Create Your Own Animated Video Series

Have you ever thought about creating your animated video series? Something fun for people to watch… or maybe something more educational? Whether you’re interested in creating a funny, entertaining animated video series, something educational – or something more professional for your business, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, Video Igniter answers the most frequently asked questions we receive about helping people create their own animated video series.

Animated Video Examples

Video Igniter can create any kind of 2D or 3D animated video for you. Check out the example videos below.

To start your project contact us, schedule a call with our production team or request access to our new pricing page.

High End Animation Style Examples

 

Medium-Cost Animation Style Examples

 

Low-Cost Animation Style Examples

Are you looking for an example of a different style of animation? Send us a message to let us know what kind of animation example you want to see and we will follow up with relevant production samples.

Benefits of making an animated video series?

While it’s easy to imagine all the fun reasons someone would want to produce their own custom animated video series, there are a few business reasons why companies choose to produce this type of content:

Generate Awareness

Video content is one of the best mediums for generating awareness online because the content is highly engaging and sharable. By creating an animated video series, you offer something new for your existing fans and can draw in new viewers each week by making it easy for your fans to share each episode and get notified when new episodes go live.

Educate Customers

Animated videos make it easy for people to learn, understand and remember new information. The next time you want to educate your customers to help them understand your product/service better, consider using animated videos to educate them instead of writing long articles and inserting some photos. You’ll find that:

1). More of your customers engage with your educational materials.

2). Your customers will consume more (if not all) of your educational content if it’s made of short animated videos.

3). Your customers will retain the information longer.

Show Your Brand Personality

Animated videos are the best way to express your brand’s personality because animation enables you to show and express things that can’t be conveyed with text, images or live video. Animation enables you to express your brand values using reality defying visuals while simplifying your overall message to the key details that are necessary to articulate your uniqueness.

Does your company have a mascot? Animation can bring your mascot to life to help explain what your company does while expressing your values and brand personality.

How to make an animated video series

Questionnaire

Production begins with a questionnaire. By answering a few questions, we can get a well rounded understanding of your project goals and the main points you want to communicate in your video.

Production Style: Series or Parallel

Before production begins, it’s worth having a discussion with your production manager about how to produce your animated video series. Do you want to have all the videos produced at once? Or can they be produced one after another?

Script

Our team will review your answers in the questionnaire and follow up if there’s anything we need clarification on. Then, we’ll draft the first version of your script. Depending on the production style you choose with your production manager we may start with the first script and take it all the way through production – or we’ll write the scripts for every episode all at once.

Send us your feedback and let us know if there are any edits you want us to make. Simple and Standard Animation projects include unlimited revisions so we will continue to work with you to revise your script until you love it. Do you have questions about how to review the script and other assets for your video series? Check out our companion guide: How to review your animated video and project assets.

Production Budget Saving Tip #1:

Want to save some money on your production budget? You can save thousands of dollars off the cost of your animated video series if you write the script yourself. Check out this page to access our free scriptwriting template and scriptwriting tips.

 

Check out this companion article to see some examples of explainer video scripts and the videos they turned into.

Storyboard

Now that your script is approved, it’s time for us to figure out what visuals are going to correspond with each part of your script. That’s where the storyboard comes in. The storyboard is like the blueprint for your animated video. It provides instructions for the illustrators and animators so they know what they are supposed to create. Here’s a diagram showing an example of what to include on each page of a storyboard:

 

Storyboard Examples

If your video uses a detailed or unique visual style, your storyboard may include more detailed sketches like this:

If you make your storyboard yourself, it might look more like one of these examples made with photos of sketches or collages made of clip art and free icons:

Whether your storyboard is created with sketches or just rough mockups made from icons and clip art, the goal at this stage of the production workflow is to come to a consensus for what needs to be shown in each scene of your animated video. When we send you the first draft of your storyboard, give it a detailed review with your internal team and members of your target audience (if available).

In addition to making sure you are happy with the general flow of the visuals in each scene, make sure the instructions include enough detail to know what the production team is supposed to create. If it’s not written down in the storyboard, that means you’re ok with the illustrators and animators coming up with their own interpretations. If something can not be left to be interpretation, tell us and we’ll add specific notes to your storyboard.

