- Client
- CliniqueGlobal Creative
- Product
- Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining PenClinique Insider's Picks
- Featuring
- Keiko LynnBeauty and fashion blogger
- Shot
- 10 November 2017New York
- Director
- Chris MUG5 MaguireTreatment, shot list and shoot
- Cuts
- :90 down to :06Widescreen, square and seamless loops
One pen, three looks, and on-camera talent who draws every line herself while looking straight down the lens. RIOT directed, shot and finished Clinique’s Pretty Easy demonstration films.
In October 2017, Clinique‘s Global Creative team briefed us on a demonstration film for the Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen, part of its Insider’s Picks series. The idea was one eyeliner, three ways, shown by someone who genuinely lives in liquid liner and has a style of her own, not full glam. There was a list of talking points to land: the tapered brush, intense color, 24-hour wear that doesn’t smudge, safe for contact lens wearers and sensitive eyes. The challenge was to land all of them in a film that feels less like a tutorial and more like advice from someone you would actually follow.
A shot list, not a storyboard
Clinique booked a call for the director to present storyboards. On 30 October, we sent a director’s treatment instead and advised against storyboarding a film like this: the more fluid the day, the more authentic the result. The treatment set the look, the feel and the energy, and it grew with every round of notes. Version two, two days later, added the shot list for Clinique’s marketing team. Version three, sent on the day of the pre-light, added the props and the order of the day.
The shot list did the planning a storyboard would, without fixing a single frame. Two cameras rolled at once, a roaming 35mm for wider shots and body language and a locked-off 85mm for portraiture, so every take gave the edit two angles. Keiko stood throughout, free to move, and ran each look three to five times as a live take from start to finish, because a demonstration feels natural by about the third go. It starts with bare eyes, before any liner, and the cap coming off to reveal the fine tip. Macro close-ups go tight on the lash line. And the last hour of the day was kept for posed application moments, shot so the stills could be pulled straight from the footage.
Straight down the lens
Liquid liner goes on in a mirror. A demonstration film needs the talent looking at the viewer. Usually that means a makeup artist does the work, or the talent looks away from camera to see what she is doing. We wanted Keiko to do her own liner, the way she does every morning, and still look straight at you. The treatment’s answer was to make the camera her mirror.
Our director of photography, Zach Jopling, built it: a two-way mirror in a blackout box, set low in front of the lens like a matte box, on a stand of its own. Keiko saw her reflection and worked on her eyes as normal. The camera, on the other side of the glass, saw straight through to her. Zach special-ordered the mirror for the job, and the studio’s own equipment team had never seen a setup like it. Every stroke in the film is drawn by Keiko herself, with her eyes on the lens.
A rig like that is why we booked a pre-light. On 8 November, two days before Keiko’s shoot, the camera, lighting and grip crew spent the day in the studio: the rental gear checked as it arrived, so anything broken or missing could be swapped in time, the lights built on the white set, and Zach’s mirror box brought in to shoot through. Anything that was going to go wrong went wrong that day, not with the talent on set. The shoot day was hers from the first take.
Three looks, built on each other
Our talent is beauty and fashion blogger Keiko Lynn, and the brief was that she should be herself. Before the shoot she filmed herself creating each look, plus two lip looks, so we could plan around how she actually works. Clinique’s notes on the shot list made one big change: rather than starting from a clean face three times, the looks would build on top of each other. The simple line for every day, then the kitten eye, then the full cat eye, all three finished by lunch. Each one gets its own outfit and attitude, glasses and a red lip for the kitten eye, a pink beret for the cat eye. Look one started life as the tight line, and became the simple line in the final round of notes.
Personality between the close-ups
The close-ups show exactly how the liner goes on, tight on the lash line where the tapered tip matters. Between them, there is room for Keiko to be Keiko: dancing, hiding behind her hands, playing peek-a-boo, shrugging at how easy it was. After lunch we went back for her introductions and for takes of her applying while she talked, so the advice sounds like hers. The talking points land as clean black type on white, so the product story is clear even with the sound off: intense, rich color, 24-hour smudge-proof wear, ophthalmologist tested, safe for contact lens wearers.
The first long cut landed on 29 November, and after a call with Clinique on 1 December it was tightened to a minute and a half. From there the shoot became a family of films: the :90 above, a :30, a :15 and three :06s, one for each look, so every placement gets a complete idea in six seconds. Every :15 and :06 was cut as a seamless loop, so on a feed it keeps playing with no visible restart. The :90 and :30 play in widescreen and the shorter films in square for social, and every length also went out as a generic version without supers, ready for other markets to localize. Color was by Mickey Micklos at Shipyard Post.
Making a beauty demo film that feels real
How do you film someone applying eyeliner while looking at the camera?
With a two-way mirror. The treatment planned for the lens to become the talent's mirror, and our director of photography, Zach Jopling, built it: a special-ordered two-way mirror in a blackout box, set in front of the lens on a stand of its own. Keiko saw her own reflection and drew her liner the way she does every morning, while the camera looked straight through the glass at her. No makeup artist doing the work, no eyes sliding off to a mirror at the side, and every stroke lands with her looking right at the viewer.
