SkinStylus is a professional-grade microneedling pen from Hydrafacial, used in clinics and medical spas. For the launch of the SteriLock MicroSystem, Hydrafacial needed a hero film to introduce the pen to skincare professionals. It had to explain how the device is built and how the treatment works, including the patented safety system inside each cartridge and a choice of three cartridge types.
The brief asked for the device’s components to be shown separately and assembled, the needles in motion, and a mechanism of action showing what happens beneath the skin, with each feature labelled at the relevant moment.
The film opens on the assembled pen on its acrylic stand, close on the champagne gold finish. The pen then separates in mid-air into its components: cartridge, needle depth adjuster, motor and battery.
The camera pauses on each part in turn, with callouts for the gamma ray sterilised cartridges, the needle depth adjuster and the 6,200 to 8,840 RPM motor. Each callout sits in clean space beside the part it describes, so a practitioner can follow the technical breakdown at a glance.
The centrepiece of the film is a detailed mechanism of action (MoA) animation. A stylised dermal cross-section shows the needle array passing through the epidermis into the dermis, with the epidermis, dermal tissue, collagen strands and fat layer each rendered as a distinct layer. As the needles create micro-channels, the collagen network responds and thickens, showing practitioners how the treatment triggers the skin’s natural repair process.
At the end, a hand lifts the pen from its stand as the brand line appears: “Designed by Skincare Professionals, for Skincare Professionals.”
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Product & Brand Marketing Manager, Hydrafacial
The hero film gives Hydrafacial a single piece of medical device animation that explains the SteriLock MicroSystem in under a minute, from the engineering of the pen to its effect on the skin. The MoA sequence turns a clinical process into something practitioners can understand at a glance and explain to their clients. Open project files were supplied so Hydrafacial’s regional teams can localise the on-screen copy for different markets. The film sits alongside teaser and reveal edits and a set of CGI stills of the pen and cartridges, all made for the same launch.
