8 steps to making your motion design film

The reason why it's important to follow this process is that a change at the animation stage is extremely time-consuming, and therefore costly.

Each of these steps is designed to minimize costs, or the frustration caused if these changes can't be achieved within budget.

1. The script

The first step is to write the script: the textual description of what's going to happen in the video.

There are two ways to conduct a video:

• either a voice-over is used to describe the film's progress in precise detail, and the visuals are there to illustrate and enrich the subject matter
• or we rely solely on visuals.

Video with voice-over

In this case, the text to be read is fluid, clear and simple, and speaks to as many people as possible, without complicated words or convoluted sentences.

Writing for a voice-over is very different from writing a book or an article. Where an article requires a minimum number of words to fill in the blanks, a script has to be reduced to its simplest form. That's the prerequisite for a successful, comprehensible film.

Video without voice-over

When there's no voice-over, there's still a story to tell, and the script is used to describe in words what's happening visually.

The narration must be seamless, as a story without words can be hard to follow.

Course

A story usually consists of three parts:

1. description of the context
2. the problems that arise in this context
3. how these problems are solved

It's important to clearly define the message you're going to put across and its objective, to know the type of people you're addressing, and to adapt the speech and visual environment to this category of people.

It's also important to focus on a single idea so as not to lose the viewer: you start from point A and work your way to point B.

The script, if well done, determines 50% of the quality of the final video.

Optimum duration

An optimal duration for the Internet is 2 minutes maximum, but this decreases over the years, depending on the level of user solicitation.

Another consequence of our very short attention spans is that the first 10 seconds are crucial. So fine-tune the beginning of your script, and keep your audience on the edge of their seats throughout the video.

👌 Videos are like jokes: the shortest are often the best.

To find out how long your video is when it has a voice-over, simply record yourself reading it aloud. Chances are, your text will be much longer than the target length. The solution is not to read it faster, because your listeners won't follow you, but to shorten and simplify it.

2. The storyboard

The storyboard is the visual representation of the ideas previously described in the script. It's a visual validation of what you've imagined (or not).

It helps us to understand problems of rhythm and transition, as well as narrative fluidity.

It's also a necessary deliverable for the person creating the final design. That's why its quality must not be neglected.

Think about the format of your image too: you'll tell your story differently in vertical or horizontal format.

As for tools, I recommend the free Storyboarder software, which lets you import your own images, or draw them directly into the program. It allows you to print out the storyboard with the voice-over, as well as edit the images in video.

3. Animatics

Animatics is the video editing of the storyboard, combined with music and any voice-over.

It is a rough outline of the final animation, and provides information on the overall rhythm of the film. Transitions are detailed by rapidly animating storyboard images.

This stage allows us to make final corrections to the text and images. It's often overlooked, yet it's crucial to a punchy, fast-paced story.

Make no mistake, the graphic style of your video won't change a thing: if the story isn't sufficiently well-paced, your film won't meet with the success you're hoping for.

4. Illustrations, or style frames

Once everyone agrees on the rhythm, text and visual ideas, the next step is to find the style of your film, choosing colors, shapes, values...

To do this, we choose the most representative images from the storyboard, and turn them into beautiful, engaging illustrations.

Most of the time, this work is carried out by an illustrator or designer specializing in frame styles. Someone who understands colors, shapes, spaces and contrasts, and knows how to highlight one object in relation to another.

The director is responsible for the artistic direction of the project, guiding the illustrator towards relevant graphic choices adapted to the project.

This type of image should not be confused with"still frames", which are very similar in pronunciation, but which are images taken from a film, rather than pre-production tools.

5. Voice-over recording and music

Music and ambience are essential elements of a good film, and you need to have an idea before you start animating.

For this, you can use existing music as a template. These are not used in the final video, unless you own the rights to use them, but they immediately give a clear musical color.

The best choice for a memorable, personalized video is original music composed especially for your video. Sometimes, however, the budget doesn't allow for this, and you have to fall back on royalty-free music, which has the disadvantage of having potentially already been heard on many other videos. In this case, the music is chosen in advance to provide the best possible rhythm for the animation.

As for the voice-over, it is also recorded beforehand by a professional actor in a studio (or home-studio). In this way, the animation can be perfectly matched to the voice.

6. Animation

This brings us to the heart of the matter, the raison d'être of your project.

Animation is all about bringing frames to life.

To do this, the animator takes the designer's style frames, adapts them to his technical needs, and scales them to the final video. This is a fairly laborious and technical stage.

Then comes the creative pleasure of setting inanimate objects in motion. The animator's talent lies in his ability to observe the world around him. He animates to the rhythm of the music and the voice-over, if any.

The time it takes to produce an animation depends on the technique used (frame by frame, 3D, stop motion, etc.).

7. Sound and audio

Once the animation is complete, it's time to add the finishing touches: sound design and original music.

These are two elements that are often overlooked in the initial thought process, but which really make all the difference.

The final mix of voice-over, sound and music is often done by the same person, the musician, always supervised by the director, who ensures the film's overall sound balance.

8. Broadcasting

Your video is animated and mixed, and all that's left to do is export it for playback on your chosen distribution platforms.

Depending on whether your film is shown in cinemas, on television or on the Internet, the constraints are not the same: the digital video file of a film shown in cinemas is unreadable on a home player.

If your film is destined for the Internet, the classic compression format is mp4, so the file only weighs a few dozen megabytes. Simply upload it to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram or any other platform you see fit...

...and enjoy the enthusiastic feedback from your viewers 🔥🤩.

Finally, here's Eran Hilleli's magnificent film, which I've used to illustrate my point, and which is well worth a (re)look: