- Client
- CliniqueGlobal Creative
- Product
- Sonic System Purifying Cleansing BrushClinique Insider's Picks
- Featuring
- Jennifer McGee and Bridget HollittClinique consultant and model
- Shot
- 9 November 2017New York, after a pre-light day
- Director
- Chris MUG5 MaguireTreatment, shot list and shoot
- Cuts
- :30, :15 and :06Widescreen and square
An expert who explains it, a model who shows it working, and a rule that they never share a frame. RIOT directed, shot and finished Clinique’s Sonic System demonstration films.
In the fall of 2017, Clinique‘s Global Creative team asked us for demonstration films for the Sonic System Purifying Cleansing Brush, alongside a second film for the Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen. One crew made both. After a pre-light day the two films shared, Sonic came first: shot on 9 November 2017, the first of two shoot days in the studio.
Two people, never in the same frame
The film has two people in it: Jennifer McGee, a Clinique consultant in her white lab coat, who explains the brush, and Bridget Hollitt, the model who shows it working. Clinique’s brief was that they would never appear on screen together. That split shapes the whole film. The consultant gives the expertise straight to camera, and the model gives the result, clean faced and close up, so authority and proof each get their own frame.
A shot list, not a storyboard
We started with a director’s treatment: the look, the feel and the energy, agreed with Clinique before the crew was booked. Then we advised against storyboards. For a film like this, the more fluid the day, the more authentic the result, so we wrote a detailed shot list instead. It broke the routine into the steps you would actually take: wetting the brush, applying the cleanser and spreading it across the bristles, the brush on the face at different angles, the green bristles at work on the T-zone, the rinse and the final face. Around that went the happy, surprised reactions and the product on its own, at its best angles.
Two cameras rolled on every live demonstration, one on head and shoulders and one closer in for portraits, and each run was repeated three to five times, talking point by talking point, until the edit had what it needed. The shot list grew with every round of notes: the box shot and the makeup removal came out, the charger moved from a hero shot to a natural moment in the routine, and a product shot was added for the end card.
The day before the shoot, on 8 November, the crew pre-lit the studio for both films: the camera gear checked as it arrived, the lights built and shaped on the white set. Skin is the whole story in a cleansing film, and the light has to flatter it while still showing real texture, so all of that was settled before anyone stepped in front of the lens. The shoot day belonged to Jennifer and Bridget from the first take.
Showing how it works
The :30 runs through the routine the way you would use it: morning and night side by side, the oval brush head and angled bristles on white beside the charging dock and Foaming Sonic Facial Soap, Jennifer pointing out the green bristles made for the T-zone, the deep clean itself, and the glow at the end. The talking points land as simple black type, so the story reads with the sound off: super clean skin with high speed vibrations, safe for all skin types, even sensitive. Sonic was delivered as a :30 in widescreen and a :15 and :06 in square for social, all finished in the same look as its sister film.
Making a skincare device demo people trust
How do you make a skincare device demo feel trustworthy?
Split the job between two people. In this film a real Clinique consultant, Jennifer McGee, explains the brush straight to camera in her white lab coat, and a model, Bridget Hollitt, shows it working on clean skin, close up. Clinique's brief kept them out of each other's frames, so every shot does one job: the expertise or the proof.
Why cast a real Clinique consultant instead of an actor?
Because a consultant is the person Clinique customers already turn to for advice. Jennifer talks the viewer through the brush as a consultant would, in the white lab coat Clinique consultants wear, so the claims come from someone who knows the product rather than someone reading lines. The model then carries the result, which keeps the expert credible and the proof visual.
How do you show what a sonic cleansing brush does on camera?
Show the parts, then the routine, then the result. High speed vibrations don't read on camera, so the film shows what they do instead: the oval brush head and angled bristles on white, the consultant pointing out the green bristles made for the T-zone, the brush working across the T-zone in close-up, and clean, glowing skin at the end. A super names each benefit as it appears.
How do you show a morning and night routine in a few seconds?
Put them side by side. The film splits the frame in two, morning on one side and night on the other, marked with a sun and a moon, so a twice-a-day routine reads in a single shot without a line of copy.
How do you get skincare claims across with the sound off?
Give each claim its own shot and write it as a super. Clean black type on white lands one point at a time: super clean skin with high speed vibrations, safe for all skin types, even sensitive, an oval shaped brush head plus angled bristles for targeted cleansing, a deep clean for the T-zone and, last, that healthy glow. A viewer scrolling with the sound off still gets the whole story.
Why a shot list instead of a storyboard?
A demonstration needs to feel live, and fixed frames make people perform to a drawing. A detailed shot list gives the client the same planning, with every step of the routine, every prop and every product shot agreed in advance, while leaving room for real reactions on the day. Each live demonstration ran three to five times on two cameras, talking point by talking point, so the edit always had a natural take to choose from.
What is a pre-light day, and is it worth it?
Yes. A pre-light puts the camera, lighting and grip crew in the studio a day ahead, with no talent waiting on them. The gear is checked as it arrives and the lights are built and shaped, so the shoot day starts on the first take, not the first lighting setup. Ours, on 8 November 2017, set up the studio for this film and for Pretty Easy, shot over the next two days.
How does one shoot cover a :30, a :15 and a :06?
Plan the short lengths from the start. With each claim shot as its own moment and written as a super that stands alone, the edit can lift moments out without breaking the story. The :30 plays in widescreen, and the :15 and :06 play in square for social.
How long does a skincare demo film take to make?
About ten weeks from treatment to delivery, with a pre-light day and a shoot day. The director's treatment went to Clinique on 30 October 2017, notes on the shot list came back on 2 November, the studio was pre-lit on 8 November and we shot on 9 November in New York, the day before the Pretty Easy film. The first cut was shared on 29 November, and every length was graded and delivered on 8 January 2018.
We shot Pretty Easy the next day with Keiko Lynn. 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
- Jennifer McGee, Clinique Consultant
- Model
- Bridget Hollitt
- 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