Choosing animation video over live action can bring a new level of intrigue and value to your marketing. Animation is often the best solution for explaining complex ideas and is easier for your audience to understand. The entertainment factor plays a strong role as well, retaining viewer’s attention with the wide range of style options. While animation is sometimes thought of as a cheaper alternative to live action video, animation can be just as cost-consuming, or even more depending on the specifics of your video production. Here are 5 factors to consider that will all affect your animated video price.
Characters
In animated video, adding a character element is great for a couple of reasons. First, people connect with people. Having a face to associate with helps gain and retain viewer’s attention. Second, having a character that acts as a mascot makes your brand more memorable and identifiable, especially if the character is one that occurs across many of your marketing materials. But producing an animated video is an involved, time-intensive task. Adding elements as dynamic as living beings further complicates the process. Not only does each character require being designed and illustrated, but also rigged for movement. Each extremity, limb, head, and facial feature have independent actions and must be animated accordingly. When brainstorming for your next video, understand the benefits of characters, but also keep in mind the increased costs they may add to your final animated video price.
Style
The overall look and feel of your animated video will be a large determining factor in the cost of your video. Each detail takes time and care to create. The more you add, the more your cost will rise and the more time will be put into its completion.
Each style of animation has a different level of intensity based on how involved and time intensive the process is. 2D, 3D, fast draw, stop motion, and screen capture are a few of the different animation styles and all require different levels of time and energy. Combining styles can also significantly drive up your final costs. Discussing your options with your video production company and understanding which will best suit your needs is an important part of the process.
Other style factors to consider that affect your animated video price are your background and how realistic the animation is. Having an elaborate background, especially one that changes, is a quick way to increase the final price of your video. Consider that your background will have to be modified and separately animated for certain scenes and the time it takes to add it may not be worth your time and money. Often a simple white background is sufficient and anything more can detract from your viewer’s focus. When it comes to how realistic your piece is, more detail equals more time, and as you now know, more time will cost you more money.
Length
It seems obvious and straightforward – more minutes cost more money. But what may not be as obvious is that with each minute that passes, your viewer retention drops. The average viewer attention span has dropped significantly in the age of video. Even after 30 seconds, only about 85% of your viewers are still watching. If your video stretches on to the 2-3 minute mark, you can expect about only half of your viewers to stick around.
Let’s say you need an animated explainer video that is in the ballpark of 2:30 range to be billed hourly. This means that first, you are likely paying a per-minute rate based on the video length. That’s 2.5 times your video production company’s rate. Second, you are being charged hourly for the animators time it takes to complete your piece. And finally, knowing what we know about long videos, you can expect to have only about half of your viewers watch your video in its entirety. In this scenario, you are paying extra money to produce a video that is essentially chasing potential clients away.
Your solution? Reduce your costs by consolidating your content into a shorter, more efficient message. This will lower your per-minute cost, your hourly cost, AND increase the number of viewers who actually watch your video beginning to end. There’s something to be said for minimalist a style. Keep it simple, stupid.
Take careful consideration when choosing the details that affect your animated video price, and never hesitate to ask your video production company for their thoughts and advice. A great company will be open and honest about your needs and deliver a product you and your company can be proud of.
