Animated video is yesterday’s news. The web is overflowing with colourful cartoons explaining this or that product/service offering. But it’s a bit passé, these days, to rely on this video production technique…
The popularity of animated videos has made it hard to say something new, as companies fall too easily into the same patterns, looks and constraints within the medium.
Live action is better for a number of reasons, and here we explore why:
Working to a Budget
For starters, there’s little point putting your stamp on a video unless the quality is bang on. Many business owners don’t realise how much an animated video costs to make. They require scripting, storyboarding, SFX, backing music and a long development process, at the bare minimum. All of this can easily break your budget.
Even at the lower end, you can expect to pay around £3,500 for a 60-second explainer video. The same concept – say, a CEO talking about the journey of a company so far, or a ‘how to’ product manual – can be realised with real people, sets and camera shots at a fraction of the price. It just takes the right talent behind the lens.
Treating Your Audience as Adults
Animation isn’t child’s play. Masterpieces from Pixar, Aardman and Studio Ghibli have shown what’s possible with this art form, including the ideas it can challenge us with. Yet these are cinematic examples… video marketing has another agenda, and much less time to pull it off.
Quick, animated promotional material runs the risk of alienating your audience, simply because of what it’s implying – that they won’t pay attention unless they are served vivid, snappy graphics, cool sound effects, and smiling cartoon people. Animated videos are rarely mature; instead, they ram a message home in primary colours, hoping the ‘cutesy’ effect will hit the mark.
Distinguishing your brand
Explainer and demo videos are everywhere on the web; companies have responded to the rise of the medium, this last decade, by going for broke on animated investments. Now, they’ve lost their impact – we’ve become too familiar with the same quirks, styles and compositions.
There’s no point chasing distinction with a medium that is extremely saturated. Working with real actors/directors/locations etc. provides a breeding ground for innovation, especially when you’re on-set, supervising the shoot. As opposed to the rigid control desk of an animator, video production teams like ours will take their cues from real life, embracing new ideas as they arise. Plus, we do it in a handful of days, eliminating the long wait for an animated product.
That’s why HSQ Productions are keen to bring any client into the filming process. As we develop your video, there’ll be a strong cachet of creative skills to explore, backed by your own insight and opinions. Live action can’t be beaten for delivering on your marketing aims, and we’ll be exploring some ways in which you can harness this in full next week. In the meantime, feel free to contact us to learn more about how we work.