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With rich, sensory details, video is uniquely suited to storytelling. It captures viewers’ attention on a visceral level by replicating a face-to-face human connection.
You can use Vyond to create animated videos for your business using thousands of props, assets, and characters representing hundreds of industries. To help you get started, we’ve bundled the savviest Vyond resources from our team to form a comprehensive guide to video-making in Vyond Studio. Here’s an example of what you can create with Vyond. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know to create a great Vyond video, from brainstorming ideas to adding advanced effects.
Click to jump to each section:
Follow this post as a guide and you’ll be making videos with Vyond (like this one below) in no time.
Start a 14-day free trial of Vyond.
Step 1: Plan and outline your ideas
Before you jump into Vyond’s platform, you have to start by planning your video. The more you think ahead, the smoother your actual video-making will be.
Here are four planning steps to create an outline of your video that details how it progresses:
- Set goals. Identify the objective of your video for your organization and how you plan to measure success.
- Identify the scope. Figure out your video length, budget, a timeline for making it, etc.
- Pick the type of video. Will your video be completely animated or will it include some live-action parts? Consider your video goals and scope when making this decision.
- Brainstorm and outline. Based on your video goals, scope, and type, think about what types of characters and storylines you will need for your film. Then, write out in bullet points how you envision the video progressing from start to finish.
With an outline ready, you have a clear framework for efficiently creating a video.
Step 2: Turn your outline into a script
Once you’ve laid out your initial thoughts, you’re ready to start scripting. Scripting your video before you start a Vyond free trial will give you more time to explore our video maker. We also recommend that our customers have at least a basic script in mind before attempting to make a video in Vyond Studio.
Use your original outline as the basis of your script and begin to expand it into a video script.
Scripting for video, especially animated video, is different than writing for any other medium. With visuals and audio available to help you tell your story, not every word needs to be spoken. Try to think in pictures as you’re writing your script — this is an important exercise that many new video creators overlook. It’s also best to be brief and conversational. Generally, video will not be as formal as written text.
Here are some of the most important script elements for you to consider, from Vyond’s CEO, Gary Lipkowitz:
- Setting: Where should your story take place? At home? At the office? At the airport? Where is the magnitude or urgency of the pain point at its highest?
- Characters: Who should tell the story? A manager? An employee? A narrator?
- Narrative Style: Are there characters? Should the characters speak to each other like they’re in a TV show? This dialog enhances storytelling but is often slower. Should there be a narrator, talking about the characters from a top view? This allows you to be more efficient and precise, but often at the expense of identification with the characters.
- Structure: Should you start at the beginning? This is the most simple. Or should you start at the end, showing the good (or bad) outcome and tracing back to the start? This shifts focus toward the “how” and away from the result.
- Metaphor: Metaphors can help bring difficult concepts to life, especially with animation. Metaphors help us understand new concepts by attaching them to concepts that we already know. A little boy using a leaky bucket to bring water back from a well can illustrate poor cost control or a faulty process. These metaphors can be spoken or visual.
Watch the video below, and read this detailed post for more scripting tips.
Here at Vyond, we use a simple Google Docs template to lay out our scripts. Visuals are detailed on the left side of the doc, while the dialogue is covered on the right. The format is simple and easy for anyone to fill out, regardless of their scriptwriting experience. Here’s one example of ours:
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Once you’ve written your script, read it aloud. Then read it again, and again, and again. Edit as needed to make the language sound natural and conversational. Think about where you can cut out unnecessary words or turn them into animated visuals, or on-screen text that can be excluded from the voice-over.
With the first draft of your script ready and your video planned, it’s time to start using Vyond.
Step 3: Start a 14-day free trial
We offer a free 14-day trial of the Vyond Premium plan for anyone interested in trying Vyond before committing to a subscription.
Start a 14-day free trial of Vyond.
Once you’ve started your free trial, you can begin exploring the platform immediately. Click “Make a Video,” and choose from one of our three styles.
- Contemporary has a modern feel with easy-to-brand design customization abilities.
- Business Friendly has industry-specific templates to create videos for a wide variety of professional scenarios.
- Whiteboard Animation draws out your video piece-by-piece, so viewers are eager to see what will be revealed next. They stay engaged while you break down the core ideas of your video.
After choosing a style, play around with templates. Their pre-set scenery, characters, and more make it easy to create a complete video in minutes.
