Production Process – Whiteboard Animation

Whiteboard animations are brilliant for explaining processes and complex thoughts, while bringing a story to life at the same time. In a whiteboard video a narrator talks the viewer through the information while a hand draws the visuals on screen. Presenting a story in this way engages viewers through the hand drawn style and warm approach, and promotes understanding and retention of details and facts.

Are you considering producing a whiteboard animation, but are unsure about the animation production process? Keep reading to see what you can expect when creating one with Sliced Bread.

Client meeting
In the client meeting we learn about your objectives, project requirements, and animation needs. We have produced a variety of whiteboard animations for learning purposes, corporate internal communication, and many more other use cases – there are no limitations.

Script
A good script is fundamental for the success of your animation and to get your message across. You can either supply a script to us or ask us to help you develop one. This can be discussed at the beginning of the project, in the client meeting.

Schedule
Once we know the objectives, scope and your deadline, we create a detailed schedule which highlights the key dates and milestones for deliverables, client reviews and approvals.

Storyboarding
A storyboard is a visual representation of your content. The script gets broken down into scenes, and we develop visual ideas for all the messages that you need to get across – we also determine the look and feel, e.g. character styles and colour, look of icons etc.

If you have existing designs or assets that need to be incorporated into the piece we will work with these, and align any new design so that everything is cohesive.

Voice-recording
On approval of the final script we will record the voice-over (VO). The VO narrates the content and sets the pace for the animation, so it's essential that this is done before we start animating.

If you're unsure about the style and tone you would like for your animation, we can guide you and supply a variety of different voices for you to choose from.

Animatic
Up next is the animatic, this is where the storyboard panels are timed to the VO, as a video. This helps us visualise the animation and plan animation timings correctly. Please note that an animatic is not the final animation – it's more a blocked out version.

Asset preparation
This is the preparation of all designs as animateable assets, often as vector graphics. We won’t bore you with technicalities, but it’s all about preparing everything neatly and laying motion paths that will reveal each individual drawing.

Animation
Now we crack on with the actual animation. At this stage the drawings are drawn up in sync with the VO, by an animated hand. Sometimes we also like to mix the hand drawn style with some traditional animation to emphasise certain parts of the story and to add a bit more personality.

Compositing, Encoding & Delivery
Nearly done! Now we composite the animated scenes and elements together and overlay some music or sound effects, and deliver it in your preferred format.

Contact us to find out more about how we can create a Whiteboard Animation for you or your company, contact us here or drop us an email at [email protected]. Alternatively give us a call on +44 (0)207 148 0526, we'd love to hear from you.