Monthly Archives: May 2016

Animation Vs. Live-Action: What is best for your business?

Don’t know whether to go for animation or live action – let us help you decide.

There are many things to consider when thinking about the best way to create, produce and market your start up or advertising video. As you well know, it comes down to your budget and your audience, but how do you utilise both of these factors to benefit your business in the most successful way? We want to look at the pros and cons of using animation versus live action video techniques in order to help you decide exactly what your business needs.

Budget

No matter what style of video or website, this is always our number one priority when considering the project that we are getting involved with. You have to have a realistic outlook of how much you are willing to spend on your start up or advertising video. By creating a reasonable budget, it allows you to have a better idea of how to create a suitable video without over or under doing it.

Audience

It may sound blaringly obvious, but when creating your start up video, the most important thing to think about is your audience. Who is going to be watching this video? How will this video make create more clicks for your website? These are important things to think about when you are deciding between whether you want to use live action or animated video. It is not enough to think, “I’d love to have an animated video of a dog running through a garden!” or “we need to have a live action shot of a man standing by a river” without thinking about the appropriateness for the demographic and the different effects that they have (Although, I’m not sure what this particular business would be marketing, to be honest with you!) However, what we are trying to say is, appropriateness is key and the decision between animated and live action could make or break the barrier between you and your desired audience, so think carefully.

Appropriateness

We are not trying to say that animated videos are not effective, as we at Stormnet Media love a good animated video and they can be very informative, concise and fun. But sometimes, depending on the message you want to convey and considering the audience, some videos may benefit more from a human touch. Having a well-known face to bring a message alive can really instill trust in your business, as it can illustrate certain professionalism to your campaign.

Resources

So, you have considered your budget and thought about which type of video is better for your business and how you would like to market it. But before you start putting the final touches to your mood board of ideas, have a think about your resources, as this can ultimately effect your decision about the use of animated versus live action. If you are outsourcing in order to produce your video, there is often not much difference in price, but of course costs will vary depending on the style of your video, production time and length, etc. If you are wanting to do a DIY job or you know someone that may be useful to talk or appear in your video then it is possible to do a live action video without outsourcing, however, this is much more difficult when it comes to animation.

DIY and live action

With a greater quality of affordable technology at our fingertips, it is no surprise that you can see and endless amount of ‘vloggers’ running businesses from their bedrooms using smartphones and cameras. With this in mind, there are so many pieces of technology that make it much easier for you to produce your own live action videos using things such as GoPro’s, iPhone’s and Drones. However, the devil is in the detail, and often it is the professional touch of a seasoned video producer that creates that final touch to your video. DIY can be truly magnificent when utilised and put together in the right way, and for many of these vloggers we have spoken about, it is endearing because it is very personal and conversational. However, if you seek a more professional look for your video then there is often no replacing the experience of a good video production team to advise and guide you.

Animation

Animation can be a great tool for a concise but fun start up or advertising video. We are big fans of the use of animated videos as there are no limits of what you can create because there are so many possibilities. DIY animation can be much more difficult to create at home unless you are knowledgeable in all aspects that come with it. There are many things to consider when creating an animated video, such as voice-overs, sound effects and illustrations. Unless you know what you are doing with animations, it can be very time-consuming and often less cost effective than outsourcing the talent to do it for you. A film such as Disney favourite, ‘Up’, is a great example how to use animation in a way that touches the audience and creating an invaluable emotional connection between the audience and the characters (the animation and a great storyline of course!). Due to the advanced animations that we can now create, it shows that you don’t always have to use live action to truly connect with your audience emotionally.

As you can see, both techniques can be very effective but there are may things to think about when considering how to use them. So, if you cannot decide between whether to use live action or animation for your start up, advertising or promotional video, or if you need an advice or quote then we would love to help you.

 

 

 

5 Things to Consider when Creating your App

Headache Free App Development

With smartphone users completely bypassing the Internet in favour for the mobile app, it has drastically changed how businesses run their marketing strategies; deal with customer habits and monitor data more closely. It has allowed businesses, whether small or large, to interact more personally with their consumers in order to keep growing their company, simply based on the habits of customers usage times and how they use certain apps. With the global usage of smartphones taking over desktops in 2014, it is certainly the time to make sure you are thinking wisely about how you will utilize this area of your business.

So, lets talk about you for a moment. Your business idea is taking off in spectacular fashion and you have got so many queries about how to book, how to get hold of you, look at what you have to offer and more, so you decide to create the perfect application to represent your company whilst letting customers interact with your business whenever they need too. You have spent a considerable amount on your website and making sure that the content is just right, so why would you skimp on the app? (You wouldn’t!) To make things a little easier for you, we have suggested a few things to think about when creating your new app.

Budgeting

This is the first thing on everyone’s mind when doing anything for his or her business. How do you prioritize and know how much you should be spending on certain aspects of our company in order to receive the best outcome in the long-term. Unless you are highly skilled at the application making process, the chances are you will need someone to help you design and create your app, so you can create a professional finish. With this in mind you will need to choose this person (or people) carefully and make sure that they know exactly what you have in mind and what your budget is. You may have many extravagant ideas about how you want this too look, but there is nothing worse than building up your dream app then realizing it will cost an arm and a leg to create it.

Access

It not is only about the design of your app, but you will need to think about who can access it. The professional dealing with the creation of your app should talk with you about this, but you will need to think where it will be more appropriate – The App Store and/or Android – and how much you will set the at pricing for your customers; will they pay to download it? Or can they download it for free but then pay for the content they use once it has been downloaded? You will need to think about what is more appropriate for the type of service that you offer.

 How to use it

The worst thing you could do is alienate your consumer with a difficult to use app. As you can imagine, in this day and age, technology is moving so quickly and much more advanced, which means people are becoming more and more accustomed to instant gratification with the use of their smartphones and desktops. If you believe that your app has the perfect design and looks exactly how you want it to, but it is confusing to navigate, chances are, you won’t keep your clients interests engaged for long.

Maintenance

Your business is like a tree, ever growing and changing flawlessly with its surroundings. This is how you want your app to represent your company. You can do this by making sure that your app is constantly being updated, refreshed and renewed with new content and developing your app every time your company makes another step or simply just needs a refreshing new face. If your app is left alone and never developed, you will notice a drop off of loyal consumers, this is because we get bored and want to know that your business has always got something new and fresh to offer. Even the smallest changes make the biggest differences. If you have create a good relationship with your app developer, the chances are, they will be happy to help you grow your app and will grow to know the best techniques to help drive your cliental straight to it.

 The Finer Details

Finally, this may seem like a blaringly obvious point to make, but it has to be said… Make sure the quality of your app is of a high standard. This application will, most likely, end up becoming the face of your business, so you want to treat it with love, care and respect. Making sure that every little detail is considered and you know exactly what your customers want to achieve from your app is crucial to keeping them engaged in the long run. The app has to represent your business and the amount you care for the customers needs. If your app is slap dash and just out there for the sake of it, then it might look as though you aren’t genuine about your intentions and could ultimately effect the way your business is viewed.

We hope that this has helped you become more aware of applications and how important they are becoming to every business, anything from a small fitness and nutrition one woman/man show, to a large media empire. No matter the size and aspirations of your business, there is always place within the market for you to make YOUR mark with a fantastic and engaging app. If you have any queries and would like to contact us about your app ideas, please get in touch with us today.