Step 4: Learn Vyond
People always ask us how long it should take to create their first video, or to become a pro at using Vyond. The honest answer is that it’s different for everyone. It’s easy enough to drag a few templates onto the timeline, make simple adjustments, and create your first video in less than a minute. Some of our customers are able to jump in their first time, teach themselves, and create an excellent custom video within their first few hours. Other people, the majority, take a few days, weeks, or months to become proficient Vyond video creators.
If you want to learn by teaching yourself, take a look at how Vyond Studio is laid out, follow the guided tour when you sign in for the first time, then explore all of our scene template options. If you want to learn from our team, watch our top resources for learning how to use the videomaker.
Video Tutorials
Our step-by-step tutorials are the perfect resources for learning technical Vyond skills. You can find a library of introductory tutorials with our Getting Started video tutorial page.
These introductory tutorials cover everything from animation styles to adding voice to your videos. Watch this video, and those linked below, with the Vyond Studio open to follow along.
Webinars
Beyond tutorials, you can build your knowledge of video and Vyond with our webinars. These sessions are typically 45 minutes long (plus Q&A), so they cover a lot of ground on specific video topics.
We host a live bi-weekly webinar on Getting Started with Vyond to show you the basics of creating a video in our Vyond Studio and to give you the opportunity to ask questions. You can sign up for that webinar here. You can also check out our library of past webinars. This intermediate webinar, for example, will teach you how to take your videos from good to great by using scene transitions, camera movement, and sound effects.
Test your knowledge
Here are some exercises to complete in Vyond Studio to apply what you’ve learned. Search our help center if you get stuck.
- Change your character’s action to “sit” and make the facial expression “confused.”
- Make a pig fly from the bottom left corner all the way off the screen.
- In one sequence, make your character walk, stand, and then jump.
- Show the change of seasons by showing your character in a summer outfit, and then a winter outfit.
- Import an image of your favorite place and have your character talk about why he/she loves it so much.
- Use whiteboard animation to draw a monkey and a banana. Extra credit: erase the banana and replace it with a chocolate bar.
- Create a chart that compares the popularity of your three favorite sports.
- Find a template that allows you to insert a screenshot into a computer frame then slowly zoom in on that screen.
Vyond customer support
Have a question about Vyond? Our team of experts is here to help.
- Vyond Help Center: Search through topics and explore Vyond resources to answer your questions.
- Email customer support: You can reach our support team at [email protected]. We typically respond within 24 hours.
- Call customer support: You can call our support team at (888) 360-9639. We are available Monday – Friday, midnight Pacific to 5:30 pm Pacific (excluding holidays).
- Premium support: Vyond Premium, Professional, and Enterprise customers have access to live chat support. Vyond Professional and Enterprise members have a priority spot in our service queue.
Showcase
As a newbie, you can learn a lot from others’ Vyond creations. It’s helpful and motivating to see what’s possible in Vyond Studio with time and experience. That’s why we created the Vyond Customer Showcase and Templates Showcase pages where you can explore stand-out video examples from the Vyond team and our customers.
The videos are organized by different use cases—training, marketing, branding—so you can find examples that are the most helpful for your work.
Start a 14-day free trial of Vyond.
Step 5: Storyboard and finalize your script
Now that you understand how Vyond works, you know what’s available to you visually and can start storyboarding. Storyboarding is critical because it speeds up production. By envisioning the entire video, you know exactly what to record (or animate) and focus on during the production stage.
The most common way to storyboard is drawing by hand. You don’t need to be a great artist, and the amount of detail you include can depend on how simple or complex your video will be. A storyboard needs at least enough information to give stakeholders a sense of what’s happening.
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If you don’t feel comfortable drawing, Vyond is a great tool for quickly putting together storyboards. The characters, props, and settings are already designed—you only need to drag them to where you want them to create each frame.
Always make final modifications to your script during the storyboarding process. The more you can communicate through imagery, the more powerful your video will be.
Step 6: Create your characters
Creating characters is one of the most exciting parts of using Vyond! Our characters are customizable from head to toe. Pick outfits to show off a character’s personality, and add different eye and mouth shapes to convey their emotions and expressions.
