# Rendered stand-in self-demo — rebuild sheet

A skincare creator runs a pore routine on his own face at his desk, and twice cuts away to a 3D-rendered stand-in head that shows the same problem and the same step at a scale a phone cannot shoot — 839,385 views, 10,711 likes, 46.97s, by itz_balaaji.

**Why it works**

The render does the one job live footage cannot: it puts the problem at pore scale, exaggerated and unmissable, before anyone has to trust the person selling it. Then the operator's own real face runs the identical routine — same product, same mask, same zones — so the render supplies the diagnosis and his skin supplies the proof, and the viewer never has to take a claim on words because there almost are none.

**The beats**

| Time | What happens | On-screen text |
|---|---|---|
| 3.76s | Full-frame 3D render on flat blue: a stylised character head, nose covered in dense black comedones, a fine metal extractor held to the nostril, fingers pressing the cheek. Camera locked square-on. | — |
| 11.27s | Hard cut to live. Creator at arm's length on his front camera, chest-up, in his room. Cleanser on his cheek and nose, blue silicone face brush pressed against the side of his nose, speaking. | — |
| 18.79s | Back to the render, same character, same blue background — now wearing blue mask over the same zones the operator will wear it, one hand across the forehead. A pasted screenshot card of written text sits across the top third. | "AHA, BHA, and PHA are chemical exfoliants used in skincare **to remove dead skin cells, clear pores, and smooth skin texture**. Each type targets different skin needs based on how deeply they penetrate." (highlight as shown; a small source line sits under it, too small to read) |
| 26.30s | Live, same room, same framing. Whole face covered in pale blue mask, drying and cracking at the edges. Speaking. | — |
| 33.82s | Live, same room, tighter — face fills frame, mask gone, skin bare and slightly wet, both index fingers pressed to his cheeks either side of the nose. Speaking. | — |
| 41.33s | Live, same room, back to chest-up. He holds the brush up beside his head, bristle head to the lens. Speaking. | — |

**What carries the value**

The rendered pore-scale problem, cashed by his own face. The black comedones and the metal tool on the CG nose are a size of detail no phone gets; the next beat is a real person doing that same routine on real skin. Neither half persuades alone — the render on its own is a cartoon, the selfie on its own is a claim.

Two things the frames do not show, and I am not filling them in: there is no audio here, so whether his mouth is moving on a monologue, a voiceover, or nothing is inferred from four open-mouthed frames only — and nothing in the frames says whether he made the 3D animation or lifted it from somewhere.

**Shoot it**

- **Camera.** One phone on the front camera at arm's length, held not mounted. Same seat and same room for every live beat. Reframe by moving your arm — chest-up for the product beats, face-filling for the skin beat, back to chest-up to hold the product up. No tripod, no second location, no second angle.
- **Light.** Whatever the room has. His is flat daylight on the face with the room's own lamps and screen glow behind — a warm wall sconce, a plant, shelving, an RGB tower. Do not clear the background; the clutter is what makes it a real desk instead of a set.
- **Wardrobe.** One plain crew tee, the same one all runtime. Nothing on the face at the open except the problem you are about to treat.
- **Beat order.** Render (problem) → you applying → render (the step named, with the pasted definition) → you at the messiest point of the routine → your bare skin after → the product held to the lens.
- **Text.** None. Do not add captions, labels or a hook line — the whole piece runs on one pasted screenshot and nothing else. That screenshot is a real search result with its source line left visible, dropped over a rendered beat, never over your face.
- **The render half.** Two beats out of six, front-loaded. Both are full-frame with their own flat background — never composited into your room, never a split screen. The character wears the routine at the same points you do.

**Or generate it**

The most important beat is the open — the rendered problem at pore scale.

```
vertical 9:16 full-frame 3D character render, a stylised {SUBJECT} head filling the
frame against a flat light-blue background, dense dark {PROBLEM} clustered across the
centre of the face, {PRODUCT} held to that exact site by a rendered hand entering from
the right while the left hand's fingers press the skin beside it, plain white t-shirt
collar at the bottom edge of frame, soft even render light with glossy skin, camera
locked square-on at face height, no on-screen text
```

**Motion:** camera locked square-on and completely still on the rendered face; the only movement is the two hands and {PRODUCT} working at the site, the face itself holding position.

**Text-overlay pattern:** no authored overlay anywhere. One text event only — a pasted screenshot of a written definition over the top third of a rendered beat: `{TERM}, {TERM} and {TERM} are {CATEGORY} used in {FIELD} to {BENEFIT CLAUSE — highlighted}. Each type {QUALIFIER}.` Reproduce it as an actual search-result screenshot with the source line still visible underneath. Retyping it as a caption breaks the format — the borrowed look is the authority.

**Reference:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbVyK50NC4Q/
