Video production services
in Milan
We produce corporate and institutional video
in Milan with a senior, compact crew.
Typical engagements include:
- Executive interviews and leadership messages
- Corporate films and case studies for global teams
- Conference and event video coverage
- Testimonials filmed on-location or in offices and venues
- Brand and documentary-style stories
- Post-production: edit, captions, deliverables for web and social
Who you're hiring in Milan
I'm Theo Solnik, founder of Haikai Media and the cinematographer on every Milan shoot we deliver. I trained at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) under Fred Kelemen, Béla Tarr's cinematographer on The Turin Horse, and have been shooting corporate, documentary, and cinema work for over thirty years, starting out as a press photographer at fifteen.
My first feature, Anna Pavlova Lives in Berlin, won the Prize for Young Film Art from the German National Gallery and the German Film Academy and was exhibited daily over four months in a dedicated room at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart museum in Berlin. My work has since screened at festivals and museums in more than 25 countries and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
I hold Italian and Brazilian nationality and a U.S. O-1B visa as an Artist with Extraordinary Ability. I speak seven languages including Italian and English.
When you book a Milan shoot with Haikai Media, you're hiring the director of photography who lights, frames, and delivers the work himself — not a booking agent passing the job to a freelancer you'll never meet.
Executive interviews in Milan
For most international companies, an executive interview is the reason they book a shoot in Milan. These are usually filmed in offices, conference venues, hotels, or a controlled location rented for the day — anywhere the sound stays clean and the look stays consistent from one speaker to the next. I keep the setting relaxed for the person on camera while holding it technically identical across everyone who sits down.
My standard setup is two cameras, a RED Komodo 6K as the A-CAM and a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K as the B-CAM, with Zeiss Standard Speed primes (16, 24, 32, 50, 85mm). Audio is captured with a Sennheiser MKH-416 shotgun and a Sanken COS-11 lavalier, with an independent 32-bit float recorder running as backup to the sound recorded directly in the cameras.
For teams coordinating remotely, interviews can be structured with a clear briefing beforehand and fast review links after filming. This allows stakeholders in different time zones to review and approve efficiently. Deliverables are exported in formats suitable for web, internal communications, or social distribution, with optional subtitles and cutdowns.
Example work:
Corporate interview video production in Milan — see selected projects:
https://www.haikai.media/projects/corporate-videos
Case study: A Chabad emissary in Milan — documentary portrait
I was the cinematographer and director of a portrait in Milan of Elisheva Martinetti, who grew up in rural north-east China and, by way of Sydney and London, settled in Milan, where she now serves as a Chabad emissary. The film was made to be shown to a large audience at the Kinus Hashluchos gala banquet in New York, so it had to carry a personal, single-subject story to a room of thousands and hold up on a large screen.
This is the kind of work closest to my documentary background. Anna Pavlova Lives in Berlin, the feature that won the Prize for Young Film Art, was built the same way — one subject, followed closely, whose life carries the film without staged events. I brought that approach to Milan and applied it in a form a corporate or institutional client would recognise: real access, real locations, no re-enactment.
I filmed Elisheva across the Milan locations where her work actually happens, lighting each one to keep a consistent look as the day moved. I shot on two cameras matched to sit together in the edit: a RED Komodo as the A-camera, with a DJI LiDAR focus system and a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 on a speed booster, and a Sigma fp as the B-camera recording 12-bit 4K RAW, which held up frame for frame against the Komodo, with a Nikon 85mm f/1.8. The fast primes gave a shallow, filmic separation that lifted her cleanly from the book-lined interiors without turning the setting into a blur, and I pulled focus by hand throughout to keep the emphasis exactly where the story needed it. Then I handled the edit, grade and sound mix myself, so the finished film held a single voice throughout. Because it was headed for a live gala screening, it had to be timed, mastered and colour-correct for projection on delivery.
The finished film is above. It's the clearest single example of how I approach a Milan shoot: find the story in the subject, film it precisely, and deliver it finished.
