Benefit Cosmetics Mascara Cinemagraph
Our Mission
For this assignment we were advised to create a Cinemagraph for the brand of our choice. Cinemagraph’s are still images where there is repetitive movement in a loop forming a video clip, it is a cross between a still photograph and a video. They will give the illusion that the viewer is watching an animation. Cinemagraph’s can be used for brands to share their content. They add more visual interest and gain more engagement to their brand.
Benefit Cosmetics Story
The brand that I chose is Benefit Cosmetics, a manufacturer of cosmetics founded and headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is founded by twin sisters, Jean and Jane Ford. The company offers concealers, primers, foundation, illuminators, makeup brushes and tools, beauty kits, cleansers, moisturizers, and eye care products. Their target audience would be females between the ages of 16-35.
Facing Challenges
The challenges that I have faced while creating this Cinemagraph for Benefit Cosmetics would be having the ability to relay the brand’s message to the customer or viewer. Their brands message is to put a smile on your face. They believe that “laughter is the best cosmetic. Why? Because when we are laughing and having fun, that is when we are at their most beautiful.” They are not only in the makeup business but they are in the “feel-good” business as well, making sure their brand makes the customer feel good about themselves. Benefit Cosmetics really strive to grow brand awareness on social media and working with influencers. Their posts and ads are always very bright, colorful and energetic, always using a pink color palette with a retro look. Another challenge would be, having the ability to produce good videos and Cinemagraph’s like the brand already does. I am able to produce good videos and Cinemagraph’s for this target audience, I have tried, bought and liked this brand for many of years.
Overthrowing the Challenge
I approached these challenges by doing more research for the brand. I discovered who they are as people, how their brand is as individuals and what messages they want to relay to their clientele. I knew I wanted to create a Cinemagraph for Benefit Cosmetics following in the same foot steps as their usual gifs, videos and posts. If I were to do a brand new concept for the brand it may bring their engagement down. Going back and forth with the brand, I have decided to shoot their mascara product, “They’re Real! Lengthening Mascara”.
The Big Idea
My final idea for this Cinemagraph was to do two videos; the first one, the model will have their eyes open with no mascara on, slowly closing them shut. The next frame would have the model start off with eyes closed with mascara on, slowly opening them. The two videos meshed together would be in the form of a blink. This took me an hour to plan how this video would go, with storyboards and drawings. I would then edit the clips using Adobe Photoshop and put the logo and value proposition in. The value proposition for this product is “Longer, Bolder and more Beautiful.”
Social Media Predictions
If this assignment goes well for the brand, this Cinemagraph would get posted on their website, Instagram or Tiktok. The post would get likes, shares and more interaction toward their pages. Hopefully gaining more activity on their pages with followers and likes. Benefit Cosmetics has taken the beauty industry by storm with 9.9 million followers on Instagram and 459.7K followers on Tiktok. Benefit Cosmetics uses Instagram to build deeper connections with its customers, make its products easily discoverable and enable seamless purchases online. To meet its sales goals, the brand chose to launch both exclusively on Instagram first for 24 hours, taking full advantage of the platform’s shopping solutions to generate excitement.
The Inspiration
Some inspiration that I looked at would be the brand Benefit itself. On their website, Instagram and Tiktok they have numerous Cinemagraph’s, gifs, videos and posts used to sell their products and gain more engagement. I also checked out other beauty brand Cinemagraph’s.
The Planning
I began planning this project by completing storyboards and sketches. I started to explore other brands and doing some sketches for them; but those didn’t work out. I landed on doing a mascara ad for Benefit Cosmetics. I felt as though the two video Cinemagraph would be easy to create.
Switching up Ideas
When this assignment was first given, I had different ideas than my finished product. I thought of doing a beach scene with two pictures. I struggled with that idea as I did not have time to go to the beach at a golden hour time for good lighting. Then I realized that wouldn’t be a good fit for the brand itself. After doing research about the brand, all of their videos or ads usually have a pink or white background. So I changed my filming location to a photography studio. Another idea that I changed was wanting to do two pictures instead of two videos. I now realized that the two videos I captured for the final Cinemagraph were a lot easier to edit.
The Creation Process
I created my finished Cinemagraph product by filming in the New England Tech photography studio. I set up the two light cameras, a camera with a tripod and had to figure out how to shoot the scene. As I am the model in the final product, it was a lot easier for me because I knew how I wanted everything to look. I ran into a few challenges while filming, the background in the studio was black, which was not fit for the brand. I solved the issue by cropping it out the background because of the dimensions of the Instagram post. Another challenge that I ran into was positioning myself in the frame. It is important to attempt to keep yourself in the same position for both the shots so the editing process is easier. I solved this problem by putting a piece of tape on top of the stool where my chin rested on. I set both lights to a cool toned white on both sides facing me. The first frame I stood in the frame, the camera was zoomed into my eye being the main focus in the camera. I had on mascara, opened and closed my eye then ended the frame. I then took the second shot after wiping off one eye of mascara and closing then opening my eye and ending the frame. I then took my videos into photoshop and created a video template. Once I finished editing, I added in the value proposition and the brands logo.
