Customer Testimonials, Around the World

01 · The Ask

What we heard from Alex

A loyalty software company wants customer testimonials filmed where their customers actually are… the UAE, across the US, Canada, LATAM, Europe, Asia. It has to look enterprise. Netflix documentary setup, amazing b-roll. Quality first, no corners cut.

And you need three things: how we'd price it, whether we're free through the end of the year, and proof we can do customer interviews at this level. All three are in here.

"They want this to look enterprise as hell. Netflix documentary set up, amazing b-roll."Alex, Tuesday

"Quality is the utmost importance to the client, not cutting corners."Alex, Tuesday

"However you feel it should be structured to get the best quality."Alex, on how to price it… so that's what we did

02 · The Question

Can we make customer testimonials that feel honest and raw, keep the polish and sophistication, and leave the viewer feeling they haven't seen a testimonial done this way before?

That's the question this whole proposal is built around.

Our thesis: most testimonials get skipped in the first five seconds, and production value doesn't fix that. A beautifully lit, boring interview is still boring. What keeps people watching is knowing what's worth putting on camera in the first place… and then not overproducing it.

The Netflix docs everyone points to (Drive to Survive, Full Swing) aren't overproduced. They're well lit, well recorded, and real. That's the bar.

03 · The Idea

Nobody sits in a chair in front of a logo wall.

The customer talks while doing something real from their day. The interview happens inside the routine, not instead of it… and the product shows up where it actually lives.

The look: lit well, one soft source when the scene needs it, real locations, camera work that feels expensive. But nothing staged.

If it feels produced, we've lost the raw part. If it looks cheap, we've lost the enterprise part. The whole job is holding both.

04 · Storyboard

Six customers. Six real moments. What the series could look like.

Sketched to show the shape, not the shots. Once we know who the customers actually are, each one gets their own version of this.

01 · The café owner

The café owner, opening up. 6am, keys in the door, talking about the morning rush before it starts.

The shot: handheld, following her in. Lav under the apron. Room sound is the music.

02 · The CFO

The CFO who does the numbers on the rowing machine. Talks through the quarter between strokes.

The shot: one camera, low and wide. The chart on the laptop is the only graphic in the film.

03 · The founder

The founder who only takes calls while walking the dog. So we walk too.

The shot: walk-and-talk, morning light, camera moving with him. No stopping to perform.

04 · The store manager

The store manager restocking before the doors open. The interview happens between the boxes.

The shot: static wide first, then close on the hands. She never stops working.

05 · The regular

A regular at the till, phone out. This is the moment the product actually lives in… so this is where we film it.

The shot: over her shoulder. The phone is the only thing lit. The regular and the barista talk, we don't.

06 · Locking up

The owner locking up. The quiet line at the end of the day is usually the best one in the whole interview.

The shot: wide, from across the street. Let it breathe. That's the end card.

05 · How It Gets Made

The same two people on every shoot. Local crew in every city.

Consistency comes from the same director and the same plan in every location… not from flying a truck of gear around the world.

First · with you and the client

Pre-production

Which customers, where, and what each one's story actually is. Then a storyboard and a shoot plan for every customer, signed off before anyone books a flight.

Changes on paper are free. Changes in Dubai are not.

Every city · the crew model

Two of us, plus local hands

Alok directs and runs sound. In a testimonial, audio is the most important thing on set, so it doesn't get delegated. Hannah runs cameras, the visual direction, and the production management.

In every city we hire a local gaffer and a local sound recordist. For the flagship customers, a local DP with a cinema camera package. For the rest, our own kit at a rental rate. The look stays the same because the plan and the director stay the same.

Up to two days · per customer

The shoot

Day one is the person and their routine. Day two is the place, the b-roll, and anything we missed. Most customers get done in one.

Footage is backed up and checksum-verified before we leave the location. Every time.

After · post

Post, and the QC gate

Everything synced, organized, and colour-corrected. From there, two paths: your editors cut, and we hand over a graded, organized project with a selects reel… or we cut. Either works. It's one of the two questions at the end.

Either way, nothing goes to the client without a QC pass: audio levels and stereo, captions, music licensing, clean cuts. The boring stuff that makes enterprise clients trust you.

1plan per customer, signed off

2people on every shoot

2days max per customer

1look, every city

06 · Proof

You asked for our best compilation of customer interviews. Here it is… and it's not a reel.

