03 / 05 · Motion4 reference pieces
Ninety seconds, about 225 words, and an animatic before a single asset is drawn.
[ 4 pieces ]
The standard
Reference pieces by other creators, chosen to set the bar for animated explainers. Our own named client work lives on how we work.
[ How this gets made ]
If the animatic does not work, the animation will not save it.
Turnaround 6–12 days
- 01The script is cut to the clock first — 140 to 150 words a minute, so ninety seconds is about 210 to 225 words and anything longer is a second video.
- 02A scratch voiceover goes over boards and is reviewed as an animatic, which is where a confusing story is still cheap to fix.
- 03Every scene has one job, written down, and any illustration that does not serve it is removed before it gets coloured.
- 04Sign-off happens on the animatic, because changing the story after the assets exist is the expensive failure in this format.
The usual disaster in explainer work is discovering during animation that scene three does not follow from scene two. By then the illustrations exist, they were approved, and fixing the story means paying for them twice. An animatic with a rough voice on it tells you everything an audience will feel about the pacing while the entire film is still a stack of sketches.
Also in Motion
The whole category- 01Motion graphicsType and shape moving on the beat, and nothing moving at a constant speed.6 references
- 022D animationKey poses, breakdowns, inbetweens, twelve drawings a second, held on twos.6 references
- 03Data & infographicsNumbers animated in the order the argument needs, one variable at a time.5 references
- 04Visual effects (VFX)Roto, matchmove, key, grain, until the added element looks like it was in the room.4 references
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