for Saudi broadcast, including the television programme Ta'alogi for Rotana Khalijia. Practically, that means we can crew locally, handle permits and location access in either country, and advise early on which side of the production is cheaper or faster to mount — a decision that is usually driven by cast availability, location, and the delivery deadline rather than by day rates alone.
What do you need from us before you can quote?
The job the film has to do, the primary audience, where it will first be seen, the durations and aspect ratios you need, any mandatory legal or brand elements, your delivery date, and a budget range. The budget range matters most: it decides whether the honest answer is a studio build with talent or a tightly directed single-location shoot. We would rather design the right film for a real number than quote an ideal one you cannot commission.
How do you keep the vertical and cutdown versions from looking cheap?
By planning them in Phase 01 and shooting them in Phase 05 rather than rescuing them in Phase 06. Durations are agreed before the film is written, vertical and square framings are covered as dedicated setups on the same lighting state, and every version is derived from the same graded master timeline. A 9:16 cropped out of a 16:9 composition that was never designed for it always looks like what it is.
Who owns the footage and the final film?
You own the delivered films and the licensed usage agreed in the contract. Raw footage, project files, and masters are archived by us so future versions can be cut and matched to the original grade, and we can transfer that archive to you on request. Talent, music, and location usage are licensed for a defined territory and term, which we set out in writing before the shoot — extending usage later is straightforward, but it is far cheaper to scope it correctly at the start.
Start at Phase 01
Tell us the job the film has to do.
Not the look, not the runtime — the job. Bring the audience, the first screen, the delivery date, and a budget range, and we will come back with the honest film that fits them.