Before we dive into the project it's important for me to understand your business. I don't pretend to understand it, or your audience, better than you do, but it helps me ask the right questions so that together we can create the best plan for the project. This stage is where we set an objective for the project based on your business goals.
A plan sets the rules and guides to follow which stops us going off track and makes sure we are all on the same page before before moving forward. Plans start rough and can quickly be iterated until the objectives are met. Plans can take many forms from written documents to graphic elements such as moodboards or a combination of the two.
Creating a storyboard to show the story and flow of motion in a rough format. This stage has lots of feedback sessions and constant referral to the plan and objectives to make sure everything is on track. Using a combination of words and graphics to describe not only the scene but the movement within it. The more planning we do at this stage the clearer the output will become.
Drawing and designing the artwork for the animation in the form of styleframes. These are a number of frames taken from the storyboard which are then designed in high fidelity. Depending on the project it might be a few frames to the complete animation. This stage is merging the moodboard and storyboard together to showcase a few still images of the final output.
Time to animate. This is the meat of the project and is the most exciting stage as we get to see the project come alive. I animate the project keeping the objective and mood in mind to make sure the motion is helping the project smash its goal. Feedback and review sessions happen frequently to keep everyone involved in the loop and the animation moving in the right direction.
Adding the final polish to the animation. This includes things such as sound effects, secondary animation elements and additional effects. This stage is the final push towards creating the perfect animation and is the extra attention to detail that make all the difference to the final outcome of the project.
An often forgotten stage of the project which is exporting the animation in the correct format and spec for the distribution outlined in the plan. This could be a template file, a HTML5 ad or an SVG animation for a website. I give you the right file for the right job.