Are all whiteboard videos created equal? Unfortunately, it’s not the case. Here are a few reasons why some whiteboard videos… don’t dazzle.
Voiceover
Does your video have a voiceover? If not, you might be missing a whole segment of your audience. One of the ways that whiteboard animations excel, is that they appeal to learners of all kinds – visual, reading and auditory learners. Text is a great tool, but why limit yourself to one medium when you could communicate your content in two ways at once?
Quality is Queen
When you add a voiceover, make sure you work with a professional voiceover artist. Hisses, pops, breaths, microphone thuds… every time your audience is listening to a thud, they are not listening to your script. Those extraneous noises are not only distracting, they also detract from your message. This goes for all aspects of your video: you want to make something worthy of your viewers’ attention.
Music and sound effects
Music shouldn’t be the focal point of your animation; it should match the tone of your story, and carry it along. Think of your animation script as a message in a bottle, and the music as the ocean. When someone reads your message, you want them to think about the words you wrote, not the waves that brought it to them.
Sound effects, too, should lend themselves to the emotional story of your message. Stick to sounds that emphasize a point, signify a change or an event, or add whimsy, humor or delight. Anything more than that is distracting.
Simplify, simplify, simplify
Another common mistake is to make your video too complicated: too many messages, too much on-screen text, too many illustrations, or too many fancy transitions. Having too much content takes valuable screen time away from your most important content. Be sure to give your key points their time to shine.
Length
If your whiteboard animation checks all of the boxes for the categories above, congratulations! Unfortunately, there are still ways that your video can fall flat. The biggest factor to consider here is length. Even if you have a high-quality video, it’s unlikely that your audience will watch and stay interested for 10 minutes, or even 5. An overly long video can counteract all of the time and energy spent on creating quality. You can keep viewers at the edge of their seats by sticking to the points that are most important, and adding surprises or humor to capture their attention.
At Next Day Animations, we’re committed to creating amazing animations, fast. We pride ourselves on simplicity and quality. Are you ready to take your messaging to the next level? Let’s talk!
