How can you create an age-appropriate animation video?

Based on my experience, creating an age-appropriate animation video that caters to your target audience is not rocket science. Before making an animation video, animators go through a research and development process. In this process, they analyze the target audience's age and the kind of stuff they like, such as colors, patterns, or culture-related elements. By knowing the audience, creating an attention-grabbing animation video becomes easy.

Conocer a tu audiencia es crucial en la animación. Un video impactante vincula la esencia del mensaje a través de los sentidos, seleccionando cuidadosamente música, tipografía, efectos y video. En la animación, cada elemento comunica: la música establece emociones, la tipografía refuerza la identidad, los efectos generan impacto visual y el video da vida a la narrativa. La magia sucede al fusionar estos elementos para resonar con la audiencia específica, generando una conexión emocional duradera. Y ustedes, cuentan historias o las viven? ??

The thing about content geared towards children is that it's not as simple as "make it high-quality and they'll watch it." Parents can probably attest to the fact that their kids love videos on YouTube that seem almost unwatchable to adults. The main commonality that creates interest among the 3-8 age group I've found is that it needs to immediately be obvious as "a video for children" which can be communicated in many different ways: music choice, sound effect cues, tonality of the voiceover, color choice, character design, etc. Like with all content, the viewer needs to feel that "this is made for me!"

Always is a mandatory to know your audience. This ways you could focus on style and methods to make your animation. With the specific audience in mind the next move is to make some research. Pin some references and start creating regarding your audience.

I'd say it's better to always involve a children psychologist to have a competent advice on how to approach a specific age group. If that is not possible, do your homework at least, and explore existing researches and literature on the topic.

In my experience, when an animator knows their target audience, it becomes easier for them to create a preferred style format, whether it's a 2D animation video or a 3D animation video. Choosing the right style is important because when you select a style that resonates with your target audience, you are better able to evoke emotions through the animation video.

La elección del estilo y formato es esencial en cualquier proyecto audiovisual. Desde el brief, esbozamos ideas para la dirección artística, definiendo el estilo visual del video. Esta elección influye en la distribución del formato y las plataformas de presentación. La dirección artística toma forma al considerar la estética, la paleta de colores y la coherencia con la narrativa. Un proyecto bien planificado no solo atrae la atención, sino que comunica eficazmente el mensaje.La clave está en entender que cada elección estilística y de formato debe estar alineada con la audiencia y los objetivos del proyecto.

If you know your audience and you done some research, it will be more easy to start creating the style of your animation. Creating the basic style will help with the whole video.

Getting to know different styles and being exposed to a rich library by watching and keeping yourself updated help a lot in choosing the style. To decide what style is tricky, these tips help me - Knowing the audience - The type of the animation (human story, explainer, ad.. etc.) - The tone that you need to reflect in your style (ex: if it's a harsh story and needs treatments) - Duration and deadline. - Your skills, so not to be overwhelmed and be realistic. (That doesn't mean to keep learning and try new stuff) - Think about the budget and the timeline regarding the style you decided. - Experimenting helps to find a new edge for yourself.

Before creating any animation video, it is important to script it out. Without a script, it is difficult to plan out the actions, backgrounds, dialogues, and transitions needed for the video. Having a script makes the process much easier as it provides a road map to follow.

So much content aimed at children often isn't understood on first viewing. Need proof? Next time you watch a new kids movie with your 3-6 year old, stop the movie 30 minutes in and ask them to explain the story. In all likelihood, they won't be able to. Between fast dialogue and words out of their vocabulary, visual/sound cues that they're not familiar with, and facial expressions/social expectations they haven't encountered yet, there's a lot to be confused by! If you want to ensure understanding (like with educational content), you need to REPEAT concepts with EXPLICIT clarity and simple words. PS: That's why when a child finally DOES understand a movie, they'll watch that movie over and over again, as most parents know, haha!

Some general tips for writing animation scripts for children: - Create more stories, environments that stimulate children's imagination. - Develop characters that children can be inspired by. Give them unique characteristics and conflicts that are relatable to children. - Children have an evolving attention span, so it's important to keep stories a little simpler and straightforward. But don't think they don't understand complex and in-depth scripts, so be open to trying something a little more complex. - Incorporate positive messages: Stories that teach valuable lessons about friendship, courage, the power of imagination, family, teamwork and overcoming challenges are great for kids.

Based on my experience, this is the almost final stage of creating an animation. First, you need to identify your target audience and then create a clear script or storyboard. Once you have these ready, you can start animating using professional software such as Adobe After Effects or Blender. It's essential to work with some animation principles to give your animation a smooth and professional look.

La animación no solo se trata de movimiento; es la habilidad de transmitir emociones y contar narrativas visualmente impactantes. Un buen programa no solo facilita la creación de efectos, sino que también optimiza el proceso de edición y montaje. En la era digital, la animación es una poderosa herramienta para captar la atención y dejar una impresión duradera.

Tips I found helpful in my career: - Storyboards help to have a clear direction. - Having a wide skill range in animation and software will help you to experiment more. - Sometimes you merge between more than a software to have a mix between 2D and 3D. - At the beginning of the career, don't bother yourself with the tools, just try to make things simple and well animated.

La edición y perfeccionamiento de un video es una experiencia creativa gratificante. Es el momento de dar vida al storytelling visualizado y experimentar con efectos sonoros y visuales. Cada ajuste contribuye al video, donde cada elemento cuenta la historia que necesitas comunicar. Por eso la edición es el espacio para jugar y afinar detalles. Al perfeccionar un video, no solo cumplimos con la visión inicial, sino que también creamos una experiencia.

Based on my experience, it is important to share your completed animation with your target audience. If you plan to market your animation video, it's possible that people may not know who created it. The best thing to do is to upload your animation video on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo where your target audience is most active. This will help increase your visibility and ensure that your audience can easily find and enjoy your masterpiece.

Feedback is a good measure to improve you animation skills. - Ask for a direct feedback. - Share your video and some of the progress process on your social media channels. - Upload on Youtube or Vimeo to easily share a link with others. - Tag your team while sharing and write down what you worked on. - While sharing the video, don't forget to write a caption for the video description. - Share challenges and your treatments.

Beside all the above, let's consider what "age appropriate" means (just a reflection); At festivals you can watch many adults shorts into kids categories. Cause are childish or kids oriented? No. Mostly are 'traversal films' accessible at different levels and have something for different audiences. Then you see series or shows tailored just for kids where "violence" is a constant or are based on simplistic juxtapositions. Are these age appropriate? is violence in an already violent society age appropriate? and then, is sexuality, something intrinsic of our biology, age appropriate? Cause this last one gets excluded from the appropriate labels, so many other topics that may be more appropriate than kicking asses superheroes.