Explainer Videos
What is an Explainer Video
What Makes a Good Explainer Video?
- Who’s the audience? Don’t try making the same film for too many different people
- What’s your message? Define it, refine it and then simplify it. Clarity is vital
- Bin the jargon. Some technical terms may be necessary but please no ideating your transmedia integration verticals
- Tell a story. Alright it’s not 2015 anymore, but stories still count. You’re going to need a beginning, middle and end
- Keep it short. Aim for 90 secs but please no longer than 2 mins. It’s harder to be concise so be disciplined. This isn’t the right format for long and subtle exposition
- Be decisive, bold. This is easier with fewer people working on the project. Avoid committees
- Allow ample money and time for music composition / sourcing and sound design
Aren’t Explainers a Bit ‘Over’?
How Much Does an Explainer Film Cost?
Every explainer video project is different – or at least should be – so there’s no such thing as a standard price. As with most creative & film production, you’ll find a big range of prices and standards of videos.
We think our work is priced competitively, but we do have high standards and employ some really great talent. Our team have over a decade of working together, so we have experience of coming up with solutions for a range of budgets.
There are a few things that do influence the price of your explainer video that you might want to think about:
- Content. Do you have a story crafted in your head, or do you need us to start from scratch?
- Talent. If you want someone famous to do your voiceover you’ll need to allow extra budget.
- Rights and usage. If you love your explainer video so much you want to play it at the superbowl, you’ll need to agree the usage rights before.
- Duration. You might love your product so much you want to make a 15min film, but we’re going to persuade you to keep it short.
- Music. If you want Kanye to do tunes for you then it’s going to hurt the wallet considerably more than if you go for a library track. Audio is super important, so don’t skimp on the sound design, either.
- Schedules. Keeping the production time down can really help to keep costs down. So if you need to get everything signed off by your boss’s sister’s cat every time you amend a graphic, it’s going to really slow things down.
How Long Does It Take to Make an Explainer Video?
- Fill in the brief. Yeah I know we all want to get stuck in right away, but this initial part really helps us establish your goals, mandatory CI stuff, and anything else grown up and important we need to focus on. Write the script and visual direction. This is the genesis of the whole film, where we get the story going. Normally we can crack it in a week, sometimes it’s two.
- Style frames & motion test. Here we hand over to the people with interesting hairstyles and alternative life-choices to do the cool stuff. We’ll give you a half-dozen or so frames at ‘final’ quality (sorta depends on the style, but normally always final) and a short motion test. Then you lavish us with praise and we get on with it.
- Full storyboard. This is our bible really, where you get to see the graphics & script all laid out together. Now’s the time to pick up any significant amends.
- Record the voiceover. Sometimes at a studio, sometimes the artists record at home, depending on the level of direction required. Either way, we get to tweak until we’re happy.
- Animation. This is the part where we go into our secret motion lab that’s in a hollowed out volcano in the Alps. It’s stacked with the most talented animators on the planet – we just don’t let them leave. They do their stuff and knock your socks off.
- Music, sound design, mix. Get your beats on and wrap it all up. This part really does bring everything together.
- Publish your explainer film and wait for the awards to start rolling in. OK about this stage you’re already filling out the purchase order for your new explainer video.
You can find plenty more examples of social media videos we have made on our work portfolio page.
You might also be interested to view our latest showreel if you dare. After all that, if you still think we’re OK then please do get in contact to say hello.