We regularly produce explainer animations for our clients. For some they don’t realise they require one until we go through the scripting and storyboarding processes. They can be a vital tool to communicate complex ideas/concepts and/or a large amount of information in a clear and concise way.
Especially for new clients who haven’t previously commissioned animation there can be a tendency to try and include everything into an animation however this can make content lengthy and unyielding.
Through the collaboration development process we look at identifying the key messages that need to be communicated and from there build a visual story around them. This ensures that the content is a short as possible, is dynamic and engaging.
We strongly feel animation is the best medium to do this as we have the freedom to create work in any style (ensuring it compliments existing brand guidelines mostly through the use of fonts and colours). If there isn’t a particular brand to comply with we will create a mood board of different styles and approaches to allow our clients to dictate what approach would work best. We always consider the target audience that the content is targeting at to ensure it has the desired impact and the viewer will be able to relate to it.
HOWDEN
We have created a wide range of animations for global engineering company Howden over the years, from complex 3d technical animations to motion graphic type work as in the example below.
Predominately Howden promote themselves to the engineering industry who understand exactly how there products work and combine into their existing set-ups. However the general public and even some of their own non-engineering staff don’t really understand the impact that Howden’s products impact our everyday lives. To address this Howden tasked us to create a series of explainer animations.
ROBERTSON
We were approached by Robertson one of the UK’s largest family-owned construction, infrastructure and support service businesses to create an animation to explain their Responsible Business policy. We worked closely with Robertson’s Head of Sustainability who initially provided a one page brief outline their policy and provided the UN Sustainable Development Goals and wanted us to look at ways of linking both together visually. We developed this into a rough first draft animation so that our client was able to share it with his colleagues at Robertson and provide feedback. After several meetings and a couple of drafts we had a finished animation that Robertson were really happy with.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT SCOTLAND (SDS)
Working with SDS’s communications and marketing team, we created essentially an edited video driven by a voiceover to explain how SDS are helping Scotland’s people and business be prepared for an ever-changing world and ensure they have the correct skills. As a public body it is essential that SDS clearly communicates the work it does and this was the driving force for this film. We were provided with a draft brief and asked to come up with a concept to best visualise the key messages. We provided a number of different options and SDS decided upon a tightly edited video to a voiceover with an emotive background track. This is a good example of why a purely motion graphics approach isn’t always the chosen approach and why for us it is vital to provide as wide range as possible to our clients. The initial dialogue we have is about really listening to what the client has to say and for us to find the best ways to effective visualise their ideas.
DIGITAL HEALTH & CARE INSTITUTE
We were approached by the Digital Health & Care Institute to create an explainer animation for a presentation to promote how technology in the near future will enable people to stay independent at home for longer. A very last minute decision was made to commission this film a week before the presentation! Therefore we very quickly had to pull together a style, the content and produce an animation that effectively communicated all the key messages, phew but we did it and the client was very relieved and pleased with the results.
CLYDE MARINE RECRUITMENT
A global recruitment and crew management service company with over four decades in the industry saw an opportunity to develop an innovative digital platform for both candidates and maritime employers. Clyde Marine Recruitment engaged our services to create an animation to explain how the platform works.
SCOTTISH FORESTRY
Recently Scottish Forestry a public owned organisation went through a structural change it was formally known as the Forestry Commission. To explain these fundamental changes we were approached to produce an explainer animation. We were supplied with list of facts that needed to be included but otherwise given a budget, tight deadline but creative freedom. We provided a test of an approach which we felt would work well within the project constraints. Immediately we were given the green light, after which we pulled together a first full draft, a few minor amends were required before we provided the final version well within the deadline.