Our Process
How to create an animation
Our tried-and-tested animation and creative processes explained, from brief to delivery… and beyond.
Stage 1 | The Brief
Everything starts with a briefing call. We sit down with you to talk about your video, and ask things like; Who is it for? What does it say? What does it need to do? What’s your budget?
It’s crucial for us to get a thorough understanding of you and your goals, the problems your audience face and the solutions you offer. We ask all the important questions around what you’re trying to achieve, and listen to what you have to say.
This enables us to develop a solid brief for your video.
Stage 2 | The Proposal
We take everything we learnt during the briefing, and turn it into a proposal. We do this so you have all the information you need in front of you before making a decision to go ahead.
Your proposal will usually contain a breakdown of your video project, creative ideas and references, timeframes, T&C’s, and a tailored estimate for your project.
When you’re ready, you simply sign your agreement and pay a deposit to get the project initiated. Simple!
Stage 3 | The Schedule
As soon as you’re signed up, we’ll put together a schedule for your project with specific feedback and delivery dates.
This way you’ll know what to expect and when, and what days you need to be available to comment on progress.
Stage 4 | The Script
It’s time to put pen to paper. Before we start planning any visuals, we need a solid foundation on which to build. We take all of your key messages and use these to create an informative, well structured and engaging script.
We follow this with an audio/visual script (A/V) which has notes for proposed visuals alongside the voiceover. We’ll usually bounce the script back and forth between us a few times, until everyone reaches that solid-thumbs-up moment.
Stage 5.1 | The Storyboard
The storyboard is a series of sketched frames that illustrate the planned shots for your video, laid out sequentially. It allows you to get a feel for the video’s narrative and content before committing to any design or production work.
Each sketch is accompanied by the corresponding script, shot description, any camera movements and sound effects. If there are characters, key poses will be drawn to show the important actions, movements and emotions.
If your project is interactive, we will also create a structural plan or ‘sitemap’ at this stage.
Stage 5.2 | The Style Frames
Alongside your storyboard, we’ll also provide you with some style frames. This is where we take one or two frames from the storyboard, and work them up to their final appearance – as if they were a captured still from your final video.
This allows the opportunity for us to develop your unique style, and get feedback from you on the overall look and feel before we commit to any further design work or illustration.
Note : You’ll have several chances to feedback on the storyboard, animatic and style frames. These three documents will form the scope of your video for the designers and animators, so this is the stage to make any important changes.
Stage 6 | The Voiceover
Before we start production, we need a great voice to read out your script! We send you a shortlist of suitable artists from our database, so you can select the perfect voice for your video.
We usually get the voiceover recorded before we start production, as timing is extremely important when animating; how the artist delivers each line can impact the timing and pace greatly.
Stage 7 | The Production
Finally! It’s time to breathe life into your script and storyboard. There are usually several stages involved in the production of your video;
Asset Design
We reference the storyboard and style frames to create all the individual assets for the animation. These are usually made within Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, or Cinema 4D.
Rigging
If your video contains characters, they’ll need to be rigged before animating. Rigging is the process of creating a skeleton for each character, so they can be moved and animated.
Scene Setup & Layout
Scene setup and layout involves bringing all of the design assets together inside the animation software, setting up each scene, and timing everything in preparation for an animator.
Animation
Finally, it’s time to animate! Animation typically involves the manipulation of hundreds, if not thousands of individual keyframes to create the illusion of perfectly-timed motion and character performance.
Interactivity
If your project is interactive, the production process also involves the backend coding and build, as well as thorough testing to make sure everything works perfectly on different devices.
Audio
The sound design is finalised and mixed so your video sings beautifully! There may be a combination of voiceover, music and sound effects or all three, so we tinker away until it sounds juuuuust right.
Stage 8 | Delivery
All that’s left is to deliver your project! We’ll liaise with you to ensure it’s working as intended, and do any final checks before the big launch.
How can we help?
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Book a 30 minute briefing call to tell us all about your project and get a quote.
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Drop us an email with a few details about your project, and we'll get back to you.
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Speak to one of our experts
Please choose a date and time for one of our team to conduct a briefing call with you. During the call, which should last around 30 minutes, we'll find out everything we need to know about you and your project, in order to provide you with a quote and further info.
