Animated videos are among the services we provide for clients, and they’re an increasingly popular choice. I recently completed a script and storyboards for an animated project that I think is really going to highlight our client’s product in a unique and interesting way, and it got me thinking—when is the right time for a client to choose animation over a traditional video product?
An ‘animated video’ is a video that is completely created via digital animation processes, and doesn’t necessarily refer to videos that include animation elements, like animated logos and the like. Animated videos can look like anything, from simple stick figure animations to abstract concepts, line drawings, paper cut-outs—almost anything you can imagine can be created in animation.
That’s the true benefit of animation, its versatility. If I write the phrase “a schooner sails across the lake at dawn,” it sounds simple enough. But shooting it? We’d have to rent a schooner, find a lake, hire enough crew to cover the event, bring everyone to the set early enough in the morning to be prepared to shoot at dawn, and then get the shot just right in the one, maybe two takes we’d get before the sun was too high in the sky. That sounds difficult, right? And in video production, difficult means expensive.
But that same sentence becomes a lot simpler in animation. It’s simply a matter of drawing the elements. It’s as easy for an animator to draw a dawn-treading schooner as it is a rocket ship, an alien world, or a kitchen in Brooklyn. This means that animation might be the solution for a client whose vision exceeds their available budget.
Another reason to go for animation is to create a video that stands out against a client’s competition, which we find works best for industries with several companies selling comparable products in the same marketplace. Often our clients have looked to animation in order to create eye-popping appeal on social media or even at industry trade shows.
That being said, we tend to not recommend animation as your sole video solution, but to instead think of animated videos as an add-on or a supplement to more traditional forms, like company intros or product demos. The reason is simple: a new potential customer might be intrigued by a clever animated concept, but eventually that customer is going to look for more concrete images and explanations as they decide whether to convert into a sale.
These are just a few ideas on when it’s best to use animation, but there’s a lot more to talk about. If you’re wondering which type of video might make your product shine, we’re always ready to help you at AMP.
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