Live-Action vs Animation Pros & Cons
Video marketing is a no-brainer for any business. It’s more appealing to modern consumers than traditional marketing content, it’s engaging, and it helps brands connect with their customers on a more personal level.
But deciding to make video marketing part of your overall marketing strategy is just the first step.
One of the first important questions to ask yourself about your video project is what style do you want to use? More specifically, should you go with live-action or animation?
Live-action and animation both offer unique pros and cons that make them suitable for different types of marketing videos. In some cases, these styles can even be combined to create a marketing video that reflects your brand’s style, message, and goals.
To help you make a more informed decision for your next video production project, here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of live-action and animation.
What is Live-Action?
Live-action videos feature recordings of real people in the real world. This could include commercials with paid actors, customer testimonials, interviews, etc.
Live-action is suitable for a wide range of marketing videos, including:
● Product demonstration videos
● Company history videos
● Case studies
● Narrative videos
● Live tutorials
Live-action video offers a great way for brands to make lasting connections with customers by featuring real-world scenarios and real people that viewers can relate to. Moreover, brands can build trust with their audiences by creating live-action videos that feature real employees and business leaders.
Live-action advantages
Live-action videos offer several distinct advantages that can’t always be replicated by animated videos.
Establish personal connections: One of the biggest advantages of live-action is that using real people to demonstrate products and services in relatable scenarios is incredibly engaging and persuasive.
Production time: Live-action videos often take much less time to produce than animated videos. Animated videos have to be built from scratch, including scenes, characters, motion graphics, etc.
Lighting: Real-world effects and lighting, like depth of field or lighting from the sun, are difficult to replicate in animation.
More accessible: While live-action productions can be very expensive and complicated, they can also be very straightforward to produce. For basic videos, like an interview with a CEO, for example, you might only need a video camera, a microphone, and some basic lighting equipment.
Live-action disadvantages
Cost: While live-action videos can be produced on a low budget, professionally-produced commercials are often more expensive than animated videos due to the costs associated with things like equipment, hiring talent, location scouting, and booking filming locations.
Hiring talent: Finding the right actors for your video can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Moreover, in some cases, talent can be difficult to work with.
Post-production: Live-action video production involves a time-consuming post-production phase. From video editing to reshoots, post-production can be an expensive and intensive phase of production.
Logistics: Large live-action productions can be very difficult to coordinate. Live-action video production requires you to purchase or rent equipment, transport equipment and talent, book shooting locations, and more.
What is Animation?
Animated videos use computer-generated graphics to create scenes that would be difficult or impossible to replicate in real life.
Animation can be used in many of the same cases as live-action, such as for:
● Explainer videos
● Commercials
● Trailers
● Service demonstration videos
Animated videos can be hand-drawn or made entirely on a computer. They are often effective as marketing tools as they engage audiences with vibrant visuals and can explain concepts in an easy-to-understand fashion.
Animation advantages
Demonstrate abstract concepts: Animation trumps live-action when it comes to explaining abstract concepts or new services. With animated videos, you can help audiences visualize how your product or service works and use voiceover to explain what the video doesn’t show.
Versatility: While live-action can be very versatile, with animation, the possibilities are practically endless. Depending on your style preferences, animation may be the only way to achieve your desired final product.
Cost: While the cost depends on the specific details and requirements for your project, animation is generally a cheaper option than live-action.
Animation disadvantages
Less personal: Animation loses out to live-action when it comes to adding that personal touch that helps brands connect with their audiences. Sometimes, the best way to generate customer loyalty and trust is to speak face-to-face with them through live-action videos.
Not as accessible as live-action: Animation isn’t as accessible as live-action video. While some smaller businesses may prefer to keep video production in-house to keep costs low, that likely won’t be possible if you want to make an animated marketing video.
Time-consuming: Animation is a time-consuming process. Animators need to create and animate every asset for your video, from characters to scene backgrounds, and more. Depending on the complexity of your video, animated video production can take weeks or months to complete.
Work With Digital Spark Studios
Both animation and live-action are suitable for several different types of marketing videos. The right style for your business depends largely on the type of video you want to make, who your audience is, and what your budget is.
At Digital Spark Studios, we work with businesses in all industries to help them create high-quality marketing videos that help them achieve their long-term goals. Our creative team will work with you to determine the right approach for your next video.
Contact Us today to learn more about our professional animation and video production services.
