What's Involved in an Animation Production?

The script lets everyone know what is happening in an animation. Just like actors need a script to understand their role, animators also need one to understand what is happening. The script usually has a flow of the story and comes with an outline or description of what is happening in the scenes. If there is voice over involved, the script would also include the voice over lines for our voice actor or actress.

Normally a scriptwriter can create a script for you but you can also write your own and simply have it copyrighted. This should be geared towards your marketing plan and we advise that you have your marketing ideas ready before attempting a script.

If you are making a Lyric Animation, you won’t necessarily need a script as the lyrics would serve this purpose! You can still create one if you have a particular vision as this helps know the direction of the work.

After receiving the script or outline, a storyboard artist will create storyboards to refine the idea further.

Storyboards are hand-drawn (or digitally drawn) pieces to describe each scene. You don’t have to be an amazing artist to create rough storyboards (but it certainly helps), you just have to make sure that anyone can understand what is happening visually in the scenes. Often, a storyboard artist may use a key or legend to symbolise where movement might happen. Here’s an example of a storyboard:

If you want to try your hand at it and have storyboards ready before an animation, this can cut down the time and price of your animation.

Sound greatly affects the mood of the animation.

Most animations require sound effects (sfx), background music and/or voice overs (VO). Responsible creatives, always provide royalty free sound effects and can also provide voice overs of your choice. Background music is a little more complex with copyright laws. It is always recommended that you purchase a commercial license to use any background music so that you can avoid any copyright issues. Alternatively, you can also engage a sound producer or musical artist to create your own custom music if you have the budget for it.

Example: Logo Animation with royalty free sound effects.

Voice Overs

Always take notice of your voice over and ask yourself, does it target your audience? Picking the right voice can change the results of your promotional campaign. Make sure to find the right voice for your brand. Below are sample sounds but feel free to message and arrange a more suitable voice.

You may also send your own voice over to be cleaned it up but there is no quality guarantee if you do it yourself. Lyric videos (by default) would already have music by the artist.

Graphics are the most important part of your animation! Graphics can range from photos, illustrations, and even 3D rendered images or videos. 

If there are scenes that will require customised graphics, then these would need to be created prior to the production of the animation. This definitely applies to Whiteboard Animations as they require every scene to be drawn up but it can also apply to other animations like Explainer Videos.

You may also provide certain graphics for your branding. This may be your logo, photos of your products, photos of the team, or other particular graphical details.

How can I tell if I am providing good quality graphics?

Right click on your photo and look at it’s properties or info. Usually there will be a pixel dimension. If your animation is getting shown at a standard HD screen, then this is the size of 1920 x 1080 pixels. If your image file is half or less than this, then you may see some distortion when it is blown up the scale. Make sure you provide images that are bigger than the dimensions you require them in!

Some animations may require live footage and often people will confuse an animator with a videographer. Animators usually work only in the computer and although they can try and simulate many things that can look like reality, they will not use video equipment.

Overlaying graphics over video footage can also be the job of visual effects artists which are otherwise known as VFX artists or editors. Although these two jobs may overlap, the VFX artist will normally specialise in adding particle effects used in explosions or other effects that require physics. Sometimes, a longer animated video can achieve a shorter production time if video footage is used.

We can edit live action footage to include animated graphics. If video is required then the client can engage an external party.