Animatic stimuli guidelines

What is an animatic?

An animatic stimulus takes the individual images from a storyboard (like a comic strip of the ad) and puts them into a movie file, animating them and adding audio. You are essentially turning your storyboard into a movie.

In an animatic ad, there is movement within and between scenes (in a Boardomatic, generally there is no movement within scenes - the only movement is moving from one still frame of a scene to another). There is audio so you don't need to text to explain what's going on.

How should animatics look?

Animatics can be black and white or color.
They can be 2D or 3D
Have a look at some examples in the video below

What about sound?

You should include audio so you don’t need text to explain what is going on. The animatic should show what is happening so there is no need for additional explanation. Any voice-over or music for the finished ad should be included in the animatic. If the music cannot yet be used or isn’t yet available this can impact response as it is often a significant part of the ad (especially if the music is used to emphasize key moments, reinforce mood, or even more when specifically designed for the ad (words, meaning, etc)). If you are still unsure about what music to use at this stage, music can be experimented with.

How long should they be?

There is no limit on the number of frames but the overall length should be very close to the expected/desired length for the finished film.

Comparability

It can be worth agreeing on principles (eg black and white or colour) for how your business handles animatics where you want absolute consistency to enable very straight comparisons within multi-ad projects or over time.