Creating Characters for Explainer Videos
During your kick-off call with Squideo, our video producers will always ask if you want characters in your video or something more abstract. Animation offers a huge variety of options for characters, which can make this a tough question to answer. Are characters right for your brand? What style would suit for your explainer video?
Squideo’s talented video producers can create characters in a range of animation styles, with plenty of customisation options to ensure your brand is mirrored by the design. Read on to find out how we create the right characters for every explainer video and find out how we can make the perfect content for your business.
Why Should You Add Characters to Your Video?
Storytelling is one of the most important parts of an explainer video, keeping your audience entertained and focused while taking them on a journey through the subject you want to cover. Characters play an important part in storytelling, providing sources of emotion and personality that reflect your brand. They put a face to the corporate entity that is your business, improving recognition and humanising your brand.
Characters work at their best when producing a problem to solution video. By putting the characters in relatable situations, the audience is more likely to respond to the solution they find (your product or service) which converts viewers into customers.
How to Choose Your Characters
In the kick-off call, Squideo’s video producers will ask five important questions to find out if characters are right for your video and what style they should produce. Have a look through our list so you know what to expect.
1. Animating Rita
First of all, have you produced previous videos or images for your company? Did this content use characters? If it did and you want to maintain brand consistency, it’s worth adding characters into your new video. Ask our video producers to produce characters in these styles and we’ll make sure your new video fits seamlessly with those already in your collection.
Secondly, look through Squideo’s portfolio for character design inspiration. We’ve produced lots of videos in a range of styles, so have a look through for something that would align with your brand. If you’re unsure, share brand resources with our video producer and ask for guidance.
2. Luke, I Am Your Narrator
If you’ve chosen a voiceover to accompany your video, consider if you want a character to physically represent the narrator. Are you looking for a conversational presence, or perhaps a formal presenter? Watch the video Squideo made for Ideiio to see how an on-screen narrator can work for you.
3. Ready Character One
After deciding whether you want a visual representation of the narrator, there’s another important decision to make – how many characters do you want? Characters don’t have to take the lead, they can also be in the background. Do you want to depict your potential customers or your employees? Adding characters into the story can bolster the narrative, and provide a visual representation your audience can see themselves in.
4. The Employees New Clothes
If your video is about the provision of important services, it might be useful to include characters. They can show your customers what they can expect from your team: including how they’ll look. If your business has branded clothing, such as a uniform or safety equipment, Squideo can personalise your characters to feature these items. Prepare a few images of these items to help our designers make them as accurate as possible.
Alternatively, if your branded clothing is subject to change or you have a large collection, ask our video producers to create something generic which uses your logo.
5. Pro Fiction
Characters can be inspired by reality, but that doesn’t limit artistic licence. One of your employees can fly to the rescue like a superhero. A customer could be a talking cat. Background characters can have purple skin and orange hair to match your brand colours. In the world of animated explainer videos, anything goes!
Talk through any visual ideas you have for your video, even if it’s only the bare bones of a plot, and our team will create the animation style and characters to make it work.
Get Started with Your Explainer Video
Watch our video below to get a better understanding of how we create explainer videos to suit your project brief.
Interested? Whether you want characters in it or not, get in touch with the Squideo team today to find out how an explainer video can benefit your business!
