10 Things to Consider Before Hiring an online Animation Studio

There are various reasons why we hire an online animation studio . When we have to do some task urgently, and nobody is available in the town. It may be your inhouse guy is on leave, and you want to do a specific job with a unique skill set. Sometimes, you have so much work in your pipeline that you want to hire some outsourcing company, which connects you to the online studio, which does a particular task as good as you. The most straightforward reason to studio online is to save your monetary resources. 

So you are going to opt for outsourcing services, then it becomes essential to outsource a vieo production company, with credibility. If you are not able to research that 3D or 2D animation studio properly, your work will suffer. The lazy approach in choosing an online studio might dig a big hole in your pocket. So, you would again end up in a position where you would have no idea which animation production company is right for you. 

So, please start slow and try to build things slowly and steadily. Remember if you find a great business in the animation industry, you can stick with them for years. There are a lot of technical, economic and human aspects that are involved in the decision making of this. You can’t just refer a guide and decide this is the 3D online animation studio for me. Consider different alternatives and then decide on the online studio. 

As we have discussed earlier, this choice differs from firm to firm, organization to organization, but when you are in this situation, you need a torch to guide you. We have listed down some guiding principles which might help you in narrowing down your choice. Though this decision is very subjective, you would have a certain degree of clarity after reading this article. 

1. Good Brief and Clear Purpose 

Most of the people expect an excellent quality of work from a hired professional online studio, but what they forget is their work — feeling Confused? Let me sort this out. If you don\’t know exactly what you want, then it\’s not fair to blame that 3D production animation company.  

You have to be very specific in laying out your needs and choices in front of the online studio. Because it is a fresh start and you both don\’t know anything about each other. So just take a pen and paper, or any of your online note-taking app, and jot down your requirements. It is similar to a creative brief, but here the transaction if of B2B nature. When you think of minutiae details, your submission becomes very strong, and the online studio knows what you exactly want. Approach this thing with a clear purpose; you would eliminate many mistakes even before ordering your gig. 

2. Telling an engaging story

People are now bored by the heavy sounding voice-overs and good graphics just passing by their eyes. They need something that can engage them and could watch it till the end. Whatever your product or service is, the aspect of storytelling is very important. If you are overlooking this aspect just for excellent graphics and sound quality, your work will not connect with your audience. 

You need to make sure that the outsourced video marketing agency has a good storytelling sense. It has become crucial in today\’s times as there are so many videos out there. If you come from a technical background and don\’t know about this thing, then you can take help of your friends and relatives who have a strong storytelling flair. Don\’t ignore this skill at all. 

3. Animation Style

You need to study the animation style of the 3D creative video you are trying to produce. You need to select what works best for you. Just do a random walk online and choose the type of animation you want. Make a library of at least 10 videos. When you do this, you can have a fair idea of the style of animation. This exercise is important because sometimes it is challenging to communicate things verbally, as you are talking about 3D product visualization.  

Once you have decided on the animation style, it is a significant achievement because now you are closer to your target. Now you can communicate a lot better with the online studio about your demands. Now they are more likely to understand your needs.

4. Examine Voice over quality 

The Quality of audio is essential, and it affects the final output profoundly. Just remember all the horror movies you have seen in your life. Films with hazy visuals and underlit exteriors. You still enjoy those movies, because of the fantastic sound behind those visuals. The same goes for any professional product animation video.

Focus on the voice-over quality of the delivered product. That contributes a lot in the final output. Nobody likes to listen to a bad voice over or unclear sound. It will make your audience repel from your product rather than getting attracted to them.

5. Portfolio and demo reel

The last part of your homework before selecting an online animation studio would be to see their demo reel. Browse through their portfolio section and analyze their videos one by one. Also, see whether they match with your creative brief or your lookbook type video directory mentioned earlier.  

Don\’t fall for the big brands the 3D animation company is adding in their portfolio. Focus on what you need from them. Having big brands in the collection could be an add on but not a necessity by any means. You need to avoid temptations and try to find your type of videos in their portfolio. It would strengthen your confidence in them. 

6. Professionalism and passion

Video animation is a business with a lot of hardships. You can\’t do it if you don\’t like it. Video making business demands long hours, corrections, client demands and continual skill development, like learning new software as they come in the market. The successful studio handles these pressures and still gives a professional animation output.

It is possible only when one is passionate about their skills. Though you may be dealing with an outsourced animated video, the work should be done with passion. It makes the whole workflow a lot better. Only passionate guys would strive for excellence and go ahead in their professional life. It is often ignored as a criterion. 

7. Better customer service and communication

You need to have an excellent day to day relationship with the crew of an animation studio. After all, communication is vital when you\’re dealing with 3D visualization. You must be knowing their pace of working and freedom that they need to do their work.

Would you prefer an excellent production animation company, with all the required skill sets, but with an arrogant attitude? Not at all, because it would hamper your work. Attitude guides the whole relationship between the client and a creative person. If it is spoiled, you shouldn\’t keep any expectations from this tie-up because you know the outcome.

8. Hiring a freelancer vs professional studio

You might be thinking of hiring a freelancer guy who does all your work in a low budget with more extended deadlines. If you are a professional company, there are many risks to this approach. Freelancers can save your costs but will soon tire himself out with repetitive iterations.

Hiring an online studio with a professional approach can save your money in the long term. It avoids the rework that you need to do at every step. You can always hold a professional studio accountable for work. Get things done until you are not satisfied. You don\’t have this luxury in the case of a freelancer. So, think twice before hiring a freelancer for your professional work! 

9. Seek Ex-clients Feedback

The best way to judge any studio is their happy clients! Also, make phone calls and talk to them if you are going for a big assignment. You need to check the real testimonials of clients. Reliable forums, personal email ids, use whatever resources you can but extract accurate opinions of clients who have worked with the animation studio earlier. It would also fetch you the data of returning clients. You can make your judgments. 

It will reflect many things, such as their client retention ratio. It is crucial if you want to work with them again and again. It could show what kind of efforts they take to delight their customers and make them tied up with them.

10. Don’t compromise vision for the budget

Every client wants excellent work from their online animation studio at cheaper costs. This temptation is understandable, but you have to come out of it as early as possible. Learn to pay for the quality and stop cribbing about it.

Budgets are for everyone, and we all struggle with it. The larger goal should be how to produce our best results in spite of having this as the traditional barrier. Try to set a realistic benchmark for yourself; it will be enough to guide you further. 

These are guiding principles with which you can start zeroing down your ideal online video production studio. They will help you to make an informed choice and save your resources in the long term.