5 Reasons why Animation is perfect for presenting unfilmable processes
If you’ve read our No Nonsense Guide to Animation you’ll already have a pretty good idea as to the power of animation and how it can be useful. But in this blog, we’re going to delve into what makes animation so perfect for presenting processes that aren’t filmable.
1 – You aren’t restricted by the camera
When filming content, you are restricted to a certain extent by what the camera can see and where it can go. As technology improves, we are able to film more and more scenarios that might have once been unthinkable or could have cost too much. For example, we are now able to film by drone where previously we might only have been able to film from helicopters.
However, there are still restrictions when filming using a camera. Animation on the other hand allows you to make the impossible, possible! This means we can show processes that might not be possible (or be too expensive) to film, such as what is happening inside a piece of machinery or medical equipment when it is in use.
In this animated explainer we created for Oscar Acoustics for example, we were able to use 3D photorealistic animation to show how their ISO-Mount Type 3 can be adjusted to the different depths that might be required.
2 - There are no laws of physics
With animation you are creating everything from scratch, so the laws of physics don’t apply! This opens up a whole realm of possibility as to what can be created. Whether that’s a character that can keep running on empty air until they remember about gravity (like in the cartoons you loved as a kid), to showing physically what might in reality be invisible – animation allows you to create almost anything you can imagine.
This is the approach we took for Avnet where we used animation to simplify and explain how Avnet Integrated can assist its clients with an end-to-end solution orientated around the Internet of Things (Iot). We were able to visualise elements that might normally be invisible, therefore making some complex concepts simpler to understand.
3 – It can be cheaper
Think about what you want to create, and chances are there are some parts of what you want that might be outside your budget. Whether you might not be able to afford enough actors and aren’t sure your internal team could (or are willing) to step in or simply want to include scenes from space that might not be possible without stock footage – sometimes your budget might dictate what is and isn’t possible.
When shooting live-action video there can be additional costs for actors, locations and props, as well as the need to schedule for pre- and post-production work. Whereas with animation all of these elements can be animated! Although there is pre-production work needed in terms of agreeing on a storyline, storyboard and other elements, if changes are required, they can be factored in without the need for re-shooting.
An idea you have, which may be unattainable with filming could be possible and on budget with animation!
For example, this animation explainer for the British Heart Foundation, would have been a lot more complex to film, just purely from the number of locations and technical equipment that needed to be shown. Making it animated allowed us to simplify the process and the message for its intended audience.
4 – It can be more engaging
There is some content that you could film but where animation or a blend of animation and filmed footage could be more engaging. If you need to create an explainer or how-to guide for an app or web platform, taking this approach could be what you need.
You could film someone going through the process and show what happens on screen, but it can be much more powerful to use animation to showcase the important elements of the journey.
This platform explainer we created for Residential People is a great example. Although the animation walks through the process, the approach is cleaner, simpler and more engaging than a filmed video could be.
Equally this example for Pitch Sport shows how we blended emotive filmed footage with animation, to showcase their new app and all of its features with the main message of competing against your friends.
5 – It can be future-proof and scalable
You don’t want to spend lots of time and money filming great content only for it to be out of date as soon as your company grows.
Animation is a highly flexible and future-proof way of engaging your target audience. As you have greater control of characters, subjects and environments, it’s much easier to make changes in the future. For example, if your company’s logo, brand or packaging is updated, it may be much easier to update this in an animation that through editing a video.
Equally if you need multiple animations each aimed at a different audience with animation this could be as simple as replacing the main character, whereas with video you may need additional actors and filming days.
Read our 5 Ways Animation is a Future-Proof Medium to learn more about how future-proof animation is as a medium.
Let’s get animating!
Thanks for reading our top 5 Reasons why Animation is perfect for presenting processes that aren’t filmable, we hope it’s helped you see how animation might be the best option for your next content project.
Why not book a call with our team to see how we can help you create animations that work.
