The Secret World of Motion Design (How It's Really Made)

[@artifindr]

1.) Discovery Session (zoom call with the client - know the "why") 2.) Research (part 1:study the project, part 2:look for inspiration) 3.) Concept Phase (structure, sample script, Design) 4.) Script Writing 5.) Story Boarding 6.) Style Frames 7.) Production (Character, Typography, Motion Graphics - Animation) 8.) Compiling (Transitions) 9.) Sound Design 10.) Submit to Client

[@plainlysimple]

Nice summary of the video :)

[@lolop205]

Thanks for the info, very few people talk about how an agency works, need more of this

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! :) That's one of the reasons we made this because a few years ago we're looking for some info but we couldn't find any. There are bits of information out there though you just have to look hard for it. School of Motion podcasts are also a good resource :) They interview lots of creatives there which may give you an insight on how studios work too

[@DaveCollison]

I found this video very useful. Thank you very much. Additionally, just because I found it amusing, whenever I stopped looking at the screen, all I could hear was Dexter’s voice from Dexter’s Laboratory. I’d love to hear you say “Dee Dee! Get out of my laboratory!”

[@Ligmaballzallthetime]

😂 I can't unhear it now

[@pouyahosseinzadeh985]

Thanks a lot for sharing. Very few people do this. I appreciate it.

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome. :)

[@cubeandcollect]

This video helps a video editor like me who wants to get into motion graphics as well. Thank you!

[@plainlysimple]

Glad to know this helped. 😊

[@17chricia]

Thank you so much for creating this video. Highly appreciate it. I'm an animator myself and for some reason I felt so inspired watching this. Knowing a fellow kababayan is doing all this, it motivated me to strive harder towards my goal. ❤️

[@plainlysimple]

Hi Kababayan :) Glad to know this inspired you. :) Keep learning and keep pushing forward ❤️

[@NilabhUmredkar]

Lovely animations and thorough process explanation. It is indeed a task in itself to explain to clients how it works. This video is very helpful.

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! Glad to know you found this helpful :)

[@EdArturo]

So insightful! Thanks for sharing

[@FlannelLion]

Been looking into graphic motion for a bit now. You have been very informative and have given me confidence in taking this route. Thank you for your knowledge and expertise!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! 😊 And welcome to the motion design world! 😄

[@bucketedits776]

Very nice thank you! Just a general tip for everybody, it's essential to know the why and to start sometimes with the WHY in your videos. I recommend doing some research about the Golden Circle.🚀

[@thedlawrence4931]

Thank you for the info sir, iwrote everything down in this video. Hoping to change my career to motion graphics.

[@makeyourmusichappen]

This was greatly helpful for a new animator such as myself. Thank you!

[@plainlysimple]

Glad to hear that!

[@CodyNitcher]

THANK you for sharing! I'm just getting started on my path towards animation and motion design, and I am trying to figure out the best way to begin. This explanation was very helpful.

[@plainlysimple]

Hi Cody, Glad to know this helped :) We hope to see you on that path :)

[@ИванПузырев-щ6р]

This video is great! Please make more videos about how the studio works

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! 😊 We’ll make more soon!

[@piotrciereszynski9530]

Really good inspiration! I love your videos.

[@plainlysimple]

Glad you like them! 😊

[@vivekdhyani1670]

Amazing content. Explained well to give brief about the process. Great Work. Thanks 🙂🙂

[@plainlysimple]

Our pleasure 😊

[@johnlin6121]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome 😊

[@Rienquelapulpe]

I discovered your channel 2 days ago, as a graphic designer who try to specialize in motion design, your contents are just what i needed. Thanks you so munch for your content. Just wondering about the time you need to handle each phase. You sad one week for the researching phase. Can you give us an approximate time scale to develop a concept document (one option), the script/storyboard/frame style phase for a 30 sec film and the animation part for a 30 sec film (with music, voice over and sound design).Thanks you ! Wish you the best for the futur.

[@plainlysimple]

It depends on how big the project is, how much research we need, but on average it would take us 1 week to finish the concept document. The animation part on average would take 2 - 3 weeks.

[@Rienquelapulpe]

@@plainlysimple Thanks for the info ! Just to confirm please, when you say animation part, it's script writing, storyboarding, style framing AND animation part ? It's kinda short :) Need to get a new after effect method :)

[@plainlysimple]

@@Rienquelapulpe No the animation is just the animation :) Script writing could take 3 days to 1 week, the same with the storyboard

[@Rienquelapulpe]

@@plainlysimple Well, i thanks you again for your time. Wish you the best for you guys !