Live · wall-of-stories.pages.dev

The Wall of Stories

Black Tech Week, Cincinnati 2026. Fifteen people, thirty-eight stories, captured on a conference floor with a roaming crew and cut into a browsable wall. Tap a face, hear the person.

Every clip is someone talking about something they care about, in the place it happened. That's the DNA of this proposal. Open the wall

If the client wants a straight compilation cut instead of a wall, say the word… it's an afternoon.

You were there for this one

Multicam podcast, live from CCW Las Vegas

The 1Point1 booth, June 2025. Three cameras, a live conversation on a noisy show floor. Watch it

Past work

A selection of past work

Brand films, interviews, and event coverage from the last couple of years. Watch the reel

07 · Who's On This

Alok Karnik

Director. Runs the interview and the sound. You've worked with him on CashFlow Kings, CCW Las Vegas, and the Pendleton shoot for Akash.

Cincy Social, Cincinnati. Brand documentaries, interviews, event coverage. No AI-generated content, ever.

Hannah Shoemaker

Cameras and visual direction. Commercial and creative photo and video background… composition, framing, lighting, styling, wardrobe, the set itself.

Also the production manager on this: project management certificate, has run corporate and creative projects end to end, PA experience on multiple film sets, and an event coordination background. The person who makes sure a shoot in Toronto and a shoot in Dubai feel like the same production.

Availability · your question #2

Open now through the end of December. Nothing on the calendar that blocks travel. Give us dates and we'll hold them.

08 · Investment

Priced as one series, not five separate shoots.

The hard part of this job is the thinking: the formula, the plan, keeping five cities consistent. So the base price covers the series. Crew, gear, and travel sit on top, at cost.

The Series · five customers, anywhere

$50,000 BASE

Creative developmentThe idea above, turned into a storyboard and shoot plan for each customer. Built with you and the client, signed off before travel.

STEP 1

Production planning and logistics, every locationLocal crew sourcing, locations, schedules, travel coordination. Hotels if you want us to handle hotels.

STEP 1–2

Director and second shooter on every shootAlok and Hannah. Up to two shoot days per customer, five customers.

STEP 3

Sound supervised on set. Footage verified before we leave.Backed up and checksum-verified on location, every day.

STEP 3

Sync, organization, base colour correctionDelivered as a clean, graded project ready for whoever is cutting.

STEP 4

That's $10,000 per customer, up to two days each. Additional shoot days at $5,000/day. A sixth customer and beyond at the same $10,000.

On top of the base, at cost

Quoted per city before anything is booked, so the client always knows the number first.

Local gaffer and local sound recordist, per shoot day.
Camera: a local DP with a cinema package for the flagship customers, or our own kit at a day rental rate for the rest.
Travel, lodging, and per diem for two, at cost.
Editing, if we're cutting: one hero film plus cutdowns per customer, quoted once we know who's editing.

For planning: with crew, gear, and travel, a customer done properly lands around $15,000 all-in. Five customers, around $75,000, before editing.

50% of the base to hold the dates. The balance billed per customer as each shoot wraps.
Crew and travel billed as incurred, net 15. Or booked directly on the client's card, whichever is easier for their accounting.
One round of light revisions per deliverable. Sign-off on the shoot plan is what keeps revisions rare.
Cincy Social retains original copyright of all original footage and creative assets. The client receives an unlimited, perpetual license to use all delivered content across social media, the web, advertising, and any other platform. If this goes out under Pipeline Road's name, the license passes through to your client the same way.
Music licensed from the Artlist library. Full terms in contract.

09 · What Happens Next

You wanted this by Thursday. Here's how the rest of the year could go.

Thursday

This goes to you. You take it to the client.

When it's a yes

One call, the three of us. You, us, the client. Which customers, which cities, what the product actually does for them.

Two weeks later

Storyboards and shoot plans, one per customer. Signed off before anyone books a flight.

As early as mid-October

First shoot.

Through December

The rest of the five, wherever they are.

Two things we'd want to know from you

Does the client know who's producing, or does this go out under Pipeline Road?Either works. It changes the paperwork, not the work.
Who's cutting: your editors or ours?If it's yours, we hand over a graded project with selects. If it's ours, we'll add the editing line.

If this is the right direction, send it on and let's get the three of us on a call.

alok@cincy-social.com

Talk soon,
Alok

A customer testimonial series, filmed around the world…that doesn't feel like a testimonial.