How do you make a makeup tutorial feel natural instead of staged?
Let the talent do it for real, more than once. Keiko ran each look three to five times as a live take from start to finish, standing so she was free to move, and a demonstration usually feels natural by about the third go. Some takes were silent, others talked through the points as she applied. Before the shoot she filmed herself creating each look, so the plan was built around how she actually works, and the personality between the close-ups is all hers: the dancing, the peek-a-boo, the shrug.
How do you choose talent for a beauty brand film?
Pick someone who already lives the product. Clinique's brief asked for a genuine liquid liner devotee with a style of her own, not full glam, and beauty and fashion blogger Keiko Lynn wears liquid liner every day. Her brief for the day was simply to be herself. Wardrobe was styled to each look, glasses and a red lip for the kitten eye and a pink beret for the cat eye, so every change reads at a glance.
What camera setup works best for a beauty demonstration film?
Two cameras rolling on every take. Ours were a roaming 35mm for head and shoulders and body language, and a locked-off 85mm for portraits, with macro close-ups on top for the tapered tip at the lash line. Both shot in 4K for HD deliverables, so the edit could punch in without losing detail. The set was a pure white background with bright, skin-flattering light that still shows real texture, which is what a liner demonstration needs.
Why a shot list instead of a storyboard?
A demonstration film with a real personality lives or dies on how natural the talent feels. Fixed frames make people perform to a drawing. A detailed shot list gives the client the same planning, with every shot, prop and outfit agreed in advance, while leaving room on the day for the moments you can't script. Ours grew over three versions of the treatment: the look and feel, then the shot list, then the props and the order of the day.
Why build the three looks on top of each other?
It mirrors how people actually wear liner, starting simple and going bolder, and it saves the talent from removing and reapplying makeup between looks. The simple line for every day became the kitten eye, then the full cat eye. All three looks were finished by lunch, which left the afternoon for introductions, personality shots and talking takes.
How do you get product claims across in a beauty video with the sound off?
Write them as supers that stand on their own. Each talking point lands as clean black type on white, one claim at a time: intense, rich color, 24-hour smudge-proof wear, ophthalmologist tested, safe for contact lens wearers and sensitive eyes. The pictures do the rest, with macro shots of the tapered tip at work and lines drawn on the back of the hand. Every length also went out as a generic version without supers, so other markets could add their own language.
How does one shoot cover everything from a :90 to a :06?
Plan the short lengths from the start. Two cameras gave every take two angles, the talking points were written as supers that could stand alone, and each look was shot as a complete idea. The :90 and :30 play in widescreen, and the :15 and three :06s, one for each look, play in square for social. Every :15 and :06 was cut as a seamless loop, so on a feed it plays on with no visible restart.
Why book a pre-light day before a beauty shoot?
Because the shoot day belongs to the talent. A pre-light puts the crew in the studio a day ahead, with nobody waiting on them: the rental gear is checked as it arrives, the lights are built and shaped, and anything unusual is set up and tested. Ours came two days before Keiko's shoot, and it is where Zach's two-way mirror box went in front of the lens. Every technical problem gets solved on the pre-light instead of in front of the talent, so the shoot day starts on the first take, not the first lighting setup, and the energy goes into performance. One pre-light served both the Sonic System and Pretty Easy films.
How long does a beauty demonstration film take to make?
About twelve weeks from brief to delivery, with a pre-light day and a shoot day. Clinique briefed us on 12 October 2017, the treatment followed on 30 October, the studio was pre-lit on 8 November, and we shot on 10 November in New York, the day after the Sonic System film. The first cut was shared on 29 November and tightened to a minute and a half after notes on 1 December, the loops were built by 11 December, and every length was graded and delivered on 5 January 2018.
We shot the Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush film the day before. For more of our Clinique work from the same season, see Fresh Pressed, Beyond Perfecting Concealer and Moisture Surge.
Credits
- Client
- Clinique
- Clinique Global Creative
- Colleen Stokes, Valerie Fischel, Rachel Hayes, Brian Howard, Angela Giannopoulos
- Director
- Chris MUG5 Maguire
- Featuring
- Keiko Lynn
- Production
- Sandbox New York
- Producer
- Robyn Weiss-Jimenez
- Assistant director
- Nastassja Simone
- Director of photography
- Zach Jopling
- Assistant camera
- James Regan
- Gaffer
- Mark Sherman
- Grip
- Ben Hunt
- Sound
- Matthew Caulfield
- Digital imaging technician
- Jeremy Musher
- Production assistant
- Krystallynne Gonzalez
- Wardrobe stylist
- Bettina Bati
- Wardrobe assistant
- Lolo Adesanya
- Makeup
- Maki H.
- Makeup assistant
- Arisa Kawamura
- Hair
- Rutger
- Hair assistant
- Rachel Polycarpe
- Manicurist
- Gina Edwards
- Edit
- Chris MUG5 Maguire
- Color
- Mickey Micklos, Shipyard Post
- Agency
- RIOT
ServicesDirecting·Editing·Commercials·Social Videos