Why our first question is ... Why?

While what may come before why in the dictionary, that’s about the only place it should.

When crafting a campaign, planning a strategy, briefing a creative or coming up with a new product the first question should always be WHY.

Why are we doing this? Why will consumers respond?

The what, the how ... that all comes later. That comes when you truly understand WHY you’re doing what you’re doing. And why you’re doing it better and differently than anybody else.

In the Sketch Videos briefing template the first question we ask is…

Why are we making this video?

(and it’s the same question if we’re making you posters or live sketching your event—it’s always about the why)

Because if you don’t understand why you’re doing this, then your message isn’t going to be clear. No matter how much we make it pop and sing, if we don’t truly understand WHY, then we miss the important bits.

Annie Lennox knew it.

Deeply thinking about why you are doing a project means everything else has a solid foundation to sit on. You know your audience. You can determine what channels best work to message them. You know what will encourage them to answer your call to action.

You know how to get results.

And that’s why we ask why.

Featured Video: Localvolts

We recently worked with an exciting new company that is working to build an online exchange for individuals to meet and trade electricity. It was great to get a look at the future of the energy market and work with a dynamic and go-getting organisation.

We asked Localvolts Founder, Jitendra Tomar a few questions about why he chose Sketch Videos to play an important role in explaining the many benefits of peer-to-peer electricity trading.

Jitendra, what made you think of Sketch Videos for your project?

I originally saw some of your work last year on Reposit Power's website. And when we decided to do our website, with the intention of recruiting Supporters for crowd-funding, Tristan, our head of design, wanted a video.  We considered a few alternatives, but decided to take a chance with Sketch Videos based on what we saw and on Reposit's recommendation.

And how was the Sketch Videos process for you?

I've found the Sketch Video's team to be true professionals, and highly skilled.  The process was smooth and easy—you guys were fast, and delivered on promised dates; it was us who lengthened the delivery schedule. Recently, I've had to learn to not rely on a supplier's promised dates, so your performance was in fact unexpected—you did what you said you'd do.  Amazing, isn't it? Transcribing the concept to the storyboard took a few extra iterations, which for me was well within expectations, given the challenge of communicating a complex subject simply. Additionally, your critical input to the content improved the final product considerably—the outcome is truly a joint effort.

And what's been the feedback/result?

Feedback to date has been extremely positive.  People get the message, and a smile on their faces.  I've asked people to comment on its effectiveness, without specifying the meaning of "effectiveness", to which they say, yes, mostly in terms of understanding our vision, and one person even said he found it "inspiring", another said we absolutely "nailed it" and "it's the best two minutes he's spent in a long time".  However, effectiveness for us as a business is more difficult to quantify, which has to be around recruiting supporters, and this is yet to be determined.

What's the difference between Animation and Illustration? And why we do both.

Sketch Videos has grown. We don't just make videos—we make posters and do live sketching and create colouring-in books and more. Excitingly, we don't just create traditional hand-drawn sketching anymore, we make animation and motion graphics videos too.

So, we thought we'd talk to our expert animator, Julia, and get a few pointers on what makes a great animation.

Julia, tell us what's sketchy about animation.

There is always sketching at the initial stage of any animation.

Character design, thumbnail drawings, and storyboard drafts all require sketching of some kind.

I think drawing is the best way (the only way?) to get visual ideas down on the page, to play with ideas, and to block out a good story line.

And what do you think are the main benefits of animation?

Animation can be super handy when you simply can’t make your ‘amazing’ idea into a live action video. Perhaps you wanted to show a giant orange squashing a building and then bouncing into a lake, and then you wanted to make it into an orange island with lots of little orange people dancing all over it … Well, you might want to animate that. It still won’t be easy, but it’s possible.

The types of characters and the worlds people live in is totally up to your imagination, and you are not restricted by the silly rules of real life when you are making it all up in your own head and turning it into an animation. The possibilities are endless, which can be great, but also a bit daunting at times.

You might need to reign in those crazy ideas if they get too out of hand. It could get expensive as well.

For marketing purposes, animation is very useful when making things like Explainer videos and creating Infographics. Using animated text, characters, icons and other visuals, provides a fun viewing experience and can create a lasting impression when delivering what can sometimes be fairly dry information and data. Even if there is no video footage to speak of, we can make it up with drawings, graphics, stills, text and then put it all in the animation pot, stir it a few times, and out comes a smokin’ video. Voila!

How would you describe your style? Smokin'?

My animation style varies. It depends on the type of illustrations I am provided (by a client) or myself and the medium in which I work. (ie. cell animation (drawn), stop motion (3D), 2D Graphics in After FX…

I mostly work in 2D computer land, but have experience in drawn animation and even more in stop motion animation.

For me, I like things to be timed out to music & (secretly) choreographed.

Music is so important to the rhythm and pace of each piece. It really does set the tone.

There also needs to be an element of humour in it for me.

I mean, with animation you have the chance to be silly, which is important.

So don’t waste that opportunity.

October ... did you know?

Did you know that while October is the tenth month of the year, its name is from the Latin octō which means eight! That's because in the old Roman calendar the year began in March, so October was in fact, the eighth month.  But later when January and February were popped in, October became the tenth month.

Yay!

We're super excited to tell you that Sketch Videos is a Victorian State Finalist in the AMI Awards for marketing excellence for a video we made for the VFBV.

The winners will be announced in December. We'll let you know how we go!

And remember you can follow along for your sketchy fix on Twitter or Facebook.

Happy Springing!