The association between animation and kids is strong. Many of us grow up watching cartoons for entertainment, and some of us were sat in front of the TV as youngsters for the mildly reviled ‘educational cartoons’. But the uses of animation for education are far more wide-reaching and a lot more entertaining than many realise, finding modern applications within work, hobbies, and new technologies, while still holding the power to teach much younger audiences the basics of life.
Let’s be honest here: when someone tells me they don’t watch, don’t like, or don’t have anything to do with animation, I can’t help but look at them with a little side eye. You know, that sidelong squinty-eyed glance of distrust? Yeah. Then I feel a little bad because, hey, it’s not like everyone works as an animator, writes about animation, watches animation in their spare time, and had dreams of creating their own animated series from the age of twelve. If a person doesn’t actively seek out animated content then how can they be expected to ever appreciate it?
The truth is that animation weaves through our daily lives in more positive ways than many of us realise. Whether it’s knowingly on our televisions or behind the scenes of our social and scientific advancements, animation affects more than just those of us who work with it. Check it out:
It’s 6:00 pm in 1990s Australia. You’re either in one of those buttoned-down families who insist on watching the 6 o’clock news every weeknight or, more likely, you’re watching The Simpsons. There are quite literally thousands of classic quotes from the first ten seasons of the long-running primetime animation that get bandied around by Australian young adults in day-to-day conversation today, and with its regular 25 year presence on Channel Ten its not hard to understand why. When a TV show grows up alongside you it burrows into your heart, with its quotes and references following you all your days like some sort of non giving up school guy.
There is indeed a Simpsons quote for every occasion, and as an animator and writer I’ve often been struck by how well the show’s dialogue relates to the animation experience. The subtle social commentary of classic Simpsons also lends itself to some hilarious insight on the workings of advertising, marketing, and design. Today I’ve put the two together and gathered just a few examples of quotes that relate to corporate animation, whether directly or indirectly. If you’re a long-time Simpsons fan hopefully you enjoy the references. If you’re not, hopefully you enjoy the soft sense of confusion you’re no doubt already experiencing. In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast. Thank you.
In such an oversaturated job market it can be tempting for companies to ask: Do we really need a recruitment campaign at all? The biggest flaw with this thinking is assuming that the best-suited employees will not only magically find your job ad, but that they will automatically want to work for a company they know nothing about. Good recruitment videos offer fast and effective company awareness specifically aimed at people within, or looking to get into, the field of work. So how do you go about crafting a video strong enough to nab your dream employees?
Ah yes, the corporate training video. More ridiculed than the recruitment video, and only slightly less reviled than the school project video. But little do most people know it doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, your training videos can be eye-catching, funny, or even – dare I say – interesting. Don’t believe it? Check out our eight tips for making great animated training videos and decide for yourself.
Every couple of years there seems to be a new fad in corporate video. When whiteboard animation first came swaggering onto the scene it too seemed like the kind of phenomenon that would enter with a blaze of glory and fade shortly after with not so much as a whimper. Yet here we are several years later and whiteboard animation is still going strong, like a reality TV show nobody quite understands the appeal of but everybody keeps on watching.
Surprisingly, the answer to this appeal lies largely in the psychology behind what we’re watching. There are several subconscious reasons we’re drawn toward whiteboard animation, and today we’re shedding a little light on how they fit together.
Even in the twilight years of cat videos, vloggers, and ice bucket challenges it can be hard to see how any online video platform could begin to compete with YouTube. As of 2017 their audience numbers were in the range of 1,300,000,000 people.
In recent years though we’ve seen the beginning of what may prove to be the fall of Rome — uhh, I mean YouTube — through unannounced changes to the way particular content is promoted to the average viewer. These changes, which define and elevate ‘advertiser friendly’ content at the cost of all else, have left even the most popular YouTubers short of views and looking for alternative platforms. The news is even worse for animated content, as YouTube’s ‘quantity is better than quality’ algorithms leave labour-intensive media like animation in the dust.
If your brand is one of many who look to animated explainer videos as an effective way to explain your products and services, it’s worthwhile knowing what other options you have when choosing a platform to host your brand’s videos.
Think about it: how many restaurants do you know that run their own farms? How many plumbers make their own pipes, and how many writers whittle their own pencils? Business partnership benefits everyone in these situations, and it only makes sense that creative and technical fields work by the same principle. That’s why so many agencies are looking to partner with animation studios when a client is in need of an effective campaign. No need for an in-house animation crew when a production house is just a call away. But why specifically are agencies increasingly drawn toward using animation for their client’s campaigns? Let’s take a look at seven reasons for this phenomenon:
Whether you’re looking to fit your brand video in with the most successful explainers of late, or you’re looking to find out what’s popular so you can buck the trend, it’s important to know what’s out there, what’s popular, and what’s cliché to the point of staleness. Today we’re looking at just a few of the current trends in explainer animation within the visuals, the music, and the scriptwriting.
Spend long enough talking to animators and you’ll start to hear the word ‘appeal’ come up. In terms of animated characters, appeal is what makes an audience see the character as charismatic or realistic. It’s what makes us feel for them, and remember them, even after the animation is over. Creating appeal comes from not just the way a character moves, but the very building blocks of how they are visually designed.
In amongst all of this, it’s imperative to keep in mind the purpose and intended audience of the animated work, and how your character design will fit within that context. It’s especially important to consider character design concepts when creating explainer videos, whose purpose is solely to explain a concept or product in a quick, clear and memorable way.
It’s for this reason we often use exaggeration and simplification in animated videos as a tool for quick recognition. The principles of design (line, shape, colour, etc.) are focussed toward getting across in a short amount of time who a character is, and what they want in the context of the video. Today we’ll be looking at just a few of the main aspects to consider when creating appealing characters, and how they apply to the animated video genre.