Explainer video production: these jobs are involved!

Just as every member of a band contributes to making a song come across really well - that's roughly how you have to imagine it with a professional explainer video production. Because here, just like in a band, the most diverse creatives and trades come together and play big together.

We have listed below the most important professions and jobs related to the creation of a professional explanatory film and thus give a little insight behind the scenes. Here we go ...

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Producing

At the beginning of every explainer video project there is a lot of organization, and in most video productions this runs over the table and through the hands of a so-called producer or organizational genius. You could also call it project management with the skills of a tamer - because whoever works here has to have everything under control and occasionally crack the whip: Numbers, customer wishes, artists, creatives and timings have to be juggled in such a way that an explainer video not only pays off, but is also fun for everyone involved. Tough job! There are now a number of courses of study that specialize in the production of so-called creatives (i.e. creative formats such as videos, graphics, websites, etc.). Good thing, because this job requires a lot of skills and production knowledge.

Concept/ Text

This is where the poets and thinkers or friends of the word sit. The copywriter or conceptioner is the creative head in which the idea and the process for an explanatory video are developed. Whoever works here has to be a keen reader and persevering - because it is often a matter of taking in a lot of information, understanding it and grasping the essence of it. Which brings us to writing, where you have to be very versatile in order to address different target groups and of course you must not have any blockades in front of the white sheet of paper or screen. Often copywriters only create the voice-over for a topic to better estimate the length of a video. Once the framework is in place, it is usually processed into a complete script in collaboration with an illustrator. A script? This is a kind of script for the video and summarizes what the speaker says and what you see in the video. If this is worked out frame by frame, then a so-called storyboard is created. In the storyboard, the entire sequence of an explainer video is recorded in such detail - it then serves as a kind of construction plan, for better coordination with the customer and as a binding specification for implementation. There is no regulated training in Germany for the profession of text/conception - but those who bring along a lot of creativity, discipline and good writing can gradually develop into experts in this field.

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‍Illustration

Now it gets colorful - if you work as an illustrator, you will now start to visualize the image layer described in the script. One after the other, all the template images that are needed for the explainer video are created. How and in which style this is done is usually determined beforehand, in that the person commissioning an explainer video decides on a certain style. Here the creative possibilities are almost unlimited. As an illustrator, you often have an extraordinary talent for drawing - if you are good enough at it, your talent is often followed by a solid design degree. Many illustrators are now proficient not only in drawing but also in animating their artwork - an additional qualification that pays off for many in their field, because competition among illustrators is extremely tough. If, on the other hand, you master both disciplines, i.e. illustration and animation, you are more likely to be called a motion designer.

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Animation

Here begin's the magic - working in animation really brings the video to life. Because by means of the Adobe After Effects program, all the drawn images of the explainer video now learn to walk. Depending on the illustration style and, for example, the number of characters, this can be a very, very time-consuming process. For one minute of animation you can be very busy between one and three weeks - this depends of course on the demand and not least on the budget of an explainer video production. Although so-called plug-ins (mini-programs with special capabilities, for example, for animating figures) can help with animation, animation as a whole is and remains a lot of manual, mental and technical work...which is never really finished. Those who work in the field of animation are often also designers or illustrators and have often taught themselves how to animate, since there are no really regulated training programs for this. A few universities in Germany have recognized the trend towards animated moving images and have responded to it with appropriate courses - the Film Academy in Ludwigsburg is considered to be the cadre school on an international level. From there, many a student has made it all the way to Pixar... wow!

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Language/ Sound

Last but not least, it is now also necessary to hit exactly the right tone of the explainer video, which is done by wonderful professional speakers. Explainer video productions often work directly with their voice actors or the whole thing is done by a recording studio. The speakers often come from the field of acting, radio or television or are naturally talented autodidacts. The sound level is extremely important and often decides on the success and acceptance of an explainer video - therefore a good explainer video agency not only invests a lot of time in the optimal casting of the voice, but also in the research of the best music as well as sounds (in the technical jargon Sound Effects(SFX). Explainer video makers often find these on professional music portals such as Epedemic, Artlist or Audiojungle - but finding exactly the right track is often like searching for the famous piece of the mosaic.

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Of course, this is just an abbreviated representation of all the jobs involved in creating a professional explainer video - but what you can definitely see is that it takes a whole lot of cool people with diverse talents to create an outstanding video.

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(Illustrations: Romina Birzer, rominarosa.com)