Production Process
Our video production process – making short animated films custom made from scratch
01 Creative Brief / Idea
Initially, we simply need a concept, idea, brief and relevant information about your video. You can use the simple Get Started Form, give us a call or send us an email to explain the basic idea, type of video, video length, number of scenes, timeframe and any reference styles for the project. We will get back to you promptly, answering any questions you may have about the process. With additional information such as a rough script, basic storyboard, project description and video length, we can give you a more accurate estimated range bid.
Let us make you a handcrafted animated video that will make your competition jealous!
02 Script
We don’t know your business as you do, you know your product, idea, service or song the best. Please provide an engaging script that includes voice-over narrative and a basic description of the scenes in your video. Prioritise your message, keep your story short, simple & easy to digest. Who is it for? Always consider the audience you are trying to reach & ensure the video is relevant to them.
03 Storyboard
All animated videos need a storyboard. For animated music videos, we usually create the storyboard in-house based on the concept, story or script ideas from the client. For explainer videos, most clients provide a simple storyboard sketch and/or script. We strongly recommend that you make a simple storyboard, with a basic note describing what’s happening in each scene. Simply sketch it on a piece of paper or ask and we’ll send you our blank printable template for free. The storyboard only needs a scene number, any animation notes and the approved voice-over script for each scene (optionally your script can be provided separately with the matching scene numbers).
If you prefer not to draw anything, you can find reference images online to make a simple storyboard. If you need some inspiration, we can even send you a few examples from previous projects. We later make a detailed storyboard based on your basic storyboard and/or script, to plan out all the animations and artwork we need to create.
04 Design / Style
Here we start coming up with the best style, to figure out how your video will be best designed and animated, tailored to your brief, final script and storyboard. We appreciate any references you can provide, to get a better idea of the look you are after. Please have a look through our portfolio and let us know what you like, as a reference. We believe that an awesome animated video needs to stand out and not look like everyone else’s, so a big part of our process is making your video original, while you can just relax and take it easy as it’s now all being taken care of.
05 Voice over
If you have an important message to deliver, you need the right person delivering it. We need your signed-off, professional VO recording of the script. This will be needed for the next step, animation. If you don’t have the final VO recording at this stage, you can provide a “dummy” VO recording, but if the final VO has any changes, is longer, shorter, or differs in timing, this can have an effect on the production timeframe and/or cost. So we much prefer to have the final VO at this stage.
We prefer that you to supply the voice-over. This way you can pick the artist you want and deal directly with them. When asking for a video quote, please let us know if you can provide the professional voice over, or if you need us to hire a professional voice over artist (Microsoft, Google, Nike, Pfizer).
06 Illustration
Here we start production of all the artwork and illustrations needed for the animation, all from scratch, in-house. This includes completing character designs, objects and backgrounds, that will then be brought to life in the next step.
We want your video to be different, premium and special, so we don’t cut corners and we don’t use stock artwork, stock characters, video templates or drag-and-drop.
07 Animation
Here we build, composite and animate each scene by hand, based on the approved storyboard and script. Our handcrafted animation helps tell your story: You know what you want to communicate and we are here to help you do it, with our own design styles and technical expertise. We are always continuing to develop our animation styles and techniques to make the best possible videos.
When the animations are completed, we render them out. Next, we apply any post effects such as colour grading and other adjustments. We then edit the video to combine all the animated scenes.
08 Sound Effects & Music
The last stage in the production is sound mixing. Here we add any sound effects and help you find the perfect royalty-free song, to further enhance the video. It’s amazing how much difference music and sound effect can help to make your video even better!
09 Delivery
Once finalized, rendered and encoded, we upload your video in beautiful Full HD resolution for approval (4K optional). Once approved, you can download it in full quality and immediately use it on your website, YouTube, Vimeo, trade-show, email, sales-meeting and anywhere else you want. As part of the delivery, we give you free embedding code to have it shown anywhere you want, including on your website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google & Twitter.
Working remotely with our studio
Sundstedt Animation is based in the heart of Scotland, near Glasgow. We have experience working with many types of companies from many industries. We have worked remotely with a diverse range of clients all over the world, including Scotland, England, Europe, USA, and Canada. For many examples of our original, custom-made animated videos, please view our portfolio page.
“It is without a doubt that I can say Anders is a unique animator because his goal is not to finish a project and move on, it’s to make something he enjoys to make and has pride in and the final product shows us his love of animation.”
We are very comfortable working remotely with clients, communicating via email, phone, mobile, Skype, LinkedIn or chat, depending on the client preference. Check out our client testimonials page today to read what they have said about working with animation studio Sundstedt Animation.
Questions about the production process
We hope that you found this process page helpful and easy to understand the steps involved. What questions do you have? Simply ask and we’re happy to explain in more detail. Feel free to contact us via email, using the contact form or call +44 7531 800 711 to speak to Anders Sundstedt. You can also check out our FAQ page for answers to many questions.
59% of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text, if both are available on the same page. – Forbes Insight
Getting Started – Free Quote
Would you like a high-class, different, premium animation video for your business? If you’d like Sundstedt Animation to get cracking on a persuasive, awesome 60-120 second video that will make your competition jealous, please send us an email today with project details!
Our award-winning video director, illustrator, animator & motion designer Anders Sundstedt, who has been awarded for creating a Top 10 Best Explainer Video, will use all his skills and experience to make an engaging, creative, original and fun video, with 100% custom made artwork and animations, made from scratch in-house. What most people do is complete this form. We can then follow up, get you booked in for a free consultation. Withe additional information, we can give you a much morer accurate quote.