How to Use Animation Videos When You Can’t Do Filming

Are you having trouble filming live-action videos for your business?

If so, have you thought about doing an animation video?

Animation videos can be a short and effective marketing tool to increase your online visibility. Animation can simplify complex topics, offer visual stimulation, and evoke feelings of nostalgia.

With more and more businesses trying to get viewers’ attention, it’s getting harder to stand out. From funny animation videos to information explainer videos, there are no limits to what you can achieve with the power of animation.

Do you want to increase your online visibility with animation videos?

Learn how you can use animation videos to grow your business here.

What Is the Difference Between Animation and Video

Animation is the technique of manipulating inanimate hand-drawn or computed generated images. It brings ideas to life through the illusion of movement.

On the other hand, video records real-life still or moving images. However, both animation and video can be used in the same production. For example, in “Mary Poppins” and “Mary Poppins Returns”.

Confusing? We thought so. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the three main differences between animation and video.

The Tools

With live video, the action is captured by a camera. The raw footage is then edited to ensure the scenes flow correctly. This is especially important with footage filmed in different locations.

With animation video, everything is created through software. Depending on the type of animation, the process will differ slightly. For example, the 2D animation process creates movement using still images in a two-dimensional space.

On the other hand, 3D animation creates computer-generated objects that appear to move through three-dimensional space.

Either way, both are created and controlled by the computer. The only exception is stop-motion animation, where objects are physically manipulated and captured one frame at a time. For example, “Wallace and Gromit” or the award-winning Australian short film “Lost and Found”.

The People

Film and animation operate differently in terms of the different skills required to create each form. For example, a live-action movie needs a camera operator. The cameraman is directed by the director of photography (DOP) and the principal director.

Of course, you also need real-life actors, screenwriters, set designers, costume designers, makeup artists, and various other roles.

In animation, the artists are the real heroes. You can find a team of talented animators, texture artists, digital painters, lighting technical directors, compositors, voiceover artists, and more in any animation studio.

While creating live-action is a combined effort of a large team travelling to and from location, creating animation is almost entirely made at a computer desk.

The Level of Difficulty

There’s no doubt creating animation videos require more time, effort and skill. However, the hard work pays off after you see the result. Animators must use complicated software to create and animate designs and assets.

An animator must need a comprehensive set of skills, including:

• Creativity and a strong imagination
• An eye for detail and colour
• The ability to draw, make models, and use computer graphics software
• Patience
• Ability to work under pressure and able to meet short deadlines
• Immaculate attention to detail

As animation quality reaches almost unimaginable heights, animators must continue developing and honing their skills.

Why Animated Video?

As businesses continue to elevate their social media presence, we have seen a shift from text to predominantly images and videos. This is particularly noticeable in Instagram and Snapchat.

With that, more businesses are pivoting away from traditional marketing platforms and focusing their energies on social media. In particular, TikTok.

The social media giant recently removed its one-minute video limit to three minutes. This saw an uptick in animated content from businesses who saw it as a simple yet effective opportunity to grab the attention of a younger audience.

Animated video helps create brand recognition, and it’s incredibly captivating. If you think back to some of the most memorable Australian TV ads, you’ll notice a good deal of them were animated.

Dogs go wacko for schmackos, anybody?

With more opportunities to showcase your brand through video, it makes sense to consider animation as a marketing tool. Marketers are even using animation within email marketing to help their brand stand out from the crowd.

Our attention spans are minimal, and they’re not increasing anytime soon. At this point, we could argue that if your brand isn’t utilising animation by now, you’re doing marketing wrong.

But we can fix that.

Benefits of Animation Video for Your Business

Thanks to recent changes in the media space, the online world has opened up to simple yet effective ways to market various products and services.

Animated videos help a brand outline its key points about company values, products or services. If executed well, an animated video can leave a memorable impression on its audience.

Animation is cost-effective, easy to manage, and unique to share your compelling message. But there’s more to it than that.

Here’s why animated videos are the perfect solution for your business.

1. Can Bring Any Idea to Life

Traditional filming is limited to what it can and can’t film, depending on the budget. With animation, the possibilities are endless regardless of your budget.

If you want to create an animation set on the moon, you can without having to build elaborate and expensive set pieces.

Do you want your main character’s head to explode? You can without bringing on a team of specialist FX makeup artists.

With an animated video, you can take your brand to unimaginable heights.

2. Fit for Just About Anything

Animated videos work for various marketing needs, including product explainer videos, infographics, and product release announcements.

Some choose to use animation to deliver a serious message that connects with their audience personally. At the same time, others choose animation to create humour, though it’s more complicated than it looks!

