The Long Term Benefits of Animated Explainer Videos

Here at Sliced Bread we’ve gone over the benefits of explainer animations many times, posting deep dives about the cost benefits, the engagement and emotional benefits extensively. However we’ve only ever touched upon the long term benefits of creating animated explainer videos in other blog posts.

This blog post will look deeper into the longevity of animation, and how this longevity can also have long term benefits for your business.

What are ‘Explainer Animations’?

If you haven’t visited our site before, the term explainer animation might not be familiar to you, or maybe its something you’ve heard in passing. So lets first look in to what the term ‘explainer animation’ means.

Explainer videos are as they sound, videos that explain a subject, topic, product, or anything that would benefit from a visual to aid with education. Therefore animated explainer videos, or explainer animations, are explainer videos told through the medium of animation.

Animation is an excellent format for explainer videos for many reasons, and the huge variety of animation styles and techniques. Think of the visual difference between 2D animation, such as the classic Disney movies such as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, compared to 3D animation such as Pixar movies like Toy Story or Cars. This variation means that it can always be adapted to different industries and contexts.

Why is animation so beneficial long term?

There are a variety of benefits to using animation over live action, which we’ll look at later on, for now, let’s dive in to why animation is has such great longevity

Quality

An initial, and fairly obvious issue that can accompany live action videos, and their longevity, is the camera quality used. Each year new technology comes out that allows us to shoot more impressive videos. This means that audiences are consistently getting used to high quality content, which in turn, makes older content show its age more and more.

Although some media can gain some charm with age, explainer videos are required to stay relevant so viewers continue to connect with the content. Which means reshooting the entire video each time its age begins to show.

Animation, although it does also develop and grow with technological advances, also has the opportunity of remaining timeless. Audiences are used to seeing a huge variety of animation styles at one time. Therefore regardless of when its made, animated explainers are guaranteed to connect with audiences long after they’ve been made.

Content changes

Another issue any explainer video can face long term is changes or updates in the information they’re educating the users about. From explainer videos about medical devices, to safety information, the information contained in the video can change with further research and time.

Therefore its essential that the videos are also easy to update as the information develops, something that is far easier to do with animated videos than live action videos. Although it is possible to update information in a live action video using graphics, voiceover and smart editing; it still requires a huge amount of working around what has already been shot, or forking out for reshoots.

Animated explainers of the other hand and extremely easy to update with new information. Not only can we change the voiceover and graphics easily, but here at Slices Bread we always keep backups of all of our projects, which means the assets don’t need to be remade if any changes crop up later down the line.

Style

Another feature in any video is the style choices, this can vary from the way the video is edited, to the music choices, camera angles and even what characters are wearing. All of these features can be difficult to alter in live action videos, but far easier to change for animated videos.

For instance, even trying to stay neutral with the style of the video when creating live action videos, could show after a few years. The clothes, editing styles and even styles of voiceover used today are going to be different from those used a few years ago, which again, means further reshoots to update and fix long term.

Animation on the other hand mitigates these issues in a number of ways. Firstly, and most obviously, animation is a form of art, therefore the imagery used is universal regardless when it is viewed. Think of all the classic Disney movies that are still enjoyed by children today, the nature of animation means that its style won’t become obsolete.

Even if you do want the characters to have clothes or indicators of a certain time period, as previously mentioned, we can always return to the project to make edits far easier then it would be to re-shoot live videos.

What are the other benefits of animation?

There are of course, other benefits other than the longevity, that makes animation the ideal medium for explainer animations. Firstly, as we’ve already touched upon, animation’s distinct art style means it connects to audiences in a unique way.

The unique visuals, larger than life movements, when paired with the right audio, can appeal and connect with any audience. The style can also be adapted to ensure the message is optimised to engage the intended viewers. For instance, if you hear the word animation and think of children’s cartoons, just look through our case studies to see examples of animation used to aid businesses and connect with their audiences.

Another huge benefit of animation is that it can show what would be physically impossible to do otherwise. This allows for more exaggerated physicality, exaggerated facial expressions, and more interesting visuals to keep viewers engaged. This also means the ability to depict imagery that would be impossible to do otherwise, from internal biological processes at a cellular level, to the intricacies of a surgery.

How to create the most effective explainer animation

So how can you take advantage of animation for your business? As with any type of communication, there are ways to optimise animated explainer videos to gain the most from them.

As with any medium defining the topic clearly means that you can then weave the purpose of the video in to the creative decisions as well. This means tailoring the art style, voice over, even the motion and camera moves to hone in on the key message. For instance in our Syngenta pension explainer animation, the art style, scenery, script and the imagery used throughout the video all connect with the companies ideals and the message of the video.

These creative decisions can also work to reinforce the values and marketing already used by your business. From logos to brand colours, even to pre-existing characters, all of these can contribute to making an animated video bespoke to your business.

Contact us

The last, and one of the most important steps to making an effective, engaging and long lasting animated video is by working with an award winning animation company like ourselves.

We know how important communication is, whatever the industry, subject or audience, we can help you create a bespoke explainer animation that will connect with your audience.

Email us today to find out more about how we can elevate your workplace through animation.