Tuesday, October 25, 2022
So you want to create a whiteboard animation video … smart thinking! Whiteboard animation videos are proven to be 20X more engaging than traditional videos–making them ideal for entertainment, education, and that “Holy Grail” of marketing–conversions.
However, before you create your whiteboard animation video, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place i.e. to know which steps need to occur and in what order.
That’s what this blog post is all about. In it, we’ll give you an easy, step-by-step process for creating a whiteboard animation video.
So, let’s get right to it!
Before creating your whiteboard animation video, you’ll first want to create a video script, should you choose to use one. Much like GPS helps you arrive at a destination, your script will determine how your video should unfold.
To create your video script, you’ll first want to consider the objectives of your video. You can do that by answering the following:
Once you’ve thought through the answers to these questions, you’ll have a good understanding of who your video is supposed to reach and what it’s supposed to accomplish.
After you’ve determined your video’s objectives, you’ll want to get started on your video script.
You have a few different options when it comes time to create it:
So, now that you know the main methods for creating your script, you should choose the one you like best, based on your budget and comfort level.
Once you come up with a video script you like, you’re ready to move on to the next step in creating a whiteboard animation video–storyboarding!
Storyboarding is the process of sketching out your video, to indicate which scenes should appear alongside the words in your script. A storyboard may also include camera directions, like pan left, zoom in, etc.
Typically, storyboards look something like this:
While storyboarding may seem unnecessary, it’s crucial to a good video. That’s because once you start storyboarding, you’ll have the opportunity to see how well the scenes you’re envisioning go with the script you’re using.
For instance, do you want to start your whiteboard video by depicting an elaborate background? That’ll take a bit of time for the hand to draw, so that beginning scene should comprise a larger portion of your script.
Alternatively, does your script mention 10 benefits of your solution? If so, you’ll probably want to use simple images that can be drawn relatively quickly for each benefit, so you don’t have to add lengthy pauses to your voiceover … while you wait for the hand to finish drawing.
Now, keep in mind that Doodly does allow you to specify how long it takes to draw every single object in your video–so if you want to spend just 2 seconds drawing a house, you can.
However, generally speaking, your video will look more professional if the images aren’t drawn way too fast or way too slow. Video pacing is important which is one reason it’s beneficial for you to storyboard before you begin animating your video.
Another advantage of storyboarding is that it gives you the opportunity to put your ideas on paper, so your teammates can visualize what you’re picturing, rather than merely imagining how the final video might look.
There are a couple different ways to storyboard:
Once you’ve written and storyboarded your script, it’s time to record it! Fortunately, there are plenty of easy ways to create a great voiceover for your video:
Although you’ve already decided that you want to create a whiteboard animation video, did you know that there are multiple different whiteboard backgrounds you can choose from?
For instance, Doodly offers four background styles: whiteboard, blackboard, glassboard, and custom.
This is the most popular background style. It features a regular whiteboard … just like the kind you might find in an office.
Here’s an example of a Doodly whiteboard video:
These backgrounds, also known as chalkboard, are reminiscent of a teacher presenting a classroom lesson … as you can see in this Doodly video:
While glassboard looks very similar to whiteboard, there’s one critical difference. With glassboard, the objects on the screen are transparent, and the hand appears behind the drawing … which is why you can see the hand through the images in this Doodly video!
Doodly also allows you to create custom backgrounds for your animated videos. For instance, you can choose between chalk or marker as your drawing tool. You can also use either a custom color or a custom image as your background.
The Doodly video below shows a marker on a custom blue background.
And in this Doodly video, we uploaded a checkerboard pattern as our Doodly background, then chose a marker as our drawing tool!
Once you’ve chosen your video background, you’ll want to adjust your video settings, so your video turns out exactly how you want it to. Fortunately, Doodly offers a number of different video settings, and in this next section, we’ll take a look at them.
Do you want to use a real hand, cartoon hand, or none at all? And if you do opt to use a hand, would you rather it be a left hand or a right hand?
With Doodly, you have tons of different male and female hands to choose from in a variety of ethnicities, so you have full control over your drawing.
Doodly also lets you select the transitions in your video. For instance, you can choose to stop the video when the animation ends OR to let it play until the animation and the audio end.