The absence of human characters makes it easier for an audience to engage with their escapist side. “My Neighbour Totoro” is just one example of joyful animated escapism.

3. Short and Effective

Animated videos are a straightforward and effective way to break up the monotony of everyday visual experiences. You have to know how to pack enough punch within the first few seconds. First impressions are everything, especially on TikTok.

With so many videos to watch, you need to stand out from the crowd. That’s where an animated video comes in.

People love being entertained—the more entertaining the video, the better. Start with a great hook and follow through with an engaging story to maintain their attention.

4. Universal Appeal

You probably watched cartoons when you were younger, usually on a Saturday morning with a bowl of Weetbix or a cup of Milo. But it isn’t just kids who love it.

Animation appeals to audiences of all ages. They remind us of our childhood, and they universally speak to all generations.

With increasing popularity in animated adult content, TV shows such as “Big Mouth”, “Rick and Morty”, and “Bojack Horseman” make it easy to see just how beloved the animated medium is.

5. Easily Explains Complex Ideas

Animated videos are the ideal tool to break down and explain complex ideas in a short period. Through the visual medium, educational animation can engage people quickly and powerfully.

Whiteboard and explainer videos are the best types of animation to explain complex concepts because:

• You can break ideas down into simple scenes
• Your imagination is the limit
• They’re easy to update
• It makes information easy to digest

Animated videos can convey complex information through memorable imagery. And let’s be honest, it beats watching a talking head.

6. Delivers Emotion to Your Message

Animated videos have the power to elicit a strong emotional impact. The combination of strong visuals, sound, and a compelling story is a potentially potent mix that will resonate with viewers.

People act on emotion. They also love a good story.

If you want to prompt your audience into action, you need to develop an emotional story. Make your story become theirs. If done well, an animated video with a good story can create empathy, leading to more significant profits.

After over two years of struggling through a worldwide pandemic, marketers want to inject nostalgia into their video content. Animation is the perfect tool to engage audiences deeper, and more personal.

7. Save You Time and Money

Live-action videos don’t tend to age well. If you’ve ever had to sit through a workplace health and safety video, you’ll know what we mean. We’re talking dated pant-suits, 80s hair, and stilted dialogue.

An animation video will remain fresh for longer and won’t need to be updated as often. Animation is also cost-effective and fits almost any budget, despite what many believe.

You can produce animation fast without sacrificing quality. Better yet, your “actors” don’t need to rehearse.

8. Help Your Business Stand Out

We’re in an incredibly competitive and congested marketplace at the moment, with businesses implementing all types of strategies to cut through the noise.

An animated video is an easy way to set you apart from your competitors. It establishes your company as imaginative and innovative, maybe even funny, too!

9. Increase Your Site’s SEO

There are many conventional ways to improve your SEO rankings. But did you know you can boost your SEO rankings through explainer videos?

People are more likely to visit your site by watching a video on social media platforms or Youtube than any other type of content. This means the more video content you create and publish, the more traffic you can bring to your site.

The result? An improvement in your SEO in the long run.

10. Expand Your Reach

With the instant transfer of information on social media, your animated video has the potential to go viral within minutes. Social media platforms like TikTok embrace and foster creativity. It teaches us that you can use social media to be quirky and yourself.

Online audiences appreciate creativity. If they like something, they won’t hesitate to share it online and with their friends and family. That kind of reach is hard to beat.

Different Types of Animation Video Techniques

Now we know why animation is the ideal tool for marketing. Let’s explore the different types of animated video techniques. You may be surprised by the other options you can choose from.

Depending on your intent, some animated videos might be more effective for your brand than others.

Here are the different types of animation video techniques.

1. Whiteboard Animation

Whiteboard animation is an explainer video. Typically, it sells a product or describes an idea, complex or otherwise. Whiteboard animation is an incredibly effective tool to communicate specific ideas.

It is a video style that shows static images drawn on the screen (or whiteboard) in a blackboard marker. The images are often accompanied by voiceover narration. This provides another layer of storytelling.

Whiteboard animation is often a great starting point to video marketing. They make the perfect addition to any website, social media page, or email newsletter.

There’s no question they are simple yet incredibly engaging.

2. 2D Animation Style

2D animation is the art of creating the illusion of movement in a two-dimensional space. It is a popular and proven format for many businesses that want to improve brand awareness.

The best 2D animated videos incorporate multiple elements, including:

• Vibrant colours
• Dynamic character movement
• Memorable messaging

2D animation can capture attention, communicate more efficiently, and offer more profound engagement.

Due to its versatility, 2D animation has the power to communicate almost any type of information to an audience. From brand image to product images, 2D animation can do it all.

