5th August 2013

How to Make a Simple Animation: Easy and Effective Animation Effects

Recall the 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Steamboat Willie?” Remember how simple the animations were at the start of the 20th century?

Now think of the Oscar’s 2013 Best Animation winner, “Brave.” It’s crazy to think how much technology has changed the animation scene. I mean just look how complex and realistic the motions are in today’s cartoons.

We have to remember movie production companies have enormous budgets that they can invest in animation. Pixar’s Brave for example had a budget of $185 million. Wouldn’t it be nice if your company had a budget of this magnitude to create an explainer video for your product?

To be honest online videos don’t need stellar blockbuster animations, but they have to look the part. This is where simple motions come in.  Simple motions are quick to produce and still do their part of giving life to an animation.

By this time, I’m sure you are wondering what some examples of simple animation motions are. In our latest video for our client Forkling, you can see these motions in action.  First take a look at the video:

Notice how even though your fingers need to move in order to type, in this video, the individual fingers of the characters are static and motionless. We simplified the motion by moving only the hands back and forth to keep the animation simple, but the audience still associates typing with hand movements.

Animated Video

 The same association goes with head movements. Viewers understand emotions through simple head sways from side to side. There isn’t a need to make intricate animations for emotion expression if simple motions will work. Why waste the time and money.

Animated Video

Simplicity when it comes to animated motions in online videos works. Need more proof? Just view other videos in our portfolio, to see what we are talking about.

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About the Author

Anish hails from London and holds a degree in software engineering from the University of Manchester. Following his education, he worked for several years in the financial industry as a platform administrator before founding Revolution Productions in 2008. In addition to over seven years of video production, Anish is seen as an industry professional, adding his insight in publications such as VentureBeat, ReelSEO and Wistia.

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