[@MaryArts]

I am glad that you mention that not one person is doing the script, the concept, the animation, etc. I have worked for agencies and clients that just don't understand what a Superman move it is, that they expect me to do every step alone. What boils my blood the most, is that I show them the Storyboard and even sometimes an Animatic. And they don't say anything. And when I animated everything based on the storyboard, they want to change scenes. They just don't understand how long it takes to change a finished animation...

[@plainlysimple]

It is a superman move indeed :D Perhaps it would help if you initiate the discussion. Sometimes clients or non creatives struggle with trying to articulate their thoughts or they don't know what to look at. Try asking for something specific like "what do you think of the flow of the storyboard? The visuals aren't final but wanted to know your thoughts on the overall direction" Try and narrow down specific key points that you are looking for.

[@MaryArts]

@@plainlysimple thank you for your answer. Very helpfull :)

[@plainlysimple]

@@MaryArts You're welcome :)

[@bindu996]

This is so helpful, I was just trying to find information on this process and couldn’t find much out there. I follow on Instagram too and you guys are fantastic. Hope your success continues to grow with this channel. Thank you so so much, sending a lot of good energy and karma your way :]

[@plainlysimple]

Hi Bindu! Glad to hear it! And thanks for the good vibes and karma :)

[@reneechin9391]

You and your team are awesome! All these effort and determination, so inspring! Love your channel please keep them coming!

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks Renee! Thanks for the kind words. :) And yes! We'll keep them coming. More soon! :D

[@thiagokp12]

Thanks for this post!! Helpful insights on workflow and the careful in animation. I appreciate it :)

[@plainlysimple]

Glad it was helpful! You're very welcome. :)

[@TheBlacKrystal]

Love this video! Thank you for making this!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome. Glad to know you liked it. :)

[@julyr5650]

This was really interesting and i learned a lot of suff i didn't imagine!! I'm studying animation so this helped me a lot :)

[@plainlysimple]

I'm glad you learned something from this. Keep learning and take care! :)

[@AlexandreSoma]

So cool you did this. Really! Congrats!

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! 😊

[@chrismedmadzou6911]

thank you dude for this good content, God bless you

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! :)

[@LAQoTAQ]

well done! there was a lot of information in the video! Thanks

[@plainlysimple]

You’re welcome 😊

[@blinn40x]

A truly excellent and insightful video, thanks for posting! Cheers from Canada

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it! And thanks for watching. Cheers from the Philippines :D

[@nirubansatchithanandakumar3266]

Thank you so much for this.

[@plainlysimple]

You are so welcome!

[@fabiorutigliano3561]

How can you develop scripting skills for motion design animation? Simply reading and studying some books? Can you explain how you developed those skills?

[@plainlysimple]

For us, we were able to develop our skills in scripting through practice, and observing other explainer videos and tried to broke down how they did their scripts

[@plainlysimple]

Certainly reading books would help too

[@TheFirstCyberNinja]

This was great, thank you so much for putting this video together. One question tho, how long would this process take from start to finished product? my process is a much simplified version of this since I work alone and it usually take me from one week to two weeks, so I'm interested how much it takes the pros.

[@plainlysimple]

Great! Glad to know this helped 😊 It normally takes us a minimum of 4 weeks to finish 1 project.

[@TheFirstCyberNinja]

That's kinda relieving to hear (read) , since I usually fear that I'm taking too long so sometimes I end up rushing things. Thanks :)

[@plainlysimple]

@@TheFirstCyberNinja You're welcome 😊 Happy to help.

[@lornanakell6795]

This was great info! I just finished the School of Motion "Illustration for Animation" workshop which was fruitful for creating storyboards and style frames. Doing this I realized that I really enjoy creating the characters. The problem is that I still have no idea how one would find jobs doing character illustration or animation that's specific to explainer videos. Do you have advice on that?

[@plainlysimple]

We're not really experts on that topic 😅 but we've found that constantly creating the work we want to be hired for is the best way to get those kinds of projects.

[@BlazinStar5]

Can you make a video about the process of how you price your motion design projects?

[@plainlysimple]

That would be a good topic 🤔

[@joyusagi]

Hi, I love this video, super helpful. Thank you!

