A Guide to Commissioning Animators
Hiring an animation team is an exciting and significant step. Whether you have found them through a trusted recommendation, admired their work for another client or bravely sought them out yourself, you are entrusting them with a precious project that represents months, or even years, of work. A great animation team will become a seamless extension of your own, they will not only bring your vision to life, but also contribute their expertise and creative insights to ensure the final film achieves its goals.
At Plume Films, our approach to commissioning is built on a foundation of mutual trust and respect. Our goal is to make the entire process clear, collaborative, and, most importantly, rewarding. We want you to feel confident every step of the way, so we have put together a guide to the creative journey ahead. It is a look at how trusting the animation production process can lead to a more impactful and original result.
The Art of Trusting Your Creative Partner
When you commission an artist or a filmmaker, you have likely done your research. You have studied their work, taken a recommendation, and made an intelligent, fact based decision. This is the point to fully trust the professional you have commissioned. Of course, they will adhere to your brand guidelines and need your guidance, because you possess the intellectual understanding of your project that they require. But when it comes to the creative thinking and final delivery, you must allow these people to lead, as that is their expertise.
A disheartening thing can happen when a client commissions a creative. They may have trusted the recommendation, but their project is so precious that they find it difficult to let the artist be truly creative. When you are overbearing, you risk the final product being less innovative and exciting than the creative’s other work or what you had hoped for. It can be difficult to trust someone you have never worked with before, but if you have already decided to put your faith in them, then you should do exactly that. We all have our strengths, and our strengths should be championed. This belief is at the heart of our artisan animation process, we blend your vision with our creative craft to produce something truly unique.
Understanding Our Collaborative Workflow
Animators and filmmakers have a finely tuned workflow designed to deliver a high quality result on time. We encourage you to trust this process, it is designed with your best interests at heart. When you allow the animation team to manage the workflow, it ensures that adequate time is reserved for the most critical phase, the animation build. Overrunning the initial planning stages can eat into this time, potentially leading to a final product that feels rushed or less original.
At Plume Films, we have a clear, collaborative process that we have honed over years of experience. From our initial conversations to the final delivery, we build a roadmap that keeps the project on track, ensuring every stage is given the proper care and attention it deserves. Our sign off points are key to this process.
The Power of Sign Offs
Sign off points are essential checkpoints in the production process. They help maintain momentum and ensure everyone is aligned before moving to the next stage. Making changes to a project after a sign off can be costly and time consuming.
Script: The script is the foundation of the entire film. Once it is finalised, it is crucial to sign it off. Changes after a voiceover artist has been recorded can lead to additional costs and delays. To avoid this, we recommend sharing the script with all key stakeholders and upper management early in the process. This ensures everyone's input is gathered before recording begins, protecting the integrity of the project.
Storyboard and Animatic: The storyboard is a series of static panels that illustrate each scene. The animatic takes those sketches and puts them into a crude, timed sequence to establish pacing. We understand that it can be difficult to visualise the final motion from these early stages. Think of the animatic as a pencil drawing on a napkin, it is a vital tool to refine the story's flow and timing. A final sign off at this stage prevents major re-work later.
Clear Communication and Collaboration
Your deep knowledge of your subject matter is invaluable. We are experts at making your story move, but you are the expert on the content. A strong collaboration is what produces a powerful result.
The Right Inputs for the Best Outputs
When it comes to selecting imagery or media, please be discerning. Providing a curated, focused folder of images is far more effective than giving us thousands to sift through. Your clear guidance on which visuals are needed for each scene helps us streamline the process and ensures we are capturing your precise vision.
Aligning on Style
Every animator works differently, but a shared understanding of your brand's style guide and identity is a key part of the process. We will often create mood boards to ensure we are aligned with your vision before we start building. This is where we discuss colour palettes, textures, and the overall feel of the film, ensuring our creative instincts are perfectly aligned with your brand's personality.
Your Project, Our Partnership
Ultimately, a successful partnership is built on mutual respect and trust. We understand how important your project is and share your excitement. By trusting our expertise and following the established workflow, we can work together to deliver a final film that exceeds expectations. We believe in creating not just a film, but an impact, and that all starts with a purposeful collaboration.
Want to learn more about how we craft meaningful stories through film and animation? Explore our portfolio to see how we blend bespoke artistry with strategic storytelling.
