Cinematic food still: honey drizzling from a dipper onto cheese on a plate, a glass of red wine softly out of focus behind it.

Making it by hand

Company Square

Project type Product film

My role Creative director

Team credits

Addie Diradoorian Mike Brenner Julie Mastalerz Nikki McMorrow GLP Creative

Most customer testimonials share the same problem: they blend right into the background. We wanted to change that. We asked ourselves what it would take to make a piece of content people actually wanted to watch, giving it a cinematic feel instead of a corporate one.

When choosing a seller to feature, we looked for someone with a genuinely interesting story who relied on multiple Square products. That led us to Geza and Elyse. They pour so much love into their craft, and we wanted to bring their story to life in a way that felt intimate and personal. We pulled inspiration from documentary filmmaking to give the visuals real texture and depth.

Because they treat their food like art, we made sure to shoot it that way. We used moody, dynamic lighting and a shallow depth of field to craft dramatic shots that captured the food in all its glory.

But we still had a job to do. We needed to show how Square fueled their business. Instead of forcing a marketing script, we let their journey lead the narrative. We were incredibly careful to let the tools blend in effortlessly, making sure the product integration felt completely natural and never came off as staged.

Split frame: a styled charcuterie board with wine, cured meats and fruit, and the owner inspecting a slice of pepperoni with tweezers.

Three frames from the film: the owners seated by the Graze on Main sign, a close-up of the owner plating, and the owner smiling at a Square tablet.

Split frame from the Graze on Main film: the owner working at a Square terminal in the shop, and a customer ordering a “Board — Bougie” on the Square online store with Cash App checkout.