[@plainlysimple]

You're so welcome! Glad to know you liked it 😊

[@sudeshprathap]

You are AWESOME 🎉🔥 thank you so much for everything you are sharing with us 😄😄

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! and you're welcome :)

[@ohneweil2644]

Thank you for sharing this Information! So helpful

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! :)

[@paulreed07]

well done guys! love it

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks 😊

[@paulreed07]

@@plainlysimple Can u reveal what u animated the snaky arms with?

[@plainlysimple]

@@paulreed07 Maybe we can do it on our next tutorial video :)

[@jaromirdevaty7051]

Thanks a lot super helpful!! Great channel ;)

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! Glad that you liked it. :)

[@observatoire5497]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing!

[@plainlysimple]

Thank you! 😊

[@Squatrecords]

thanks for sharing!!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome 😊

[@rishabhc493]

Great content, thank you

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome :)

[@Ghost-bi7jf]

Nice video! please also create a video on hows the process on creating animation.

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! 😊 We don’t have a video for a full animation workflow but in the meantime you can check our other videos, we also have tutorials on animation

[@easeproductionsuae9768]

Thanks this is so useful.

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome :)

[@joaosabbadini.motion]

Great video! Thanks for sharing. Just one question, in the Style Frame process, did you guys made then directly in After Effects or use Illustrator or Photoshop?

[@motionzrk3913]

Amazing video, Thank you.

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! And you're welcome :)

[@RainSoxx]

Thank you for this video! I'd love to know a little more about the concept phase, you mention that you might do 1, 2, or 3 concepts depending on the budget, how does that work? Is it essentially just a case of $10k = 1 concept, $15k = 2 concepts, $20k = 3 concepts? What do you do if it's a job that you haven't won, but you're pitching for it? Do you do 3 ideas then or maybe just one?

[@plainlysimple]

Hi! It's not really an apples to apples comparison as each project is different. But I guess the one you presented here is reasonable. Sometimes in smaller budget we do 3 designs, and there are times in a bigger budget we just presented 1 design because we think "it's the one". So my answer here would be it depends but just so people can understand better, you can think of it like that: the more the concept the bigger the budget. Also we don't normally pitch. We do the concept after we are hired. But there are some instance where we did pitch. In determining whether to pitch or not, think if the risk is worth it. If you pitch there's already cost involved which is your time. Does the potential win outweigh the cost? If so do what it takes to win.

[@RainSoxx]

@@plainlysimple Thanks for the response! In regards to working on concepts etc after being hired, how do you balance that with the winning the job in the first place and their budget etc? Do you mainly just ask them for their budget and work towards that? Do they have a rough idea of a video & length of video they want before they hire you so you can base the cost off of that? Essentially, what information is it that you gather from the client before you quote for the job?

[@plainlysimple]

@@RainSoxx Good question. This is hard to answer. I mainly just ask the client what's their budget. If I think it's too low then I would ask for more. Essentially I would asses how I feel about the project, if you're not too excited then it's probably because the budget is too low. I typically work with a budget that I am happy with. I do set a minimum range of engagement and if the client's budget is below that then I would politely decline and tell them if they want to work with us then they should match the range. With regards to the exact quote, I factor a lot of things like how long is this project expected to be completed? 1 week? 4 weeks? 9 weeks? How much income do we need to make in 9 weeks so that we would be sustainable considering how frequent we could take on clients. How difficult is the project? Do I need to hire specialist? How many revisions do I expect? With previous projects similar to this how difficult do I think this is? What road blocks am I expecting? Am I expecting a lot of problems? If so, what's the price so that I would be happy in tackling those problems? I hope this helped. 😊

[@iliazbektashmatov8066]

Thabk you for indepth explanation

[@plainlysimple]

You’re very welcome 😊

[@sreejithkakkat]

Great video. So from the initial client call to final delivery roughly how much time it'll take if we don't consider the delays from the client for approval?

[@plainlysimple]

Depends on the scope but typically around 3-4 weeks

[@dale9386]

Thank you for sharing! I would like to know more about the process of writing a script from the point of view of a motion designer, how do you approach this? I'm more familiar with the voiceover approach, this is when my clients write a script for a narrator, and I have to use it as the basis for animation, do you do it differently?

[@plainlysimple]

Hi Dale! That's a good idea for a video 😄 Sometimes we do it like what you have there. If the client has a script we just use that. But there's also a time where the client would want us to write the script and the process is a bit long for a comment, but I like writing the script for motion, so that the voice, the vo acting, and the animation are all coherent.

