Animation or motion graphics are great video marketing solutions, especially when circumstances such as time, budget, or safety don’t allow for in-person filming.
Animation is infinitely scalable and flexible enough to work with any amount of resources. It also takes away many of the constraints associated with live-action filming—meaning, you don’t have to find spaces or people that represent your brand and messaging, you can create a world to fit your precise needs and vision.
When we develop animated content, we check in with our clients multiple times throughout the process, opening the door to collaboration and feedback at each project milestone.
Here’s our process:
Script/story development
As with all projects, we start with scripting and story development. A strong story is a key element to a successful video marketing project. Collaborating with our clients, we approach this step with messaging and visuals in mind.
Art direction
With the completed script in hand, we home in on the art direction of the video. Taking brand elements, information on the target audience, and the main message into account, we flesh out the illustration style and overall aesthetic, and we create thumbnails for the primary scenes.
This gives structure to the visual ideas and how they line up with the script, providing a foundation for us to build on as the project progresses.
Animatic
Once all the design has been decided on and the thumbnails have been created and approved, we move to the animatic. An animatic is a preliminary version of the video, where a series of stills that are fully designed or illustrated are set to music and voice-over to get a feel for the timing.
This step in the process is extremely important as it can reveal areas that have gaps or have too much content, scenes that may move too quickly or not change fast enough, or scenes that simply don't flow into each other or need a visual "punch-up.” Once the animation process begins, it becomes a lot harder to make broad changes, so a critical eye is vital when our clients review the animatic.
Animation
This is where we begin to breathe life into the video. Things start to move on the x-, y-, and z-axis, digital camera motion is added, and often graphics find their place. The smaller, more tedious parts of the animation process, such as character animation, are saved for last to ensure everything else is in place.
Once the animations are complete and scene transitions and effects have been added, you can see the video in a nearly finished state.
Final touches
The last step in our animation process is to add the final touches—timing adjustments, sound design, and specialized effects.
Timing is everything, and sometimes little adjustments can go a long way. Character and style can be added with the use of textures, digital lighting, or other digital camera effects.
The sound design helps emphasize emotional storytelling. A properly placed sound effect brings the images to life and fully immerses the viewer in the world you created. A well-crafted music track will emotionally guide the audience through your message.
All these elements come together to polish the piece and take it across the finish line.
Animated videos are a reliable resource for organizations because they are limitless—not even reality can impact them if your imagination is big enough. Whether you need to demonstrate science at the cellular level, show an entire kitchen simultaneously in chaos, explain abstract concepts, or make your software come to life, animation can get the job done.