What Are the Steps in Animation Planning and Production?

Animation is full of magic. Not only do children love watching animations, but many adults are also often captivated by them. As a result, many companies frequently choose to use animation as part of their events to increase visibility. To accomplish this, animation planning and production professionals often spend weeks or even months of effort.

The first step in animation planning is the planning phase itself, which comes in two forms. In the first, a business owner or manager is inspired by a particular film or animation and wants to incorporate elements from it into their corporate promotional activities, so they commission a professional animation planning and production company to create the animation. In the second, animation planners develop an animation concept based on the specific needs of the client, then revise it according to client feedback until it meets their requirements.

Once the animation planning is complete, the animation is produced according to the plan. The characters, animals, and props described in the plan are handed over to keyframe artists, who draw the key poses for every action of these characters. Animators, who serve as assistants to the keyframe artists, are responsible for making the characters' movements fluid. They fill in the intermediate frames between the key poses, which is known as in-betweening. Producing an animated film involves many stages, and if any stage fails to meet the required standards, it will inevitably affect subsequent production work. Therefore, each phase should have a person responsible for quality control.

Next comes the filming and production stage of animation planning and production: the cinematographer shoots each frame, which is often referred to as "assembling the reel." Then, dubbing, music scoring, and sound effects are added. The sound design of an animation is extremely important.

Finally, the animation planning and production company delivers the finished animation to the client for a test screening. The client reviews and evaluates it. If there are any aspects they are not satisfied with, the animation is sent back to the company for revisions until the client is happy. A good animation should enhance the atmosphere of the event, earn the audience's recognition of the company, and ensure the successful completion of the event.