Storytelling in a video format comes in all shapes and sizes. One way to share your message and captivate your audience without the need to film a second of footage is via an animated explainer video.
As a brand, business or organisation you will have unique messages and pieces of information that you regularly need to share with your stakeholders.
Whether it’s:
Keeping your chosen audience captivated is key to making sure the message lands.
Animated explainer videos are incredibly versatile and can be tailored to any message. They offer a unique way to engage your target audience and ensure your message is understood.
Need to explain something to your audience? Animated explainer videos are the clear and concise solution for effective communication.
Let’s take this back to the very start and give a nice simple overview of what an
At its very core, an animated explainer video is a piece of video content that seeks to explain a specific message to the chosen audience utilising some form of animated graphics.
A very popular approach to this could be 2D Motion graphics. Using animated video (A.K.A Kinetic typography), Messages and stories can literally be spelled out on screen for the viewer.
Think of it like a poster that has a bold strapline or piece of written information on it. However, the joy of a 2D animated video is that you have multiple posters appearing on screen one after the other. You can share vast amounts more written information with your audience than a static piece of content.
To further communicate your message, animated 2D graphics will be used. These can serve the purpose of keeping the video visually engaging, or can be the primary form of communication.
For example, if a multinational company wants to show all of the countries it operates in, a map can animate on screen highlighting different locations. In this instance, the graphics serves a very practical purpose whilst also breaking up the amount of text used in the video.
For more high-level and complex animated videos, you can look to 3D animation. A more costly and time-consuming option. The real benefit of 3D comes when an object or a process needs to be shown in very clear detail. Here are plenty of instances where 3D animation is more beneficial:
Whichever the approach, the intent is the same between 2D and 3D animated videos. The content is being created to share a specific message with your audience in a clear and captivating way. Once the message and audience has been clearly defined, it is then a matter of choosing the best delivery method for that message.
Strong lines of communication are vital for every business, whether it be internal or external communications. A business needs its messaging to reach its stakeholders in a clear and understandable way.
Once a business’s messages start to become unclear and distorted, the business’ purpose can become lost and its efficiency can break down.
This isn’t an exercise in us telling you how important communication is, this is self-evident. What we are outlining is how helpful an animated explainer video is for your business’ communication channels.
It is often thought that an explainer video is just for products and quite literally explains how to use the product in question. Under this misconception, it is understandable why many individuals believe the scope for this style of video content is limited.
Although product explainer videos are a very effective use of this style of content, animated explainers are very useful in many other areas such as;
All of the above are examples of how an animated explainer video can be used in wider areas of your business.
Streamline your message with an animated explainer video. It’s a more engaging and effective way to communicate complex information, turning dry text into a visual story.
When thinking about why your business needs an animated explainer video, you should consider all forms of your company’s communications.
Suppose you can think of areas where communication between your company and key stakeholders is important. In that case, producing an explainer video to communicate this message is probably one of the most effective ways of doing so.
Ok, so you like the sound of animated explainer videos and can see how these would benefit your business, but how are they actually produced? Different agencies take different approaches, but here is how we approach the production of animated explainer videos at Glacé Media.
Straight off the bat, we want to hear from you. Whether this be a left-field idea scrawled on the back of a beer mat after hours in a pub or a fully blown brief ready to rock n roll with.
We want to get a sense of what is in your mind at this early stage, so don’t hold back in emptying your brain into the initial brief to us.
I’m talking links to YouTube videos you like (no, this doesn’t mean Premier League highlight compilations from 2004).
References to other businesses or animation styles as well as any specifics you definitely want to include as inspiration for the animation service.
This is just a brain dump so throw whatever you like in there.
Now that the contents of your brain have been officially dumped out on us, it’s time to get an initial chat going. Whether this is in person or via the much-loved format of a video call, this will give us the chance to start refining the project. Here we will dig further into the practical elements of the project.
All of this will begin to give us a gauge of the direction we take it in.
The chat will also give us the opportunity to ensure we fully understand the creative whirrings currently in your mind and that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. We’ll also engage with some friendly back and forth to ensure a healthy repartee is well and truly flowing early on.
Now we know what you’re after, it’s time for us to show you what we’ve got. From your initial brief and the follow-up grilling we’ve given you in our chat, we will put together our thoughts and ideas and then pitch them to you. These will include;
From here you can get an insight into how we’ve interpreted your thoughts and hopefully be blown away by our creative visions.
On a more basic level, this will give you some practical options as to where we can take the project. (As well as a better look at the outcome of our animation service!)