[@sourmilke]

12:25 is there a way to stay coherent or retain consistency in the artstyle/animation with the first method of splitting the frames?

[@plainlysimple]

Yes there is. There needs to be a guide that all artist would follow, like a brand guide but for video. This is usually done by the lead designer.

[@SignatureAesthetic]

Very helpful thank you

[@plainlysimple]

Glad to know you found this helpful :)

[@isharedesign7532]

Thanks for sharing

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome 😊

[@paulamongelos5117]

Thanks!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! :)

[@linhosousa8899]

nice! One question: How we know what is the best specialist we need to train for? I thought I needed to learn everything (Thats why I was "tired" to try to learn a lot of diferents things at the same time, and in the, didnt learn so much with so many information). How I know my specialist between my skills VS what I like more (Even I dont know what is)? . How was your process to know character animation was your thing? - Im asking this because, sometimes we can imagine and said: I like this! - But when we tryed to do it / learn, you cant do well, and you feel like, kinda sad... So, you can understand that you dont have ability to do it... - That is my problem, I dont know if I have the ability, sometimes thinking: Im losing my time? What I need focus more? ... complicated :x

[@plainlysimple]

Hi! About your question it's a bit complicated :D Our advice is to don't pressure yourself. If you don't know what you like more then it's okay to try things out, just try to enjoy the process. Try character animation, try motion graphics, illustrating etc. See what sticks. At this point you're not even trying to be better at it, you're just exploring and see which of these you enjoy best. If you'll see that you gravitate towards one field for example character animation then that means that's what feels right for you. Then you should pursue that field. Try not to be sad when you can't do them well, because believe it or not, we've started there as well. Once you've removed the pressure on yourself to do well all the time, that's really the point where you'll improve faster. Once you can practice without being sad about it because that's the point of practice, its a safe place to do bad art, and once you can do that you can see at your work more objectively and make those tiny tweaks along the way, and if you can remove the pressure then it's going to be more fun for you. And if you're having fun, you're more likely to do it again and again. And with repetition slowly you'll be able to correct those mistakes. And once you've seen that you've improved even by a little bit, it's going to make it more fun. It's like a game or an rpg, when you level up from level 1 to level 2, you feel a sense of accomplishment. That feeling is addictive, and when you pursue improvement you'll be more forgiving to yourself. It's like you can't expect a level 1 squire to beat a level 99 boss. And if you put it in that perspective, you'll just try to enjoy the game, leveling up, gather items and equipments, and you'll realize you can now beat the level 99 boss. It's the same with this field. :) At the start don't try to assess a field by how good you are in it but by how much you enjoy it.

[@RedRumble14]

Oh man, nice video! I’m not a motion designer, but thinking of hiring one for my documentary. I hope 2d animation is not too pricy, I basically need schemes, not much of drawings! And also I m questionioning myself how to style everything like in terms of using Colors and fonts… so much work

[@plainlysimple]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. Yes it is a lot of work. Most of the times motion design work would require multiple people to finish. And animation can get pricy depending on the skills and experience of the animator or animation team 😊

[@nicholepatulot7434]

Tutorials on how you added those textures?

[@plainlysimple]

We currently don't have one on our channel. Check out Ben Marriott's channel, he has a tutorial about textures :)

[@akash4458]

Thank You so much

[@plainlysimple]

You're most welcome

[@toddpegrum]

love this

[@plainlysimple]

The textures were hand drawn using Photoshop :)

[@nikyabodigital]

It is my dream to join these studios.... Still got a long way to go..

[@plainlysimple]

Just keep going 😊 Eventually, you'll succeed.

[@afraidsari]

this is very helpful. youu start concept meetings after the proposal and contract have been signed right? or before?

[@plainlysimple]

Yes. We start concept meetings after the contract have been signed. :)

[@afraidsari]

@@plainlysimple thank you :D

[@JosepMotion]

Thanks! So Pro!!

[@plainlysimple]

You're welcome! :)

[@faisalmaniar6112]

Do we develop concept document after the client has signed the contract & paid advance or is it something we need to develop to get the client onboard?

[@plainlysimple]

This would depend on you. For us we develop the concept document after the contract is signed. Most of the time we ask for the payment in advance but for bigger companies where they have some payment policies that they follow, we are good with being paid after. But in any case, we always develop the concept document after the contract signing.