Better yet, you can save money on voiceovers and the expenses that often come with traditional filming.

3. Stop-Motion Video Style

If you’re familiar with “Wallace and Gromit”, you know all about stop-motion videos. It is an animation technique in which one frame is captured at a time.

Between each shot, the clay objects are moved slightly. When the images are played sequentially, it gives the illusion that the objects are moving independently.

While not as popular as the other styles, stop-motion animation will draw the biggest crowd. When done correctly, stop-motion videos are easy to watch and make a significant impact.

4. Motion Graphics Video Style

Motion graphics are a type of animation that creates moving or animated graphic design. It is not strictly character-driven. Instead, the process often utilises shapes, logos and other texts.

Motion graphics are memorable. They drive brand awareness. They make videos more understandable and easy to remember in a short amount of time.

Motion graphics are easily shareable and cheaper than other animations and videos. They can be as serious or silly as you want them to be.

Melbourne Metro’s “Dumb Ways to Die” is a silly yet highly effective video that took train safety and made it memorable.

Our motion graphic studio in Australia is designed to help you increase sales, conversions and brand awareness. A motion graphic video might just be the answer to your prayers.

5. Infographics

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information. They are intended to present this information quickly and clearly. Infographics often include images, icons, text, charts, and diagrams.

In marketing, infographics are used to communicate complex information clearly and concisely. People often consume video content because it’s visually appealing and makes harder-to-swallow information easily digestible.

Did you know an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than text? We did. Build authority with a Punchy infographic.

6. 3D Animation Style

3D animation is a graphic technique that uses motion to bring computer-generated characters, objects, settings, and more to life.

Using 3D animation in short videos is a great way to appeal to a younger audience. You can be seen as more sophisticated, modern, and more creative as a brand.

3D animation lets your product be seen in ways that were never possible. It brings the power of imagination and creativity to your marketing. The motion and colour of the animation can grab attention instantly.

Cadbury’s iconic “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” commercial became a testament to just how widespread the animated style was and still is.

Need an animated TV commercial to rival Cadbury? Punchy’s got you covered.

How to Use Animated Video in Your Social Media Strategy

With the growth in popularity of animated videos, it’s getting harder to make your brand stand out from your competitors.

Here are some valuable tips on using animated video in your social media strategy.

Keep Your Videos Short

Keep your videos short, stupid. Our attention spans resemble half a peanut these days.

The key to the success of your video? Keep it short, entertaining, and suck your audience in from the very first moment they hit play.

Keep Autoplay in Mind

Facebook videos are often on autoplay when the user scrolls through their feed. Your video needs to grab people’s attention from the very first frame.

Most videos also play without sound. That means you’ll need to have a solid first frame or risk your video being lost within the sea of dejected videos.

Make People Feel Good

Great brands make people feel good about themselves. Marketing should empower the consumer rather than make them feel inadequate.

Find ways to incorporate joy into your animated video. It’s worked for a lot of big brands already.

Use Different Types of Videos

Facebook is personal. Youtube is educational. TikTok is quirky.

To get the most from your animated videos, you may want to use different videos for different platforms. Experiment and see which types work best for your marketing strategy.

Animate Other Types of Content

People assume animated videos are the only form of visual marketing. Why not try something different? Animate an infographic or briefly animate your brand logo.

Whatever you can do to stimulate visual interest will help your brand in more ways than one.

How to Make Animation Videos

Depending on your animated video’s quality, style, and duration, the process can be complex or straightforward. If you have the right message, you may be able to make an impact.

There are a few different options when it comes to animation software. Some have free trials but are often expensive once this period is over.

Keep in mind it can take anywhere between 1 to 3 years to learn animation without the proper guidance. Add an extra ten years if you want to go pro.

If you want to produce high-quality content that generates leads and converts interest into customers, it might be wise to hit up the digital media pros instead.

But won’t it be too expensive?

Not at all. Here at Punchy Digital Media, we are 100% transparent. You won’t need to worry about any additional costs, our prices are fixed, and revisions are always included.

Like we said, first impressions are crucial. Make yours count.

Use Animation Video to Boost Your Business

There’s something so watchable about animation, right? Right.

Are you interested in using animation video to grow your business but unsure where to begin?

At Punchy Digital Media, we can help you brainstorm, prepare, animate and produce your animation video. After our four-step process, you will receive your animation ready to upload and share.

We do all our animation work right here in our Australian-based animation studio. Our world-class animated content has helped major Aussie brands tell their story.

We aim to help all industries, from finance to government to education and healthcare. We know what works, so let us help you, too.

Take the animated plunge. Please choose from one of our animation services and contact us today for a free quote.