Depending on the type of animations we are looking at, these options could be vast or they could be pretty tight. Either way, you’ll be able to see some clear routes to completion.
We don’t want to overwhelm you with death by video call so this one is optional for you. But we always find it useful to have another chat at this stage.
Once you’ve read through our ideas and discussed them internally, you can then feed back to us and pose any questions.
From here we will explain our thinking in more detail and nail down the direction you want your animated explainer video to go.
You may want to tweak some of the ideas, or you may just want to take our proposal off the shelf and carry it straight to the checkout.
Either way, by the end of this phase we will have an approach locked in and ready to go.
You can now start dropping into conversation with clients and customers that you’re in the process of working with a super cool and edgy animation company who are going to produce a killer piece of video content for you. Just don’t forget to pay your deposit and we’re happy for you to name-drop until your heart’s content.
The beauty of animated videos is that as soon as the green light is given, animating can begin immediately. There’s no need for those clunky old cameras and cold wood-beamed studios, just us, the computer and a whole dollop of creativity.
We’ll work through the plan we’ve made alongside you, putting together a first version of the animated explainer video.
We’ll nail out a first version of the video and get it over to you for feedback. From here you can give us general stylistic feedback as well as specific timestamped changes. We will then back and forth the edits until you have what you’re after.
This then puts us in a prime position to edit together any extra versions of the video or videos. We’re talking specific social edits, adverts, teasers & trailers. Basically anything we can upsell you on in the meantime.
Plus, another joy of animated videos is that they can be tweaked very quickly. If a text change needs to be made or the colour palette requires a refreshing – don’t worry! We know all the buttons to press on the keyboard to make that happen.
From here we then get ourselves to the point where you have all the final versions of the videos you asked us to produce. Just like that, the animated explainer video is complete. We told you we would deliver and we’ve only gone and bloody done it.
If you’re still not convinced by all of this knockout information on the benefits of animated explainer videos then let me throw this your way.
Producing an animated video is a beautiful act of creative minimalism. Beyond just sounding like a wonderfully pretentious sentence, it is also very true. Animated explainer video productions allow complex concepts to be transformed into compelling stories in a very simple to understand way.
Every business, brand, or organisation has its areas of specialisation. Inevitably at some point with each area of specialisation, there come some complex concepts.
Communicating these concepts is rarely easy.
Seasoned employees might effortlessly understand intricate details, but those new to the company can easily get lost in the jargon. This communication gap can hinder understanding and collaboration.
In many instances, key information quite literally is crammed into lengthy handbooks. Either this or some other form of excessively long document or piece of content.
Good communication requires simplicity. The ability to understand the most complex of concepts from the perspective of an absolute novice.
The platform provided by Animated explainer videos allow complex concepts to be transformed into easily digestible visual messages.
On top of this (much like the wider world of film and video production) we are not just throwing information at the screen, but we are telling a story.
Stories resonate so much more powerfully than raw information and data.
Animated videos combine minimalist visuals with storytelling to effectively communicate with stakeholders. This avoids information overload and creates a memorable experience.
Next time you have a big concept to share, just think, could I do this more effectively via an animated explainer video?
As we’ve covered, animated explainer videos can be useful in all sorts of situations. But if you want a few examples of where the Glacé team have put this style of video content into practice, We have a bunch we’d like to show you
This animated video was produced to announce the full brand re-launch of a rugby team. The video uses high energy cuts and music to back the slick animation style that explains the history of the club whilst showing off the new club branding.
More in-depth visuals were utilised in this video to explain the service this property tech business provides its clients as well as the products it offers. The combination of minimalist animations alongside striking visuals from their product gives a clear and understandable explainer of their deep and varied service offering.
A short and snappy video here embraces the new brand identity of this business and really brings it to life through lively motion graphics. The aim of a video like this is to quickly share the visual identity of the brand with the audience whilst sharing relevant pieces of information with them.
It is instantly clear from watching this animated explainer what the brand’s new logo and visual identity looks like as well as what it stands for.
A lovely example of how an animated explainer video can effectively share plenty of information with an audience in a short period of time.
If all this talk of animated explainer videos has got you excited at the prospect of creating your own piece of content, we’d highly encourage you to give it a go. There are so many benefits to using this style of video content as they provide an amazing alternative to classic video production.
However, if you feel you need a hand with the process and would like help turning your vision into a video reality, then the Glacé team are always ready to assist.
sharing the vision of what you’re looking to achieve and we will eagerly dive into the process of producing you your very own animated explainer video.
Our many clients are a testament to the amazing feats we’ve achieved, and we want you to come on board.
