Animations can be a great option when explaining a complicated product or piece of software, however, they require a different workflow to live video and it’s very important to plan a corporate animation in order to get it right and therefore reduce cost and time.
The reason animations need military like planning is because we’re producing pretty much everything that will appear in the video from scratch, whether it’s an environment, characters, iconography or kinetic typography and if one section needs to be altered mid way through a project it can cause a domino effect of other things that will need altering. So what might seem like a small tweak can sometimes end up being a large change to the whole of the animation.
I think it’s fair to say that some people do struggle when asked to imagine or visualise an idea and will only be able to tell you what they don’t like and not what they like. This is absolutely fine and we think we can work with everyone to pin down a great concept and deliver an animated video that will be just what you wanted.
So what type of things do you need to plan?
Scripting
In the early stages we need to nail down a script as this is what will guide the viewer through the video and all the animations will be matched to it. The script could for be a voiceover, creative subtitling or an interview if you want to combine animation with live action. If the script is dramatically changed once we have begun animating and the voice-over has been in the studio then this could be a very costly change.
What sort of video do you want?
Once you have the message fixed the next step is to decide on the type animation. The two main animations types are 2D and 3D and there are a whole host of styles and options open to you within both these groups. Some of the main ones are whiteboard explainer videos, kinetic typography, 2D animations using iconography and the more complicated 3D animation. This all sounds complicated and overwhelming but don’t worry, we can help guide through this stage and explain the pros and cons of each option that interests you.
Style
This is an extension of the previous point and it’s very important. The style of the video needs to be agreed before any animating work begins. By style I mean the look of the graphical assets, the colour pallet and animation movements such as linear or organic. If it helps we can send you examples of videos we have produced in the past or animations that we’ve seen and liked as this may help guide you towards deciding on a style of video. It’s important to pick a style and stick to it so we’re not swapping and changing half way through the process.
Storyboarding
Storyboards can be extremely helpful during an animation project because once you have decided on the three points above the storyboard can be made up of the actual assets we’ll use and it’s a great visual aid to see the main sections of the video before we add all the movement.
Once all these things have been covered as best they can we can then start to animate the final version of the video which I will explain in a later blog.
If you would like us to help you produce an animation for your company please drop us a line on 01273 911345 and get in touch with Will or Andy.