While all of our explainer videos are lively, they’re not necessarily life-like. After all, animation is our specialty but we recognize the impact live video can have too. Which begs the question: can the two co-exist? Think live action images and video, combined with animation. While our niche is animated and illustrated explainer videos, there are many ways to mix media. With the trend of meshing various animation styles or incorporating live action video and photography elements on the rise, we’re excited about meeting the demand.
It’s important to understand the many ways live action can be incorporated into an animated explainer video while being mindful of time, resources and budgets. There are various ways to achieve this effect without shooting on location and physically capturing live video content ourselves.
A common but effective example of mixing live action with animation can be seen throughout our series of whiteboard animations where we incorporate a human hand illustrating the story as it unfolds. Pairing this live action element with a familiar medium found throughout boardrooms and classrooms (the whiteboard) helps convey intricate ideas in an intuitive way.
Another method we’ve explored blending live action and animation, is by utilizing screenshots or screen recordings of software, websites or apps in action. This can serve as a great live action base for us to layer with animated elements, amplifying the parts that require further explanation or demonstration.
Additionally, access to existing b-roll footage means that sourcing stunning live action scenery, landscapes and footage is at our fingertips!
An example we love that has effectively blended these mediums are the short Facebook-generated videos that celebrate birthdays or milestones. What’s more, these incorporate elements from user profiles, making them extremely targeted and personalized. Mixed media and personalization? This definitely has us hitting the “love button”! If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know that we’re big fans of utilizing personalization in explainers. And for good reason, as this style of video is extremely popular on social media for its high engagement and shareability factors. If you’ve seen or even shared these videos yourself, you’ll know that leveraging live-action personalized elements in an animated video can have a profound impact on the viewer.
Mixing media gives you the best of both worlds. We understand that explaining what you do can be complex and doing so visually doesn’t have to be an either/or solution. Just as we draw (pun intended!) from various styles of animation – motion graphic, animated character, etc – using a style that best portrays your story, we are open to mixing things up and blending media when it makes sense.
Styles in the explainer video space evolve, as do we, and we’re proud of the recent opportunities we’ve had to create hybrid explainer videos for our clients that mashup live action elements with animation. The result of combining eye-catching original illustrations with photos or live action video, complemented by narrative audio and sound design, creates a dynamic and entertaining explainer video!
As we said at the start, creating 2D animated / live action hybrid videos is something we’re excited to explore further and we’d love to continue the conversation to see if and how this approach could effectively tell your story. Visit our portfolio and shoot us a message to keep the conversation going. Thanks for stopping by the Switch Video Blog!
