Bites Studio Founder on Eastern Europe’s Tech Advancement and Rapid Evolution

Jakub> I've always been interested in photography. I started photographing as a teenager and from there I continued to develop this passion more and more. Later, I went on to study art photography and that led me to work in a photo studio where I dealt with new business and had the opportunity to participate in tabletop shoots. This was my pathway into audiovisual activities - it all began with passion. Through acquiring skills and experimenting with artistic photography, and then commercial photography, I finally came into the tabletop realm.

Jakub> I have to confess - when developing Bites, I didn’t really seek inspiration from others. Or, at the very least, I tried not to think about them much in the process. Instead, our focus was on building competencies, creating a team, and constantly exceeding our apparent - as it usually turned out - limitations… And I think it’s safe to say we did it. We have a strong team and we keep on learning along the way, trying to adapt to the ever-changing reality of the tabletop industry and the film industry in general :) 

That being said, I have always been inspired by companies that combine creativity and business stability - one of them has always been IDEO. Businesses like that have surely paved the way for many, and as such, they’ve become a source of inspiration and knowledge on how to successfully build a company. 

Jakub> Where I am today is, I believe, my greatest achievement… for now. Making Bites a renowned, international company with very advanced competencies and its own unique way of doing things. A work-wise efficient company, which provides a lot of fun and satisfaction for all of us working in it. 

But we’re not ones to rest on our laurels. We’ve embarked on a journey, and are still on it, to create a company that combines, within its various dexterities, very different functionalities that support each of these ventures - ventures which are very interesting in and of themselves.

As a result, Bites today functions as a production hub that effectively combines the competences of our various brands under one umbrella.

Bites Studio is our core business that focuses on food and beauty productions. Director’y brings us a lot of gratification and CHPTR, on the other hand, is a brand that lets all of our imaginations flow, while providing us with the opportunity for real development. The new puzzle piece is TILT - a tech-driven service company focused on motion control and virtual production. 

All of our undertakings are compatible and, as a whole, combine everything we stand for. The project which we’re all participating in here at Bites is certainly my greatest professional achievement up to date. But I believe there’s always something new to learn and aspire to, so let’s revisit this one in a couple of years. 

Jakub> The big and demanding ones for sure. They always require great focus and a very advanced preparation process. We did some big projects with huge names and brands such as 'Maggi' with Ruben Latre, Korkunov with Ronald Koetzier, or McDonald's ‘Get Closer To The Food You Love' with Paoloalberto Tonoli.

All those demanding shoots were very hard in regards to motivation and concentrating on the tasks, but, in the end, I remember them as great experiences and something that inspired us all to search beyond what we know. The findings of these searches and the innovations that emerged because of them gave us as a company the most fuel to become one-of-a-kind - a production studio that can do certain things better and more efficiently than our competitors. 

So, circling back to the question, it’s most definitely all of these projects for the great directors who wanted to do something more and something new. It triggered our imagination in a way that couldn’t be achieved otherwise and that makes these projects the most memorable in the best way possible.

Jakub> That it is absolutely worth it to develop projects and undertakings that not only have a chance of business success, but that can also create space for real personal development. I’ve kept this belief in mind throughout the years and it is yet to be proven wrong.

Jakub> We do a lot of work for regular customers, but there are also some exciting new projects with new directors. So, on one hand, we are constantly developing the best production team we can, and on the other, we keep developing a lot of different technologies. Over the past year, we came out with the aforementioned CHPTR - a brand meant for visual development and experimental work. We have also just launched another brand that we’ve been working on, TILT, a company that takes over all our technical competencies, motion control, virtual productions (in the near future) and high-speed filming. 

Last year was also crucial for Director’y - a new version of the platform was launched, and we were happy to see that it resonated very well with the entire community of creators and agencies alike - just as we were hoping it would! So, overall, we can surely say we’ve spent the entirety of last year creating, which is what we like doing best.

Jakub> Being conveniently located in Eastern Europe means that we are in a fairly effective cost position. Combined with the high-level technical advancement, it means that we have more and more projects coming our way, as well as steady relationships with agencies and clients, which we believe to be key in our industry. As a result, we’ve noticed the need to offer comprehensive production services. We have become a production hub. Under Bites Studio we offer various forms of product content in the field of food and beauty, implemented in various production models and budgets. We will continue our strategy by introducing TILT, where we’ll explore the realm of virtual production, in order to go beyond tabletop for our clients who want to produce various types of content with us. That’s our focus right now, but soon we’re going to take an even bigger step into the future by including AI into the entire production process. So, there seems to be a ton of exciting things around the corner. We can’t wait for you to see it too. 

Jakub> Consistency, uncompromised quality, and engaging people who do it with conviction. Having a lot of experience is less important to me than possessing willingness, motivation and abilities. I believe these qualities to be crucial and, now that I think about it, that’s how Bites became what it is now - a company made up of passionate people, who keep on developing techniques, testing new possibilities, and creating a variety of incredible things along the way.