You can also determine what occurs between scenes–whether the hand should swipe scenes out of the frame and in which direction, or not at all.
With Doodly, you have tons of different male and female hands to choose from in a variety of ethnicities, so you have full control over your drawing.
Finally, you can select the erase mode Doodly should use when images overlap each other–either erasing automatically (using Doodly’s default Smart Mode), erasing with a finger, erasing with an actual eraser, or not at all.
Finally, Doodly’s video settings allow you to adjust the resolution of your video–selecting from 480p -1080p, as well as custom. If you want, you can even skip right to the chase and select the resolution that’ll work best on Facebook and Instagram.
Finally, Doodly’s video settings allow you to adjust the resolution of your video–selecting from 480p -1080p, as well as custom. If you want, you can even skip right to the chase and select the resolution that’ll work best on Facebook and Instagram.
Simply click on the blue Plus button at the bottom of the Sounds tab, then navigate to your voiceover file. Once you’ve found it, enter a title, then click the Continue button. Going forward, you’ll be able to access that voiceover whenever you want in your Doodly music library.
You also have the option of recording your voiceover right inside Doodly, should you have skipped that step earlier.
Once your voiceover is in the Doodly library, you can drag it to the video timeline below, so the voiceover plays correctly in your video.
If you want, you can even choose one of Doodly’s 100+ music files to play along with your voiceover–at a reduced volume, of course. Not only will this make your video more engaging, but it’ll also give it a more professional feel.
You’ve reached the fun part of video creation–animation! This is where you choose the assets from Doodly’s massive library that you want to include in your video. Just drag and drop them onto your screen–once you do, the hand will already know how to draw them.
There are tons of images to choose from, including …
Don’t want to create an entire scene from scratch? No problem! Doodly has dozens of backgrounds that work for any industry that’ll help you get the look you want–FAST.
Doodly Standard membership comes with over 1,000 characters (3,959 with Doodly Enterprise), representing virtually every profession, age, and ethnicity you can think of.
Even better, these characters are engaged in a variety of different activities, so any Doodler is sure to find the perfect images for their video.
Props give your videos extra flavor and texture. Fortunately, Doodly gives you over a thousand different props to choose from.
You’re also welcome to upload your own images to the Doodly library. With Doodly’s patented SmartDraw technology™, you can “teach” the hand how to draw them, so your animation turns out perfectly!
You may find that once you’ve created the scenes for your animation video, the images are being drawn too slow or too fast … so they don’t correspond to your voiceover.
This is an easy fix. Simply use the timeline’s slider to speed up or slow down the scenes in question. For instance, the video timeline below shows the thumbnail of a scene that’s four seconds long (as you can see from the ruler image above it).
However, you can drag the right edge of the scene in your timeline, so the hand draws that scene faster or slower. That’s what we did below, making the scene 10 seconds long, rather than 4.
When you’ve finished making adjustments to the timeline, you’ll want to preview your video to see how it looks.
With Doodly, that process is simple, and you have two preview options–to preview just one scene or to preview your entire video. If you want to preview a specific scene, just right-click on it in the timeline and select the Preview option.
To preview your entire video, click the blue Preview button in the upper right corner of the Doodly window.
Once you’re satisfied with your whiteboard video, you’ll want to save and export it. Just click the Save button in the upper right corner of your screen, and save your video the same way you would any other file.
After saving your video, click the Export button. From the Export menu, you’ll be presented with a variety of options:
For instance, you can choose the destination of your exported video, its file format, resolution, and quality. When you’re finished selecting your export settings, click the Continue button.
That’s everything you need to know to create a professional whiteboard animation video you can use to wow prospects, educate clients, entertain friends and family … and much, much more.
By the way, should you run into any issues as you’re going through this process, it’s easy to get help … you can view tutorials on the Doodly YouTube channel, pose questions in our Doodly Facebook group, start a live Doodly chat session, or open a ticket with the Doodly Support Desk.
As you can see, not only is Doodly incredibly easy-to-use, but it’s also simple to get help should you need any along the way.
So, don’t wait–start creating your first animated whiteboard video today with Doodly!
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