Just like your script, the storyboard gets unlimited revisions (for Simple and Standard Animation projects) so we will continue to work with you to revise the storyboard until you are 100% happy with it.

Production Budget Saving Tip #2:

You can save thousands of dollars off the cost of your animated video series by creating the storyboard(s) yourself. Download our free storyboard template and check out our guide to learn how to build a great storyboard for your animated video series.

 

VoiceOver

Once your storyboard is approved for production, we will help you audition voiceover talent for your video series. We’ll identify 1-5 voiceover talents for each character in your animated video series and hire them to record a sample from your script. You will get a chance to review them and select your favorites. For the auditions you love, we’ll hire them to record the full voiceover. If you aren’t a fan of the options, send us your honest feedback and we’ll use that to help us audition new voice talent until we find the right fit.

You will get an opportunity to review the full voiceover(s) and request edits before approving the recording(s) for production. Once the recording(s) are approved, we will secure the broadcast license from the voiceover artist(s) to ensure we have proper permission to use them in paid broadcast media or other commercial purposes (if applicable).

Production Budget Saving Tip #3:

You can save ~$50-$100+ for each minute of video we produce by providing the voiceover(s) yourself. It’s possible to record professional quality voiceovers at home or at the office for free! You don’t need to buy any fancy equipment or expensive software. Just check out 1:31 in this video about getting a voice over for your animated video.

Audio

Sound effects and music brings extra life to your animated video series. Sounds can be used to create an immersive experience for your viewers and music can enhance the emotional tone of your presentation. Our team will identify several soundtracks we feel will enhance the presentation of your animated video series and run them by you for your feedback before we acquire the broadcast rights to use the music in your video. If you aren’t a fan of any of the options, let us know why and we’ll select new options for you to consider. If there are several options you like and can’t decide which, let us know and we’ll help you preview those soundtracks when the first draft of your animated video is ready to watch. That way, you can hear which one feels right.

Production Budget Saving Tip #4:

Free, legal music for your animated video series is available to download from Incompetech and Facebook’s Sound Collection.

 

Illustrations

After your storyboard is approved, our art team will begin developing concept art for your animated video. They will review your brand guidelines and any style references you provided at the start of production and use that to design a key scene from your storyboard. In many cases, the designer will create multiple pieces of concept using different visual styles.

Once you’ve had a chance to review the concept art, things will proceed differently depending how you provide your feedback:

If you love one of the concepts as-is…

We will use it do develop the rest of the illustrations for your animated video series.

If you like one of the concepts but want some changes…

We will review your feedback and update the concept art accordingly. Then you’ll get another opportunity to review the concept art. If you love it, we’ll proceed to creating the rest of the art. Otherwise, we’ll continue to work with you to refine the concept art until you love it – and then we’ll create all the illustrations for your animated video series.

If you like details from multiple pieces of concept art…

Let us know what those details are and we’ll combine your favorite aspects into a new piece of concept art. We’ll continue to work with you to refine it until you love it. Then we’ll create all the illustrations for your animated video series.

Not a fan of any of the concepts?

That’s ok! Send us your honest feedback and we’ll create brand new concept art for you… and we’ll continue to do so until we make something you are thrilled with! Then we’ll create all the illustrations for your animated series.

…

Ok now that all the illustrations are created, you’ll get an opportunity to review all of the art and request revisions. We’ll continue to work with you to revise and refine all of the visuals for your animated video series until you are 100% thrilled with them.

Animation

Time for the magic to happen. Your voiceover and illustrations are approved so the animation team can get to work. It takes about one week for one animator to animate each minute of video. For longer projects, we’ll bring additional animators onboard to help speed up production. When the first draft is ready, set up a time to give it a detailed review with your internal team and members of your target audience (if available). Collect everyone’s feedback and send it to us so we can incorporate the edits and send you the final draft of your animated video series.

How to choose a producer for your animated video series?

