Independent research: filming food

When doing independent research on our idea, I had to keep in mind that we wanted to film a tea-party, and therefore the scene required a lot of food. While we don't plan on having the actors eat the majority of the food on set, I thought it would be important to research how to best film and create appetizing food. Color and perfection play a huge part in whether or not the food looks appetizing, so I decided to attempt some of these film food hacks to make food last and look good on camera.

First, I attempted to shine and "freshen" strawberries, after many hours with no refrigeration, fruit and vegetables often become dull and stale, in order to make the food look appealing for longer, spraying hairspray on the fruit makes it appear fresh and clean, although the actors can't eat it.

   

I also tried to create fake cream or icing using shaving foam. Normal whipped cream and icing melt under light and don't hold their shape. Whipped cream also moulds and rots very quickly, and when melting creates "moisture marks" on the pie, cake or pastry it's placed on. In order to compare, I put whipped cream in a bowl and left it for ten minutes, by the end it had completely melted and become liquid. So instead, studios use shaving cream to look like cream, it's less yellow and easier to clean and manipulate, it also holds stiff peaks for long periods of time without drooping.

Studios find a similar problem with ice cream, if the actors don't plan on eating much of it quickly, it can become a sticky mess in seconds. So instead, studios will dye mashed potatoes different colors and use those instead, it looks virtually identical, but mashed potatoes are still edible and don't melt at all, they also hold the shape of a scoop much better when in a cone because they can't begin to drip. I tried to re create it by buying some ready-made mashed potatoes and dying half pink and half white, they looked delicious, and incredibly realistic.




Some other tactics I will keep in mind:

Studios will pin or stick their garnished to their dished to keep them looking perfect. This is often done with blue-berries on a stack of pancakes, for instance, or a cherry it the top of a milkshake. By pinning them down, they then look the same in every shot. 

By placing cardboard in between layers of cake, it gives the cake more structure, so it's less likely to topple or slouch. They also do this with individual slices of cake, and cover the cardboard with "icing", really shaving foam.

When cooking meat, studios use a "browning liquid" to make it appear to have that perfectly golden brown look that appears so appetizing on screen. They also use engine oil to thicken sauces or syrups and make them appear heavier and get the "perfect pour".

Here are some of the youtube videos I watched: