Animatics in Advertising

In the advertising industry, animatics are used to test television commercials before they go into full-up production. The advertising agency develops several ideas for commercials or campaigns of various commercials for their client's product. The commercials are presented in the form of storyboards by the ad agency to their client. Once a client approves a commercial or a campaign for production, the next step is to test it in an animated form before proceeding to final production. Animatic testing allows agencies to learn what is and what is not working in the commercials.

Animatics are tested in a variety of ways, one of which is to present them to a focus group. Testing is a good way to flush out potential problems in a commercial. Many ideas are lost in testing, some because the idea is bad, and others because the presentation or the animatic itself is of poor quality. Some ideas get lost in translation between what the advertising agency intended and what the test group ultimately sees.

Because animatics are sometimes blamed for the demise of good ideas, agency personnel, as a rule, do not like testing. Often, agencies would prefer to bypass animatics and go to full up production. So, to protect their concepts, agencies have turned to companies that specialize in the production of animatics, like BrainForest Digital, to make sure their ideas get across to the focus group in the way they were intended.

Animation studios like BrainForest Digital specialize in animatics. They have developed methods that allow them to animate ideas quickly and inexpensively. Their expertise helps agencies sell their ideas, not just present them.

Another advantage to going with a company whose main focus is producing animatics is that their expertise helps agencies not only with presentation, but all the way into the final production stages. If it's well executed, the animatic can serve as a production "blueprint." The advertiser can save thousands of dollars with this "blueprint" by cutting down on unnecessary and costly work. These cutting-edge animatics can be a huge help in any aspect of production, including lighting, cinematography, voice over, music selection, sound design, editing, and more.

In short, animatic costs are cheap when compared to the costs of full-up production. Good animatics resolve more problems ahead of time, so fewer problems will exist in the full-up production, saving time and money. Most production and post-production talent, including directors and editors, appreciate working with an animatic, because they know the advantages of going into a project with a full "blueprint." Even composers can use an animatic to begin their work before production starts.