Video Transcription
In this video you will learn how to create a great whiteboard animation in 7 easy to follow steps.
But why should you consider creating a whiteboard video in the first place?
Well, research conducted by Professor Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire found that when compared to a more standard talking head video, whiteboard animations better help the audience retain factual information and have a greater chance of being liked and shared.
This makes them one of the best video styles for creating high impact educational content.
Before we begin, make sure you subscribe to our channel and click the notification bell, so that when we release new videos to help you with your video marketing, you’ll get notified.
Also, after watching the video, if you have any further questions regarding creating whiteboard animations, let me know in the comments below. Because I will be checking the comments regularly and will do my best to help.
So let’s get going….
Whiteboard animations involve images being drawn on a white background with a moving hand appearing to be doing the drawing. They are usually accompanied by a voiceover.
Quite simple right?
If
you want to produce something a bit different than the classic whiteboard
animation, there are some variations of it which you can consider which pretty
much involve the same steps to create. These include black board animation,
stitch board animation and notebook animation. Although our personal favourite
here at Spiel, remains the classic whiteboard animation.
So let’s now get into the exact steps involved in producing a whiteboard video:
STEP 1: SCRIPTWRITING
The first step in the process of creating a whiteboard animation is to write your script. A good script is key to the success of your video, so make sure you really put the effort into making it the highest quality possible. In this video, we won’t go into depth on how to write a high impact script as we’ve covered this in other videos on our channel – so check them out if you need further help with this.
One thing I will mention here is that when writing the script for your whiteboard animation, make sure you keep it as short and impactful as possible. A good rule of thumb is to remember that every 150 words of your script will be equivalent to approximately 1 minute in video duration.
STEP 2: RECORD YOUR VOICEOVER
Once you’ve finalised your script, the next step in the process is to record your voiceover. It is important to record your voiceover straight after you have written your script because the voiceover will be used to mark the timings for the animation during the storyboard stage.
You can either do your voiceover yourself or get it recorded by a professional voiceover artist to a high standard at a relatively low cost.
If you decide to record your voiceover yourself, make sure you use a good quality microphone and have a quiet, soundproof room to do your recording. And make sure the tone of your voice is expressive and upbeat, as a passive monotone voice will lower the engagement of your video.
STEP 3: STORYBOARDING
The next step in the production process is to create your storyboard. This basically involves creating rough sketches of the visual images you want to appear in your video during specific time intervals, pretty much like a comic strip.
It is useful to use a storyboard template to help you with this. There are numerous free storyboard templates available online, available to download.
STEP 4: CREATE YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
Once you have finalised your storyboard the next step in the process is to create your illustrations using a software tool such as Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape.
If you don’t feel comfortable drawing your own bespoke images or simply don’t have the time, don’t worry. You can use pre-existing images from the stock image galleries available in popular whiteboard animation production software such as VideoScribe and Doodly.
STEP 5: ANIMATE
The next step of the process is to animate your video using your preferred software. We at Spiel use the Adobe Creative Suite to create our animations – which is great to create studio level videos, but it is more catered towards experienced professionals.
If you are looking for a simpler software tool which requires having little to almost no animation experience, then check out VideoScribe, Animaker, Explaindio, GoAnimate and Doodly to see which one works best for you.
STEP 6: ADD YOUR VOICEOVER & SOUND EFFECTS
Once you are happy with your animation, the next and final step to complete your production is to add your voiceover and sound effects which you should be able to do with the software you have used to animate your video.
For best results, I suggest using a separate audio editing software such as Adobe Audition to make sure it’s to a professional quality.
An important thing to remember when adding music and sound effects to your video is that they should complement your story but never overshadow it. So it’s important to make sure that the volume of your sound effects and background music doesn’t overpower your voice over.
STEP 7: THUMBNAIL & VIDEO ACTIVATION
Having an engaging thumbnail is essential for making sure all the hard work you put into creating your video finally pays off. The more engaging your thumbnail, the more compelled people will be to watch your video.
If you need more information on how to create engaging thumbnails, you can watch our video which will teach you exactly this, the link to which I have included in the description below.
Promoting your video is another important component to consider. This includes creating a high conversion design for the landing page on which you will add your video, and following the best practices for the social media channels that you will use to promote it. We have a number of videos on our channel which cover these topics as well. So check them out.
BONUS TIPS TO ENHANCE THE ENGAGEMENT OF YOUR WHITEBOARD ANIMATION
Before I leave you to get creating, I will go through four important tips that you need to be aware of if you want to get the most out of your whiteboard animation.
TIP 1: KEEP IT FLOWING WITH INTERCONNECTED SKETCHES
One of the key differences between whiteboard animation and other styles such as cartoon animation or motion graphics is the use of interconnected sketches.
What this basically means is that you should aim to continue adding your visual images to the same screen without too many erases or cuts, so that there is a nice continuous flow to the video. Making sure you make good use of interconnected sketches in this way will ensure higher engagement levels than if you keep erasing the board and starting with the visuals from afresh.
TIP 2: GENERATE EMOTION
Another key factor which separates great whiteboard animations from the more standard ones is that the higher performing ones do a significantly better job of generating the desired emotions in their viewers. So make sure you take into consideration how you will accomplish this through your narration, the tone of your voiceover and use of visual images. Upbeat and expressive videos almost always deliver better results than monotone ones.
TIP 3: KEEP IT TRADITIONAL
Most whiteboard animations stick to the same format of a white background with black sketches. There is a reason why this formula keeps getting repeated. And that’s that it simply works. In general, diverging from this time tested approach and over-using colour, particularly in the backgrounds, tends to reduce the impact of the video as it can distract the viewer from its message.
Now this doesn’t mean that you should never use colour, just that you should use it more conservatively. For example you could add a few touches of your brand colours or use colour to emphasise particularly important points such as your call to action.
TIP 4: DON’T MAKE YOUR VIDEO TOO LONG
To get the maximum engagement from your whiteboard video, make sure you don’t drag it out. Whiteboard videos that are crisp and to the point do better than ones that are unnecessarily long and drawn out.
Alongside a better video, this will also help reduce both your production cost and the time needed to create your video.
I hope you enjoyed this video. If so, please remember to subscribe to our channel so that when we release more such videos, you get notified.
If you would like the help of a whiteboard animation company to create your video for you, you can get in touch with us at Spiel, at www.spielcreative.com
Thanks for watching!
