Choosing to advertise your brand, product or service with animation makes perfect sense. But what if you’ve never explored its creative potential before?

The first step is to shortlist suitable animation production companies (Melbourne has its fair share, after all). There are a lot of providers to choose from, so start by identifying those with work that matches the style you’re seeking.

You’ll also want to learn about each studio’s production process, and how they typically work with clients to take on feedback and change requests.

It can be a daunting process if you’re unfamiliar with creative production, so we’ve developed this guide to help you understand what it’s like to work with an animation studio.

Each animation studio works differently, so the focus will be on Jumbla, since we can say we know this studio process best.

Discussing your requirements

The first stage of the process is getting in touch.

During this first call or email, we’ll usually steer clear of specific, technical details and focus on the most important thing - what you want to achieve.

“You don’t have to think about it in terms of animation,” Jumbla Producer Natalie Studdert said. “At the beginning, it’s more about the concept - it’s about identifying exactly what you want to say.”

Most of the time, we'll send you a briefing template to complete. This enables you to tell us all about your brand, its products and services, as well as your animation intentions.

With this information, we can begin pre-production work, where we bring your written concepts to life with a visual narrative.

Kick-starting the pre-production process

Pre-production starts with our team developing  creative concepts for your animation. They’ll work closely with you to develop a compelling visual representation of your story before turning it into a script.

There are two paths you can choose for your script - create one yourself, or go with an in-house professional.

By using the services of a professional script-writer, you can avoid some of the common pitfalls involved with writing for the screen. But if you’re super-keen to try it yourself, we recommend you learn how to structure your script to communicate effectively with animation.  

Jumbla Producer Natalie suggests viewing your script as complementary to the on-screen visuals, each playing distinct a role in communicating your message.

"A script will say ‘here’s the key message’ and the animation will say ‘here’s some supporting evidence for it’,” she said.

From there, we’ll select one of our artists to illustrate up to two style frame concepts, which provide a visual representation of how each element of your animation will look.

The same goes for our storyboards, which provide a scene-by-scene view of how your story will unfold (see below).

You’ll have the opportunity to provide feedback and approval before we progress into production.

“Our creatives are fantastic at taking information about your brand and communicating it in a way that’s really inspiring,” Jumbla Executive Producer Charlotte Parsons said.

Once you’re happy with the concept, script, style frames and storyboards, we’ll get to work on the animation itself.

Bringing your animation to life

No two animations are alike, meaning  our creative team produces tailor-made solutions every time they begin work. This could mean drawing 2D assets by hand, or designing photorealistic 3D models.

They’ll adapt your existing designs or create entire worlds from scratch, depending on your needs.

In our recent TVC for the Suzuki Swift Sport, we were given no working files whatsoever and had to create the complete car - in photorealistic detail - from the ground up.. Check it out…

As with pre-production, you’ll be able to review the work as it progresses and provide us with change requests or suggestions.

Music, sound and voiceover

When it comes to the voiceover, you've got three choices - supply us with one, ask us to supply one for you, or don’t have one at all.

From our perspective, we believe the articulation of a professional voice artist is extremely advantageous, but there are certain scenarios where no voiceover whatsoever can still be beneficial.

Our in-house sound designer can further enhance your animation with the addition of music and sound effects.  

If the timeline allows, we’ll send you a second draft for review and final feedback. At this point, you’ll be agonisingly close to owning an awesome piece of animation.

Marketing your animation

With all change requests received, we’ll put the finishing touches on your animation and make sure it is delivered on time, and in whatever format required.

The rest is up to you – embed on your website, share on social media, or feature during an upcoming event. There are some simple and extremely effective ways of extending the shelf-life of your piece with savvy marketing.