5 techniques to make professional and creative videos
Some of the techniques presented in this article will not seem foreign to you and are widespread in professional animated videos. Others are unfairly set aside by audiovisual professionals as “unsuitable for professional animated videos”.
1. Motion Animated Design
Motion Animated Design is certainly the best-known technique for commercial videos.
Why? Simply because its definition is broad and encompasses several techniques of realization, post-production etc.
To be able to realize Motion Animated Design, it is necessary to have animation bases and a lot of work.
The most used software are Adobe After Effects for creation and simple animation, and Cinema 4D is specialized in 3D animation. Generally, a voice-over is used on the video.
In which types of videos should Motion Design be used?
It is often used in presentation videos (company, product…) in order to educate the audience on a particular point.
2. The Stop Motion
Stop Motion is an animation technique that compiles a multitude of shots and assemblies at standard speed.
Creating a stop motion video does not require any special digital technical skills and can be practiced in-house.
In the form of drawing or photography, the production of a stop motion requires a long work of pre-production: storyboard, cutting of the scenes, transitions must be prepared meticulously.
For the production itself, a digital camera and tripod are required. Shooting will take time (count 1,500 frames for a 1 minute video at 25 frames per second). However, the assembly will be relatively fast. For this post-production part, a simple editing software is required. A voice-over is not mandatory but background music will boost the video.
In which types of animated videos should Stop Motion be used?
Stop Motion is a good compromise when you want to make animation but you do not master digital animation. You can use this process in presentation videos, corporate animated explainer videos etc.
3. The Slow Motion
Slow Motion allows you to present a video in slow motion.
While you might think that simply slowing down the video with editing software is enough, the Slow Motion technique is more complex. It is said the standard frame rate of a video is 24 to 25 frames per second (fps).
In other words, if the number of frames used during shooting is greater than the standard frames per second of a video, then there will be a slow motion effect on the video. Logically, otherwise, if the number of images used during shooting is lower than that of the final video, there will be an accelerated effect.
To have a good quality and successful slow motion effect, you will need to shoot at 100 fps or more.
To give you an idea of the speed:
- shooting at 120 fps will give you an image 4 times slower than normal. Slow motion sports videos are usually shot at 120 fps.
- 600 fps gives an image 24 times slower.
- from 1000 fps (40 times slower), human movements are too slow to be interpreted by slow motion.
- from 5 000 fps and up to 10 000 fps, we can speak of “bullet time” i.e., the speed is slow enough to be able to see the trajectory of a revolver bullet. You cannot shoot with simple cameras or SLRs. You need a professional and often expensive camera to get this result.
In which types of videos to use the Slow Motion?
You can use slow motion during test or demonstration animated explainer videos to show for example the solidity and robustness of your product.
4. The Reverse Motion
Reverse Motion is the art of editing a video in the opposite direction it was filmed.
For example: the final video shows someone walking backwards while he was walking normally during the shooting.
You won’t need special settings on your camera, but as with Stop Motion, good organization and a detailed storyboard are necessary if you don’t want to waste too much time shooting.
In which types of videos should the Reverse Motion be used?
You can use the Reverse Motion to include a plot to your video. Why and how did your character come to this conclusion?
5. Time Lapse
As with Stop Motion, a Time Lapse is a montage of photos taken at regular intervals to form a video with a sensation of accelerated time.
To make a Time Lapse, you will need:
- A digital camera that you will set to ISO as low as possible to have an image with as little noise as possible.
- A tripod is essential for the stability of your videos.
- An intervalometer. An interval meter may be built into your camera. If this is not the case, you will need to get one, which will allow you to take a picture at a regular interval.
- A computer to manage the hundreds or thousands of photos taken, retouch them, and assemble them to make a video.
- If you want to make a Time Lapse in motion (as in the example below), you will need a travelling trolley. The zoom effect will be possible thanks to a long work during the post production.
For the interval between photos, there is no standard.
For example, for urban Time Lapse or sunsets allow 1 to 3 seconds between photos while for sky Time Lapse or buildings under construction an interval of 15 to 30 seconds is sufficient. Be careful, however, to ensure that the exposure time is less than the interval between two pictures to ensure that the picture is recorded.
In which types of videos should Time Lapse be used?
Time Lapse is recommended to make video Feedbacks of events or for tourism companies that want to promote their activity, region, city.
Crux Creative solutions is one of the best animated video production companies in India. We at Crux provide video production services which includes explanatory videos, animated explainer videos, whiteboard animation and video production. To avail our video production services call us on +91-124-4207905 or email us at reachout@cruxcreativesolutions.com.