Conference and event video production in Milan
Conference video production in Milan comes down to reliable coverage of the speakers and the room. Filming is usually structured around locked-off cameras on the stage and speaker, with additional coverage for audience questions and contextual footage, so a full session, a highlight cut and shorter social versions can all come out of the same day.
I've worked this ground directly. In September 2021 I produced the highlight film and shot the event photography for the NewTom Forum, the fifth edition of an international scientific convention on cone-beam CT imaging, held at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.
Cefla's medical-equipment division commissioned it to mark twenty-five years of the NewTom brand, and it ran as a hybrid event — speakers and clinicians from more than a hundred countries in the room, a global audience on a live stream in four languages.
Audio integrity is critical. When the venue can provide a clean feed from the desk, I record it, alongside independent on-site recording for redundancy, so a problem at the mixer never becomes a hole in the edit. Deliverables can be staged so the key content is ready while the event is still current.
Example work: Conference and event video production — see selected projects: https://www.haikai.media/projects/event-videos
Corporate video production in Milan
Corporate video production in Milan usually combines interviews with contextual filming that shows the people, spaces and processes behind the organisation. I plan the filming around the business's real schedule to keep disruption low while capturing material that matters.
I shot the Milan film in Barclays' Citizenship and Diversity Awards series, a set of short finalist films made in a single day each across the world, all built to a shared look so the series holds together. The Milan shoot was commissioned through a London production company, which is a common way I work: a producer abroad needs a director of photography on the ground in Milan who can match an established series style, run the day, and deliver footage that cuts seamlessly with material shot by other crews elsewhere. That job is exactly the case for hiring one experienced operator locally rather than moving a crew.
B-roll may include offices, work environments, meetings, and exterior establishing shots. These give the edit its structure and carry visual continuity across the different sections of the video.
I handle post-production in staged review rounds — building the narrative, integrating brand elements, balancing the mix, and preparing exports for each platform. Final deliverables may include a primary video, shorter cutdowns, vertical formats, and captioned versions.
Example work: Corporate video production — see selected projects: https://www.haikai.media/projects/corporate-videos
Filming logistics and production workflow in Milan
Milan is Italy's business and financial capital and its design and fashion centre, with one of the densest corporate video calendars in the country — around the Fiera Milano complex, Borsa Italiana, and the headquarters clustered in the centre and the newer CityLife and Porta Nuova districts. On a Milan shoot, the difference between a smooth day and an expensive one is almost always in the planning.
Permits: most corporate interiors — offices, hotels, private venues, conference centres — need no municipal permit, since you're on private property with the owner's permission. A tripod on a public street or square is different. Public-space filming in Milan is authorised by the Comune di Milano through its online GeoEventi portal, handled by the SUEV office, with a processing fee (€25 at the time of writing) and, for larger occupations of public land, a refundable deposit. Lead time in the historic centre starts at around six working days for a straightforward setup and runs to ten or fifteen for anything involving a street closure or traffic management. I build that window into the schedule from the start, because it's the thing out-of-town producers most often underestimate.
The ZTL (limited traffic zone) matters just as much. Milan's centre sits inside Area C, the congestion-charge zone within the old Cerchia dei Bastioni walls, camera-gated and active Monday to Friday from 07:30 to 19:30. Around it, covering roughly three-quarters of the city, is Area B, a low-emission zone on the same weekday hours that bars the most polluting vehicles. Both are off in the evenings, at weekends and on public holidays. In practice this shapes how the kit vehicle moves on a shoot day: I keep production vehicles compliant, and when a load-in falls inside Area C during charging hours I either factor in the daily access or time the heavy moves around the edges of the window. Enforcement is automatic, so it's planned in advance rather than sorted out on the morning.
Drones add a step. Flying over Milan requires clearance from the Prefecture of Milan, requested by certified mail and then attached to the GeoEventi filing, on top of the usual pilot and airspace requirements — so aerial work is scheduled well ahead. I'm a TRUST-certified pilot with my own DJI Air 2S.
