Chicago & Phoenix Director of Photography, Cinematographer, Drone Pilot, and Video Production
Volatile Free, Inc.
Industrial Commercial Photography, Video Production & Drone Coverage
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Project at a Glance
Client: Volatile Free, Inc. (VFI)
End Client / Partner: JBC Concrete (Indiana facility shoot)
Industry: Industrial chemical manufacturing, molding and casting, polyurethane coatings
Scope: Two-location production: manufacturing facility photography and Indiana facility video, interviews, commercial lifestyle photography, and drone coverage
Locations: Volatile Free manufacturing facility; JBC Concrete, Indiana
Deliverables: Two-minute edited video, commercial photography
Production: Jamie Link Photography
Services: Commercial Photography · Corporate Video Production · Drone Cinemtography
The Creative Challenge
Volatile Free, Inc. manufactures high-performance polyurethane and polyurea products used in molding, casting, industrial coatings, and concrete applications. Their product line spans everything from casting rubbers and molding compounds to spray coatings and bedliner systems, all sold to manufacturers and fabricators who use them to produce finished goods.
That creates a specific problem for commercial photography and video. VFI does not make the final product that consumers see or touch. They make the materials that other companies use to create those products. A bucket of polyurethane casting rubber does not tell a compelling visual story on its own. The story lives downstream, in the moulds it creates, the concrete forms it produces, and the finished outdoor kitchens and architectural elements that come out the other end.
The production challenge was to bridge that gap visually: show not just what VFI makes, but what it makes possible.
A Two-Location Production Strategy
To solve the ingredient-to-application gap, the production was structured across two shoots. The first covered VFI's own manufacturing facility, capturing the products themselves: barrels and containers of chemical compounds, and the mould pouring process that shows the product in active use.
The second shoot took place at JBC Concrete in Indiana, a manufacturer that produces concrete outdoor kitchens for RTA Outdoor Living using moulds made with Volatile Free chemicals. JBC represented the downstream story VFI needed: real finished products, a real production facility, and real people who could speak on camera about their process and the role VFI's materials play in it.
Together the two locations created a complete narrative arc. VFI makes the materials, JBC uses them to produce premium concrete outdoor kitchens, and the finished product ends up in the hands of consumers through RTA Outdoor Living. A single location shoot could not have told that story.
Shoot One: The Manufacturing Facility
The VFI facility shoot focused on two things: the products themselves and the process. Commercial photography covered the full range of packaged products and the mould pouring process that demonstrates how the chemical compounds are used.
Industrial facility photography requires a different approach than studio product work. Environments are large, lighting is mixed and often difficult, and the goal is to make industrial spaces look purposeful and professional rather than clinical or generic. The images needed to work both as standalone product photography and as supporting visual context within various groupings of product categories.
Shoot Two: JBC Concrete, Indiana
The Indiana shoot at JBC Concrete was the more complex of the two productions. The deliverables included interview footage, b-roll of the manufacturing process, commercial lifestyle photography of the facility and finished products, and drone coverage of the interior space.
Interview coverage featured JBC team members speaking directly to the camera about their production process and the materials they use. For VFI, having a real downstream customer explain on camera how and why they use Volatile Free products is more persuasive than any product description or marketing copy could be. The interviews provided the human voice the brand video needed.
The b-roll captured the concrete outdoor kitchen production process, showing how JBC takes raw materials through forming, casting, and finishing to produce a premium finished product. Commercial lifestyle photography treated the facility and the finished products as brand assets, producing imagery that could support marketing across VFI's channels and product pages.
Drone Coverage Inside the Facility
The Indiana shoot also included drone photography and video inside the JBC facility. Interior drone work in an industrial environment requires FAA Part 107 certification and experience operating in constrained spaces where ceiling height, equipment, and personnel all factor into safe flight planning.
Aerial perspectives inside a manufacturing facility accomplish something ground-level cameras cannot: they communicate the scale of the operation. For a brand like VFI whose customers are manufacturers and fabricators, showing the scale and professionalism of a downstream operation like JBC reinforces the commercial credibility of everyone in the supply chain.
The Deliverables
All filming, photography, and post-production was completed by Jamie Link. The final package delivered to Volatile Free included:
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A two-minute edited brand video combining facility footage, process b-roll, interview segments, and drone coverage from both locations
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Commercial photography from both the VFI manufacturing facility and the JBC Concrete Indiana location, covering products, process, facility environment, and finished goods
The brand video was structured to carry a buyer through the full story: VFI's manufacturing expertise, the quality of their products, and the real-world output those products enable. Interview segments from JBC gave the video credibility that scripted narration cannot replicate.
What This Production Demonstrates
The Volatile Free production is an example of a content problem that required a strategic production solution. Off-the-shelf photography of industrial chemicals does not generate the kind of visual content that moves buyers or builds brand authority. The two-location structure, the downstream partnership with JBC Concrete, and the use of interview footage to create a human narrative around an industrial product required genuine production planning, not just camera work.
For manufacturing brands, industrial companies, and B2B product companies that face the same upstream-ingredient challenge as Volatile Free, this approach demonstrates a model worth considering. The finished commercial assets serve product pages, trade show materials, social media, sales conversations, and any other context where VFI needs to show what their products actually do in the hands of a customer.
Drone coverage added an additional dimension to the Indiana shoot that elevated the production quality without requiring a separate crew or additional shoot day. Canon Cinema camera systems, combined with aerial coverage and professional interview lighting, produced content consistent with the standard a national brand expects.
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