Live action vs animation videos
So you’ve got a story to tell, audience to reach and business to make and you’re thinking video might just do the trick. Well, you’re probably right - video sure can do the trick. With video you can tell your story with results. You can get and keep your audience’s attention, communicate clearly and create feelings to make a desired impact. Magic!
Before the celebration we need to plan and execute your video though. Just a minor detail, we know, but needs to be done anyway to get that magic ;)
An important part of planning your marketing video is to choose whether to execute it in live action or animation. This blog post will go through the pros and cons of both, and leave you with a verdict to help you choose the right video type for your business need.
First though, a quick go-through of the two:
- a form of cinematography or videography that uses actors and actresses instead of animation or animated pictures
- a dynamic medium in which images or objects are manipulated to appear as moving images
So live action is done with video camera, animation is drawing sketches and objects put together to make them look like they are moving.
Now let’s move to the comparison part shall we.
Pros: Live action video
Real humans like real humans
It is to a great benefit to tell your story by using real people, because real people are more relatable, and thus create more of those important feelings that we want our audience to experience.
When relatable real people are used, we as viewers simply find them more reliable. Whether they are actors playing to be using your services, actual customers telling how your product made their life better, or your employees sharing insight on why your place is the best to work at - we relate, believe and feel more through real people. This all can create an impact on the viewer.
True view to your physical product
If your business has physical products, it’s good to use live action video to show these products to your audiences.
With live action video, your audience will see your products just as they are, and they don’t even need to be in the same space with your product.
Only the feel and smell is missing, but I assume that will be an option in the near future too :)
Fast and easy(er)
Live action video can be faster and easier to put together when you’re aiming for a simple outcome.
Technology has made it possible for anyone with a phone to shoot and edit quality videos.
So to get yourself a live action video you really just need to start recording on your phone and voilà, you have it.
This fast and easy-statement still applies even if you take the production up a notch. It will be fast and easy to get a freelance video professional to your business location and do a video shoot for you without too much preparation, directing or editing required.
If you’re looking for something fast and easy, live action video might be the way to go.
Simple is cheaper
Now you’re thinking; “finally he’s talking about price”. Yes, I am, you’re welcome.
The fast and easy production method for simple live action videos described above starts with a price of a cell phone and some time.
We’ve seen very decent freelance video professionals shoot and edit a day’s work for some hundreds of euros.
From here the price gradually goes up with live action: get better equipment, more advanced editing, bigger team for better audio and light, actors for professional story telling and so on.
Cons: Live action video
As good as the folks in it
Just as great of an asset real people are for your marketing video, they are also its biggest danger.
Your marketing video will be as good as the people in it. Fact.
With choosing the best actors, good directing and making the most of the time on the editing table you have some chances to make adjustments and get the story right.
But in the end, if the actor on your video is not fit to represent your service, or your customer is too nervous in front of the camera - it will show, and it will have a negative affect on the end result.
You get what you shoot
It’s not just people, with live action video you’re pretty much stuck with whatever you shoot.
Once again with the right planning, equipment, directing, acting and editing you can do wonders. But if after the shooting you’re not happy, well, that’s what you will be left with.
If your office space, products or weather don’t communicate your desired message though the video material you have, there is not not much you can do about it - without animation that is.
Crew dependant
Live action video is not only people, editing and circumstances dependant. The live action productions quickly require multiple personnel to operate, the so called crew.
Your final product is based on these employees that together put your video, so choosing the right crew is crucial, and as always when dealing with people, surprises occur and plans can change last minute.
There are no updates
Trends and styles change these days rapidly, and that applies to marketing videos too.
When you have made your live action video this year, it can look outdated, even silly in a few years.
And not even that, your product or service, or people who should be on the video can change, and you would like to do some updates on your live action marketing videos.
Well, too bad, because live action videos are not updated just like that.
You can dig out other old material or shoot new material to make some edits, but it will be difficult and resource consuming to make any sort of updates to live action videos.
Can be generic
It took a few pros to get to this one, but this one might be the most important in my opinion.
No matter how personal your business environment, customers and employees are to you, they can very easily be viewed as generic by other people.
You know what I mean? Office spaces in your field of business can look similar, business people from CEO’s to young and trendy AD’s within your market might have strong similarities, even your products compared to your competition can look similar to a broader audience.
Really can’t highlight this enough: live action video can look very generic, and this means your brand won’t stand out and won’t be remembered.
