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What is an Animation Brief?
The key to getting the animation you want is to make sure you give your freelancer a fantastic project brief. An effective animation brief will contain an overview of your entire project, which includes:
- Animation style wanted – include examples if you can!
- Key dates & deadlines
- Audience for project
- Deliverable outcomes
- Project goals
It can be hard to know what information to give your freelance animator when you’re planning your animation project – if you have no idea how they work, how are they supposed to know what’s needed of them?
How do I get Animation ideas?
To gain some real illustration inspiration, check out our archive of freelance animator portfolios, or follow us on Instagram – where we share the latest and greatest in animation projects!
Example Animation Project Brief:
Luckily, we’ve provided a sample animation brief that’s sure to get you off on the right foot. This brief will provide your freelancer with everything they need to know about both your project and your business, from the budget you set to the style of animation you’d like. We’ve also added an analysis section so that you know exactly why and how the brief works.
If you’re struggling to get off the starting block, feel free to use our example as a template for your own brief:
Project name: FarmFair explainer video
About our company: FarmFair is a startup that provides organic veg boxes and meal kits direct to our customer’s doors. Our company also gives farmers a fair price for the produce they grow. We are a small business of 30 employees and have been active for a year. Currently, we only serve our home county, but over the next 12 months, we hope to expand to be nationwide.
What do we need? We need an animated explainer video for our sales page.
Why do we need it? We want to explain the benefits of FarmFair in an engaging and informative manner.
Our vision for the project: The video should show the journey of a veg box from the farmer’s field to the customer’s kitchen. It should show how smooth and simple the process is, and visualise the variety of fresh veg we can offer compared to supermarkets. It should also show happy farmers, as they get a fairer deal on their produce when they sell through us. The video needs to encapsulate our core company ideas – organic, fair trade, healthy and simple. The style should be a 2D animation, using only our brand colours. The style we like is a simplistic faux paper cut/collage style, which has been proven to resonate with our target audience. Our logo should be displayed at the end of the video. We are happy to receive suggestions/changes.
Other needs: Video delivered in MP4 format.
Video length: Under 2 minutes.
Examples of styles we like: https://vimeo.com/31278912 https://vimeo.com/110145354 Where will the video be used? Primarily on our website landing page, but also on our social channels (eg Facebook and YouTube).
Target audience: Our primary customers are young professionals with disposable income and middle-class families. Our customers are health conscious, aware of ethical issues, with an interest in cooking wholesome food for themselves or their families.
Deadline: Our new website will launch on the week commencing [date], so we need the video in time for this launch.
Budget: $2,000 – $3,000
Point of contact: You should report to Ian McBride, our marketing manager.
Project constraints: Ian McBride will be out of the office from [date] to [date].
Analysis:
Now, let’s break the brief down section-by-section so you know exactly how it works:
Project name: FarmFair explainer video
Your freelancer is probably working on lots of different freelance projects, so give yours a name to distinguish it. It’ll help you keep organised too.
About our company: FarmFair is a startup that provides organic veg boxes and meal kits direct to our customer’s doors. Our company also gives farmers a fair price for the produce they grow. We are a small business of 30 employees and have been active for a year. Currently we only serve our home county, but over the next 12 months we hope to expand to be nationwide.
Why does the freelancer need to know about you and your company? Giving them the whole picture helps the freelancer create the most appropriate animation for you. A family-run business may want a very different animation to a huge corporation. Tell your freelancer what you do and how you do it.
What do we need? We need an explainer video for our sales page.
It might seem obvious to you, but tell your freelancer in plain terms what exactly you need. This will help them scope out the size of the project, and ultimately how long it will take to complete.
Why do we need it? We want to explain the benefits of FarmFair in an engaging and informative manner.
This might seem completely obvious to you, but sometimes spelling out the motivation for your project can be really helpful. It gives the freelancer extra insight into why you need an animation; do you want to reach new customers, are you changing your business, are you branching out into new technology? All this extra information will help your freelancer do a great job.
Our vision for the project: The video should show the journey of a veg box from the farmer’s field to the customer’s kitchen. It should show how smooth and simple the process is, and visualise the variety of fresh veg we can offer compared to supermarkets. It should also show happy farmers, as they get a fairer deal on their produce when they sell through us. The video needs to encapsulate our core company ideas – organic, fair trade, healthy and simple. The style should be a 2D animation, using only our brand colours. The style we like is a simplistic faux paper cut/collage style, which has been proven to resonate with our target audience. Our logo should be displayed at the end of the video. We are happy to receive suggestions/changes.
If you already have a vision for your animation, write it down in your project brief. This will help the freelancer hit the ground running and could shorten the delivery time. You and your freelancer can develop the concept together. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you want yet – mention this to your freelancer and you can talk through ideas together.
Other needs: Video delivered in MP4 format.
Think about what else you might need to get the most out of your project.
Video length: Under 2 minutes.
Try to estimate a video length. Even if you don’t know exactly, a rough guideline will help the freelancer work out the scope of your project.
Examples of styles we like: https://vimeo.com/31278912 https://vimeo.com/110145354 Where will the video be used? Primarily on our website landing page, but also on our social channels (eg Facebook and YouTube).
Sometimes it’s hard to describe a style you like, so show your freelancer the type of thing you like. Include images, links to other animations you’ve seen, colour pallets, fonts – anything that will help your freelancer get a good idea of what you want your finished animation to look like.
Target audience: Our primary customers are young professionals with disposable income and middle class families. Our customers are health conscious, aware of ethical issues, with an interest in cooking wholesome food for themselves or their families.
Your target audience is a vital piece of information that your freelancer should know. It’ll help them design an animation that specifically targets that section of the market and helps you draw in the right custom.
Deadline: Our new website will launch on the week commencing 20th October 2016, so we need the video in time for this launch.
When do you need your project to be completed? Don’t forget this crucial detail.
Budget: $2,000 – $3,000
How much will you pay for the project? If you have a budget in mind, include it in your project brief. If you have no idea, you can discuss costs with your freelancer.
Point of contact: You should report to Ian McBride, our marketing manager.
Who will your freelancer be dealing with? Make it easier for remote workers to communicate with you by making it clear who their point of contact is during the project. There will be extra questions and work that needs to be signed off, so make sure your freelancer gets straight through to the right person.
Project constraints: Ian McBride will be out of office from [date] to [date].
If there are any external factors that affect your project, remember to include them for your freelancer.
When you post an animation brief on Twine, you can add a fully comprehensive project description. This will help you find the right creative freelancer and ultimately get the animation you want:
We vet all of our animators and match them to clients using over 10 different criteria. This allows both parties to gain maximum results at the most effective price. We’re here to help along every step of the way and will do everything we can to make sure you have an awesome experience.
So, there you have it! A top-quality sample animation brief. If you’d like any extra help, here are a few other articles we’ve written on the topic:
Find out what makes a good project brief.
How to write the perfect project brief.
11 tips for writing the perfect project brief.
To find a creative freelancer for your project, click here.
Stuart Logan
Raksha
