Tips and Tricks to Perfect Your Animation Game
If you ask people, some will say that the company probably has an enormous marketing budget, while others will credit it to their highly qualified animators.
Both budget and experience matter, like, a lot, but how you make use of these qualities also plays a significant role in improving the outcome.
For instance, some brands hire the most skilled animators and break their banks in video-making, yet the results are above-average.
So, it’s more about following a few tricks and tips that can help you perfect the animated video-creation procedure. If you’d like to get your hands (or, in this case, eyes) on them, you’ve come to the right place.
In this blog, we’ll go over a few tried and tested strategies to help you make an immensely gorgeous and highly engaging animated video.
Let us begin.
Richard Attenborough, one of the greatest filmmakers, once said, “There’s nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.”
Even though he was talking about films, who’s to say you can’t apply the same to animated videos?
In fact, scripts are very much an essential component of making animated videos. And that’s precisely why you must get your head in the game while writing a script.
It should answer a few questions:
As for the script’s approach, it could be story-driven or conversational, but the one you use depends on certain factors, like your objectives and business type.
And if you want to create a long-lasting impression, keep it under the 1-minute mark. We understand it may not always be possible, but when it is, follow this rule.
At the end of the video, place an effective CTA that encourages viewers to purchase your product or contact you.
Once you’ve written an engaging script that covers your business’s primary objectives, it’s time to see what the final video could look like. Yes, you’re far from the final stage, but a storyboard gives you a glimpse of your hard work.
Designing a storyboard is crucial for many reasons:
And you don’t have to go full Christopher Nolan or Steven Spielberg while designing a storyboard. A simple, minimalistic, and colorless comic strip will be enough.
To make things even simpler, write script lines with each scene. Trust us – your animators will be thanking you later on; it will save them from a lengthy process of going back and forth.
Some companies also create concept art before or after this stage, but in our experience, we’ve found it redundant. Therefore, it’s better to focus all your efforts on designing a storyboard.
There are dozens of free tools/software that provide voiceover for videos. And you can use them, but only if you want your viewers to think, “We’d rather watch paint dry than get through even one more second of this video.”
Sorry for sounding a bit harsh, but we speak from personal experience.
Videos that have specifically recorded voiceovers come off as relatable and professional. That’s not the case with custom voiceovers in which the tools read script lines. They miss words with emphasis, making your videos sound boring and monotonous.
Such videos do not inspire viewers to take any action. And as a business owner, there’s not a bigger loss for you than this.
So, spend a few bucks and hire professional voiceover artists who thoroughly understand your brand guidelines and the tone you wish to portray.
Furthermore, choose voiceover artists who speak in the same accent as your target audience. Your customers will acknowledge and appreciate that you went out of your way to make them feel included.
It’s time to move toward the actual animation process.
This is where your animators’ skills will be tested. And we’re not just talking about their individual skills. They’ll have to combine the raw data (script, storyboard, and voiceover) in the smoothest possible way, like the ebb and flow of water.
Since we’re already on the topic, keep Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation in mind. Although the geniuses that came up with them have been long dead (may God rest their souls), the principles, to this date, help animators perfect their craft.
(If you’d like to know more, please read our blog, What You Can Learn from Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation, where we’ve discussed each principle in detail.)
While working on the animation, remember one thing – people are drawn to beautiful, colorful, and lifelike things. So, the harder you work on making the video visually attractive, the better it’ll catch viewers’ attention.
The final component of perfecting your animation game is adding background music. It can truly elevate the experience for viewers, even if your script and visuals are basic. Choose uplifting, sad, or funny music, depending on the video’s context.
But the music must be in sync with the video. Otherwise, it can stick out like a sore thumb, and your video will come off sloppily edited.
And just because we’ve mentioned this point in the last doesn’t mean you should treat it as an afterthought. Instead, it should be an integral part of the procedure right from the get-go.
That’s About It
See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?
It can take some time to perfect your animation game but think of it as an investment that you’d be receiving a high return on.
At AnimationProLabs, we impart this wisdom to all our clients.
If you’d like to add your name to the roster, we’re just a call away.
We follow the same process we’ve mentioned in this blog while creating animated videos, resulting in the creation of a meaningful and awe-inspiring outcome.