[@faisalmaniar6112]

@@plainlysimple Thankyou this gives so much clarity

[@plainlysimple]

@@faisalmaniar6112 You're welcome 😊

[@AhmedBadry-k1n]

Can I join to your teem ?

[@ivanaojeda7564]

Minute 11:00 is my colaborative projects in a nutshell lol

[@plainlysimple]

😂

[@RedRumble14]

How long it takes to make a motion design?

[@plainlysimple]

Most of our projects would take about 7-9 weeks to complete 😊

[@RedRumble14]

@@plainlysimple what about a simple explainer scheme which is about 10 sec long? Can it be done faster? There are no drawings of people as well

[@plainlysimple]

@@RedRumble14 That would still depend on the style and process of each studio but for the sake of just answering the question, Yes I guess it can be done faster 😊

[@RedRumble14]

@@plainlysimple thanks man, I’m just new to this field and planning to find some motion designers on freelance that can help me… studious are definitely too pricy for me

[@plainlysimple]

@@RedRumble14 You're welcome. Happy to help. Yes, studios can get expensive. You can try out freelancing sites like Upwork or Fiverr.

[@xander9003]

I got the feeling inside my bones

[@plainlysimple]

I hope that feeling is a good feeling 😄

[@yofi2614]

Isnt the motion design/vfx is dying because AI?

[@plainlysimple]

Hi! Good question. 😊 Personally, I don't think motion design/vfx is dying because of AI. But this is just my point of view. I have few points. 1. AI animation currently, is not that good yet. Most AI animation I've seen need actual footage, and would just act like a filter (like it's being cartoonize) - But given it's still the early stages of AI and eventually the technology will become better. But currently, animators are still needed. 2. Even if the AI technology would advance so much that its so good, you would still need an animator to operate the AI to such a high level. So motion designers are still needed. AI, don't know what easing to use. It doesn't know the client brief. So motion designers are still needed. The concept still has to come from a person. And you still need to "direct" the AI that it matches your vision, and there will be parts that you need to animate yourself. 3. I think this is the same as with previous technological advancements. When digital came into play, people said traditional art is dead. But it's not. There are really good traditional artist that still work in film and in other parts of the creative field. When 3D came into play, people said Frame by Frame animation is dead. But it's not. In fact the demand for frame by frame animation has risen over the years, and it's a high level skill. When photography was invented, people said painting is dead. But it's not. I think you get the picture. With AI, it will probably change how we work in the future, but motion design is certainly not dying. It will transform, and how we work and animate may change. 4. I think what AI would replace are motion graphics that's not creative. Creatives who do repetitive tasks would probably be replaced. But highly creative work would still be there and would probably be more sought after and thrive. AI is a tool, just like DUIK is a tool for Ae. As long as the AI is ethical, it's a good tool to put in our arsenal.

[@yofi2614]

@@plainlysimple Thank you for your detailed response, really appreciate. what about "Wonder Dynamic" AI though? Take for example the link below. Nowadays will need a few professionals but today with a one click of a button, that is all, all set! no need for modelere, 3d animator, colorist and so on kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3qtiYKLbZiZp6c

[@plainlysimple]

@@yofi2614 This is amazing! I'm actually excited about the future. My original answer still stands here. If you watched the video, you'll realize that it is Peter, a vfx artist who was able to operate the technology to a high level. It wasn't some dude, it was a vfx artist. When I watched the video, I felt it wasn't as easy as just one click. You still need to learn blender, in the video he modelled the character/alien. He animated the camera, he downloaded models on Sketchfab (which you'll purchase and btw is done by a 3d artist). All of the answers I have given above have been further proven with this video. You still need the fundamentals. You still need to know 3d principles, cinematography principles, animation principles etc. As I have mentioned above what Ai will ultimately replace is the repetitive task. Doing vfx would take repetitive task of "erasing" the placeholder actor and replace it with the cg. That task isn't creative, it's technical but not creative and very tedious. With this technology, it eliminated that tedious work, although not perfect yet. But if you finished the video, all of the creative work was still done by Peter. Again, ethical Ai is a nice tool to have in our arsenal. Motion Graphics isn't dead, vfx isn't dead. And Ai isn't going to kill it, it's going to make it faster, so in the future we'll do less of the tedious task, and more of the creative tasks. It is still your vision, your own creative direction that's more important here, and the Ai is just making the tedious part of the process faster. Hope that helps.

[@yofi2614]

@@plainlysimple It did! thanks!