When can animation tell a story more effectively than live action?

Clients often ask us whether they should use animation or motion graphics in their film.

Animation can bring a layer of interpretation to complex or sensitive content. It can enrich a film's content, with its traditional structure of interviews, archive material and location filming, by showing things that can't be filmed easily or graphical elements that can quickly explain data or concepts.

All film begins with a script. From this we can highlight what might be communicated more effectively using animation, or motion graphics, and what would be best using traditional filmmaking formats.

Animation, by its very nature, can be expensive to generate and render but sometimes it offers a far more powerful form of communication. There are four main styles:

2D Animation: Hand-drawn or vector-based animation.

3D Animation: Computer-generated models, good for realism or stylized fantasy 

Stop Motion: Clay, puppets, or object animation (e.g. Wallace and Grommit)

Mixed Media/Collage: Layered video, photos, and drawings.

One of our recent clients asked us to produce a short film highlighting the variety of support services they offer.  Part of the brief was to record the story of a young woman who’d recovered from a serious eating disorder. In live action filming her story would have been voiced by an actor and the filming of her interview would either have to be out of focus or recorded in silhouette. We decided neither approach was visually attractive, so we commissioned an animator and a voiceover artist to bring her story to life. It was, by its very nature, deeply personal and moving. Our client agreed with us that animation was the most effective medium and was delighted with the finished film.

Another filmmaking tool is motion graphics.  Motion graphics convey information in an easy-to-read format without the need for a narrative soundtrack. It is particularly useful for showing films on a loop at events / on a trade stand / at a conference where the audience, attendees, or stand staff, don’t want to be distracted by the looped film’s narration.

Animation and / or motion graphics are especially useful for explainer videos or creating educational content and training materials.

What story do you want to tell?  Contact us and let us help you select the best communication medium for your business.