Complex is pricier
If your story is complex, live action video quickly becomes more expensive.
Several shooting days, transforming locations, casting and directing a fleet of actors and time consuming editing puts a heavy price tag - and time stamp on your live action production.
Pros: Animation video
No limit storytelling
Simply put: With animation anything is possible.
You want to take your product to Mars? No problem. You want your employees riding unicorns? Consider it done.
With animation no matter what sort of story you want to tell, it can be done, because we are not limited with the boring real world.
Don’t need a location
Animation is done inside computing machines aka computers.
You don’t need a location, you don’t need to arrange a shooting day at your factory, or stop the work at your office. You don’t need to worry about the weather, or whether by passers will interrupt your shoot.
Animation production is location hassle free.
Stand out and be unique
As mentioned above as a live action video con, this might be my favourite merit for animation.
With animation you create a brand story that will be totally unique for you and no one but you.
With animation you will be noticed, because you’re different. You will be remembered, because you’re different.
Being different has no value in itself, but standing out from the competition and being genuine does.
Explain complex or even abstract concepts
If your product or service is hard to explain or is intangible, with animation you can tell basically any story in a simple, understandable way.
This will help your audience understand you message, and your employees to tell it.
This is also a major animation benefit, since you can make your abstract services visual to your customers. Or, you can show what’s inside your products and what they are made of to let your customers better understand your product and its benefits.
Bonus tip: it also applies for large products. For example if you’re in a business of making factories. They can easily be animated and that animation can be shown virtually anywhere, where as taking a factory with you to show it to your potential customers can be pretty hard.
One message for different cultures
With live action your marketing video will have the people, environments and nuances that the video is shot with. These cultural factors can make your message very different, or in the worst case, not applicable to other cultures.
For example, having people with certain backgrounds and ethnicities has a very different impact in different markets. Regulations and jurisdictions often vary from market to market, which make it hard to display details in a way that would work globally.
With animation, you can get generic enough and playful enough so to say and details become meaningless. You can communicate your value proposition to a global audience.
This is part of the reason animated movies have been such global hits. A talking lion or a genie in a bottle is just as odd for any culture, that it works for any culture.
Making changes and updates is easier
Unlike with live action video, animation video is easier to update when needed.
Changing colours, adding information, making new versions, adjusting details or any other update is easier with animation, because once again we’re not stuck with real world footage.
Complex is cheaper
Where as live action video is cheaper when things are simple, animation becomes simpler solution compared to live action video once things get complex.
If you need to build an entire world with space ships, waterfalls with purple water, thousands of flying hippos - or just one scene with a car crash, producing the wanted end result is cheaper with animation than arranging everything for a live action video.
Cons: Animation video
Can take more time
With live action video you get started and get done quickly. With animation, where all the frames are created, it can quickly take a longer time to create the animation video your business needs.
Obviously this depends on the animation technique, but a good rule of thumb is that if you’re a real hurry, you might want to go ahead with live action video.
Slower to improvise as you go
Sort of extension to the previous con, but if you get a real good idea in the middle of a live action video shoot, it can be fairly easy to adjust and make it happen. To improvise.
But with animation this too will be slower and more money consuming to make sudden changes.
Because everything there is in animation, is done and animated separately, changing them is harder too.
Also, talent dependant
Just as live action video is people dependant, so is animation.
Animating is an extremely demanding craft, and the higher your business requirements are for your animation video, the more dependant you will be for animation talent.
Simple is pricier
Another easy head to head comparison with live action video: if you want fast, easy and simple, then animation will be pricier.
It’s the first animations that are the most resource consuming, after which it becomes more efficient. So for this very reason, short and sweet generally becomes pricier.
This list should give you a pretty good idea for which purposes live action video is the best, where it doesn’t work so well, when animation is your best friend and where animation falls short.
So time for the verdict? Damn right it is.
The verdict
Combine the two
Take the best parts of live action video and apply it when appropriate for your business needs. Use real people, when for the maximum impact you need authority from real people and you want your customers to relate to your brand.
Use animation to stand out from the competition and free yourself from the limitations of storytelling. Showcase your complex services in an appealing and understandable way.
Use these two in the same marketing video and we’re getting really close to the sweet spot.
Thank you for your time! I really hope you enjoyed this post.
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Did we miss or forget something? Or maybe you just want to tell us how good this post was? That being said, please feel free to share this blog post with the ones who you think might also benefit from it.
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