A great animation doesn’t start with a storyboard. It starts with understanding what you need to communicate, who you need to reach and what you want them to do next.
You don’t need to have all the answers before you speak to an animation agency. But getting the right answers early makes for better creative work, and a much more effective final film. Here are six things we think are worth considering...
1. Start with the problem, not the animation
Before thinking about 2D, 3D or a particular visual style, get clear on what the project needs to solve.
Perhaps your product is difficult to explain. Your sales team needs a better way to demonstrate value. You’re launching something new. Or your existing content simply isn’t getting the message across.
That problem should shape the project from the beginning.
At Courts, we start by understanding the challenge before deciding what we should make.
2. Know who you’re talking to
The same story can look very different depending on who needs to hear it.
A technical audience might need detail. A senior decision-maker may need the value communicated quickly. A completely new audience might need a complex proposition stripped back to its simplest form.
Understanding the audience helps us determine the message, tone, pace and level of detail.
3. Find the idea that makes everything click
Trying to explain everything usually results in people remembering very little.
The strongest animations have a clear central idea. Something that gives the story focus and makes a complicated subject easier to understand.
Finding that idea is a big part of what happens before we start designing or animating.
Complex subject. Simple story.
4. Choose the right technique for the story
2D. 3D. Motion graphics. Character animation. Live action combined with motion.
There are plenty of ways to bring an idea to life. The important thing is choosing the approach because it helps tell the story — not simply because it’s the latest visual trend.
We work across different animation techniques, which means we can recommend the approach that best fits the brief rather than forcing the brief into a particular style.
5. Think beyond the hero film
Your animation might begin life on a landing page, at a product launch or in a sales presentation. But that doesn’t have to be where it ends.
Thinking about different applications from the beginning can create much more value from the same project.
A hero animation might also become campaign cutdowns, social content, product sequences, still imagery, presentation assets or exhibition content.
One project can create a lot more than one film.
6. Choose a team you can work with
Animation is collaborative.
There are scripts to develop, ideas to explore, storyboards to review and creative decisions to make before anything reaches the final frame.
So look beyond the showreel. You need a team that can understand your business, challenge the brief when needed, explain the process clearly and keep the project moving.
We’ve been creating motion for more than 20 years, working with organisations to turn complicated products, technologies and ideas into stories people can understand.
You don’t need a finished brief
In fact, some of our best conversations start with little more than “we need to explain this better.”
We can help you work out the story, the approach and what you actually need to make.
Have something you need to bring to life? Let’s talk.