Do you have a great song you’ve spent hours recording and now want to give it an extra push on social media? Share it with the world using the king of content: video. Or better yet, through a 2D animated music video production.
Don’t know anything about animation? Don’t worry, if you read the entire post you will understand the most important things about the animated video creation process for your song. Keep in mind that you can easily hand the whole animation process over to a qualified studio capable of dealing with all of the details. You can also try to save some money by hiring one or two freelancers.
Here’s what you’ll need in order to send your musical score into the realm of 2D animation: be clear on what you want, understand the steps of the process (read this post) and, finally, let the animation artists work their magic.
5 step animated music video production process
Ready to get an understanding of the animated video creation process? Walk yourself through these five steps:
1. Choose your animated video’s style.
Start by listening to your song and deciding on a type of music video for said song. That means choosing between a narrative video (full 2D) or a lyric video.
In other words, do you want your video to tell a story through images, where the story plot is the animator’s main focus (that’s what we call a narrative video), or do you want the lyrics to appear front and center, relegating the 2D images to a secondary role in support of the lyrics you have already created (lyric video)?
2. Request a concept art.
Choose an animation studio or a freelance illustrator to work with and ask them to create the concept art for your music video. This will give you an idea of the look and feel your video will have once it is animated. Remember the concept art is a pictorial illustration of the elements that will later be animated. There is no animation at this stage.
3. Get a storyboard.
Once you approve the concept art you should get a storyboard. This is a sketched framework of actions that tell a story or simply add objects that follow along with the lyrics of your song. No animation has occurred at this point. If you want to know more about what is a storyboard, watch this video we did about it.
4. Obtain the illustrations.
You must specifically approve the storyboard before proceeding to the illustration stage. At this juncture, once you have the concept art and the storyboard, you will need to choose an illustrator (recommended: work with the same illustrator in charge of the concept art). This will give you the certainty that the illustrator’s effort is in accordance with what you wish to obtain as a finished product. He or she then proceeds to create each of the characters, objects, props, etc that will appear in the video. These elements are created individually and will later be animated.
5. Get your video animated.
Finally, in this step of animated music video production, all of the elements (created in step 4) are «strung» together according to the previously approved actions specified in the storyboard (see step 3). This may be done by an animation artist specialized in this type of work. It will not necessarily be relegated to the illustrator in charge of creating the storyboard or the concept art. It is very important that the animation artist receives quality design elements, apt for animation. Also of note, this is not a good moment to decide to change the storyboard. Be sure to really think about what you want from the get-go, step 1.
We recommend limiting your hires to one or two professionals in order to avoid overly complicated hassles while coordinating your team. Not all illustrations are apt for animation. This is why we also recommend choosing illustrators who have some animation knowledge if you decide to go with the freelancing option.
2D animation videos will connect you with your audience
Once you have your video ready, set it up on Youtube, promote it on all of your social media and include it on your website.
You will find great animation production studios like Power House Animation or Studio 351. But if you are looking to obtain high quality at accessible prices, our service of animated music video production at Arigato Videos is a great option.