Two more things worth knowing. The Lombardia Film Commission is a free regional resource, with a large locations database and a scouting service, and it's a sensible first stop when a brief calls for a specific look.
The equipment is mine: RED Komodo 6K, Blackmagic Pocket 4K, Sigma fp, Zeiss Standard Speed PL primes, DJI RS 3 Pro with LiDAR and Focus Pro, Zoom F3 recorder and Sennheiser and Sanken microphones. No rental surprises, no last-minute substitutions.
Example work: See production workflow and examples: https://www.haikai.media/how-it-works
Deliverables and turnaround
Milan video project deliverables are prepared for the client's intended use — master files for internal distribution, compressed versions for web, and shorter edits for social. I edit in staged review rounds so feedback goes in efficiently, and once a version is approved the final exports go out in standard formats with subtitles or captions on request. Colour grading, sound mix, and original music are handled in-house where required.
Interview-based productions deliver a first cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap. After your feedback, the final corrected video follows within 24 hours. Conference and multi-day productions run to a schedule agreed in the quote. Final exports: ProRes masters, H.264 web versions, 9:16 social cutdowns, and burned-in or sidecar subtitles on request.
Pricing
Every Milan project is quoted individually — crew size, shoot days, deliverables, and post-production scope. I don't use hidden surcharges: insurance and contingency are itemised so you see exactly what you're paying for. Payment terms are 50% on booking, 50% on delivery. I operate under Italy's regime forfettario, meaning clean, VAT-exempt invoicing for EU and international clients.
Typical engagements range from single-day executive interviews to multi-day conference coverage.
Do you speak English on set?
Yes. English is my default working language for international clients. I also work in Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Norwegian.
Do you shoot in Milan yourself, or is it handed to a local crew?
I shoot it. I'm the DP on every job I take and I run the production myself, bringing in vetted local crew only when a shoot needs to scale. You work with the same person from the first brief to the final file.
Do I need a permit to film in Milan?
For an interior — office, hotel, venue — almost never. For public streets and squares, yes: it goes through the Comune di Milano's GeoEventi portal, and I handle that and build the lead time into the plan. I'll tell you upfront whether your locations need one.
What about the ZTL — will access be a problem?
It's manageable with planning. Area C and Area B are camera-enforced on weekdays, 07:30 to 19:30, so I keep production vehicles compliant and time load-ins around the charging window when a location sits inside the centre. It's a scheduling detail, not an obstacle.
What's included in the day rate?
The day rate includes me as DP, the RED Komodo camera package, Zeiss primes, standard lighting, and audio kit. Additional crew, specialised lighting, permits, and any Area C access are quoted separately.
How fast can you deliver?
First cut within 24 to 48 hours of wrap for standard interview projects. After your feedback, the final corrected video is delivered within 24 hours. Same-day or next-day turnarounds are possible for event highlights with advance planning.
Are you VAT-registered?
I operate under Italy's regime forfettario (Art. 1, c. 54–89, L. 190/2014), which exempts my invoices from VAT. This simplifies international billing for EU and non-EU clients.
Projects
Milan Video Production
I produce corporate and institutional video in Milan for international clients — executive interviews, conference highlight films, and documentary-led brand stories, each shot and finished by the same person. My Milan work includes a finalist film in Barclays' worldwide Citizenship and Diversity Awards series, the highlight film and event photography for the NewTom Forum at the San Raffaele Hospital, and a documentary portrait filmed across the city and screened to a gala audience in New York.
I handle the whole production: the GeoEventi permit where a public location needs one, ZTL-aware scheduling so vehicles and load-ins never cost you a fine, venue audio integration, and remote review for teams approving from another country. You work with the cinematographer who lights and frames the shoot, from first brief to final file.
Full record of clients, awards and credentials at haikai.media/credentials.
