Common Questions to be Answered Before any Video and/or Animation Production is to be done for your Business

Video and animation productions can be wildly varying in degree of complexity, style and technique. As such, a conversation is naturally the first part of the production process. It is critical that we understand the client’s main objective for their video or animation. We’re not going to be very useful if we’re not on the same page. Or, in another scenario, the client sometimes has not fully thought out their own project, and several appropriate follow-up questions will clarify it even for them. Also, as a result of each production requiring its own unique approach, we will provide custom quotes for each project. But coming up with that quote can be challenging without knowing some very particular specifics that need to be soused out.  Needless to say, being thoroughly prepared is a must for every production and effective questions are the way to get there.

The Most Important Questions of All

There are several questions that we ask for every project. These can be applied to any project, and the answers will have potentially huge ramifications on the quote or proposal for a project. These questions are used so often, that we even have an acronym for them internally, 

G-A-V-L-S-T-B

Or phonetically, “Gav-List-B.” They are:

Goal – What is your goal for the video or animation?

• This can be that a viewer contacts you, or they are educated on a service or tool you provide, or it can be raising general brand awareness, or whatever the message is that you want the viewer to take away with them.

Audience – Who is your intended audience?

• This can be as vague as, the general public, or as specific as, 30-45 years olds returning to school to get their master’s in business.
• It’s also important to consider if they will be a “captured” audience or not. An audience sitting at your conference presentation are captured. Teens scrolling through social media on their own time, are not. Someone visiting your website is between those two extremes. 
• It’s also important to consider how “educated” your audience is on your video’s topic as that will influence the script. Do they know nothing about what the video will be talking about? Or are they in the same industry and will understand lingo and common industry concepts?

Venue – Where will the video play?

• Most of our clients intend to put their videos on their websites and/or social media channels. But other possibilities are broadcast tv or tradeshows. 
• This matters because we want to keep in mind where viewers will be seeing the video. Tradeshow floors are loud, so a product video shouldn’t rely solely on voiceover to communicate important info. Broadcast television has strict time limits and licensing rules. Some social media sites have limited time length and may look better vertical rather than the traditional horizontal.

Length – What is the preferred length of the video(s)?

• As mentioned above, where the video plays can have implications on how long the video can be. Also, people generally have short attention spans so something to keep in mind if they are not a captured audience. 
• For our most common video type deliverable, an explainer destined to be on a client’s website, we typically recommend 60-90 seconds.  

Style – How do you want your video or animation to look?

• This is particularly useful for animation! Any examples that you’d like to emulate, is greatly helpful to our creation process.
• If you don’t have any styles in mind, no worries. Our strategy is normally to look at your existing branding and graphics you may be using already, and do our best to match those. Also, you will have an opportunity to approve any proposed art before production on the animation starts.

Timeline – Do you have a deadline? Or, in what timeframe are you hoping to have your project finished by?

• For a standard video or animation project, the typical timeline is 6-8 weeks. But that can vary depending on the specifics of the project.

Budget – Do you have a budget, and if so, what?

• We understand many clients do not have a budget and are looking for a quote. That is fine, but if you do have a budget, that will greatly assist us in determining what is possible to provide.