If you’re interested in hiring someone to make an animated video series, take a look at their portfolio to see if they can do the level of quality work you expect for your video. It’s also worth asking about their design process, pricing structure and the amount of revisions you get when working with them.

Resources to help you find and hire an animator for your animated video series:

• 9 Things to look for when hiring an animator.
• How do you outsource an animated video project?
• How do you hire an animator?
• What is Video Igniter Animation?
• What’s the difference between hiring an animation studio, a freelance animator and Video Igniter?
• What goes into production cost of an animated video?
• Considering making the animated video yourself? Learn about DIY options.
• Need your video fast? Learn about rush delivery.
• Pros and Cons of Different Animation Styles

How much does it cost to make an animated video series?

Depends if you’re making the videos in series or in parallel. Your videos may be eligible for a discount depending on the nature and timing of your production and publication schedule. Contact us to get a custom quote. In general, most custom animated 2D videos cost $1500-$7500 / 60 seconds of content + another $500-$1000/60s for help with the script and storyboard. 3D animated videos need 2-4x the budget. For more specific numbers and production examples, you can request access to our price page.

How long does it take to make an animated video series?

This depends somewhat on whether you are producing the videos in series or in parallel. Your videos may take less time to produce depending on the nature and timing of your production and publication schedule. Another big factor is how many videos we’re making and how long they are. In general, it takes 3-6 weeks to produce a 60 second custom animated video. To learn more about what’s involved at each stage of the production process and how long each stage takes, check out this companion article.

How to make the most of your production outcomes

If you are making an animated video series for a business or marketing purpose, there are a lot of things you can do during and after the production process has completed that will improve your business outcomes. We recommend reviewing these resources before starting your next video marketing project:

• 7 Tips to help you write a great script for your animated video series.
• Pick the right visual style for your animated video.
• 6 Tips To Increase Viewer Engagement for your animated video series.
• Check out our explainer video tips!
• 7 Tips For Using and Improving Your Businesses’s Video.
• Learn how to interpret your video’s viewer stats to see if it needs improvement.
• A/B Test variations of your animated video to improve its conversion rate.

What is the Video Igniter animated video creation platform?

Video Igniter offers animated video production services online. We modernized the experience of creating a custom animated video to help you save on your production costs and create custom content faster. Video Igniter streamlines the complex process of making an animated video and does 99% of the work for you. All you need to do is tell us what you want us to create and review the assets we create for your video (script, storyboard, voiceover, soundtrack, art and animation).

If you’re looking for a website to create an animated video online, Video Igniter’s custom animated video production service enables you to create any kind of animated video you can imagine. Our talented staff collaborates behind the scenes to create custom 2D and 3D animated videos so you don’t have to figure out if you have the right video animator for the job. We handle all the technical and creative aspects of production including helping you develop your video script and storyboard – if you haven’t already created them yourself!

Hire Video Igniter to make your animated video series

World class animation and design talent at prices startups can afford.

We can make any kind of 2D animated video or 3D animation you can imagine. Check out our animated video portfolio!

+20 reasons companies love hiring us to create animated videos.

Do you want to create an animated cryptocurrency video or an animated blockchain explainer video that explains how your technology works? We can help with that too.

Animated Video Demo Reel

 

Animated Video Series Success Stories and Testimonials

“Video Igniter offered us the critical combination of creative value, clear communication, and patience with stakeholder feedback. We ended up with truly high-quality design assets for our video series largely due to the extra level of commitment — and the right balance of efficiencies with flexibility in the process when called for.”

Larry Schlessinger – Sr. Creative Program Manager, Amazon Web Services

“I am beyond satisfied with my experience with Video Igniter. The first drafts of the work were almost exactly what I had in my head when developing the concept. After that each step along the way was seamless until arriving at a perfect finished product. And all this at a tremendous value. Anyone who has considered creating a marketing video should check out Video Igniter.”

Anonymous Customer Feedback

Get in touch about your animated video series

Schedule a call with our production team to discuss your animated video series.

Get a quote for your animated video series.

Request access to our newest price sheet.

Check out our animated video portfolio to see our latest and greatest creations.

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Fill out a creative brief, and we’ll start creating your animated videos.