On the free trial, you will have access to our three animation styles and two character creators—Business Friendly and Whiteboard. If you choose to upgrade to a Vyond Professional plan, you will also have access to the Contemporary Character Creator that offers even more customization options, such as changing characters’ height.
We recommend creating your character first and then making the rest of your video. This order is more efficient than switching back and forth from the Character Creator to your scene in Vyond Studio.
Step 7. Make your video
With your characters built, you’re ready to make the rest of your video in Vyond. With all your pre-production work set, making a video could be the easiest part.
Here are the basic elements you’ll need to make your video feel polished and complete:
- Scenery and props: Find a template that’s pre-built with scenic elements and props to save you time.
- Camera movement: The view of the camera guides viewers’ focus throughout your video, so they’re focusing on the most important elements. Check out this help article and this webinar on camera movement to learn more.
- Voiceover and lip sync: You can either create audio narration through typing in text or by recording your own voiceover. We recommend using the text-to-speech voice while you work and then adding your own recording at the end, in case you need to make any dialogue adjustments. Vyond characters will automatically lip sync to your dialogue.
- Music and sound effects: Both audio elements add emotion and realism to your videos, so audiences are more engaged. Check out this help article on adding music and sound effects to scenes.
- Scene transitions: Watch this help article and this tutorial to learn how to add scene transitions.
- Character movement: Add your characters back in and plot out motion paths for them to walk or run in your video. You can learn how to set character movements in this article.
All of these elements together create a full, sensory experience that engages your audience as they watch your video.
Step 8. Upgrade to a Vyond subscription
From a free trial account, you are able to explore Vyond and create watermarked videos. However, you’re not able to download a video on a free trial account, and you’ll only be able to use Vyond for 14 days. For regular access to Vyond with the option to download, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the following subscriptions.
Vyond Essential
The ideal plan for individuals. With this plan, you’ll have access to everything you experienced during the free trial. Videos download at 720p will be watermarked with a Vyond logo in the bottom left corner.
Vyond Premium
Perfect for small businesses, Vyond Premium has all of the features of Vyond Essential with additional benefits:
- Videos are not watermarked and export at 1080p.
- You have access to the Vyond Community, a place for you to connect with other Vyond users and ask questions.
- Access live chat support.
- Download scenes and videos as animated GIFs.
Vyond Professional
The Professional plan is perfect for businesses and large teams. The plan includes all of the Premium features, plus:
- Priority placement in Vyond’s service queue.
- Access to Common Craft explainer video templates.
- You can import custom fonts.
- Access the Contemporary Character Creator with greater customization options.
- Team sharing and collaboration features.
Vyond Enterprise
The Enterprise plan is best for large teams with individualized needs. In addition to what the Professional plan includes, this plan also has options for:
- A named account manager.
- Powerful video branding features.
- Enterprise-level security.
- Vyond Accel accelerated team onboarding.
- SSO.
Learn more about Vyond’s subscription plans.
Step 9: Practice and play
Set yourself up with good, productive habits by learning from the resources in this post. You may be using Vyond for work, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun too! Play around and make fun videos for yourself, your family, or your co-workers. This is a great way to learn. Try out new ideas and don’t be too hard on yourself if your videos aren’t perfect right away. Keep at it and let us know if you need help.
Step 10: Take your videos to the next level
Vyond makes it easy to make videos, but your video strategy will require more than that. Take your videos to the next level with these tips for sharing and improving your video distribution.
Video authoring and interactivity
Authoring your video with interactive elements transforms the video viewing experience. You can create a choose-your-own-adventure video, give your learners quizzes or skill checks, gamify your content, create clickable menus, and more.
Many Vyond customers use tools such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, Trivantis (Lectora), iSpring, and others, to add interactivity to their Vyond videos. We also recommend HapYak, and WireWax, depending on your individual needs and goals.
Video hosting
Your videos need a place to live when you’re done with them. With a host, you have a secure place to store and share your videos.
Here are a few industry-specific video hosting suggestions.
- eLearning and HR: You most likely want your videos to be private, so consider storing them on a learning management system (LMS), such as Litmos or Docebo. Or post your videos privately on your employee intranet portal, such as Unily.
- Marketing: Most of your videos will be public, and you’ll want to distribute them as widely as possible. Wistia, Brightcove, Vidyard, and Vzaar are excellent options for marketers as they allow you to easily upload and embed videos, and they track viewer engagement.
- Enterprise: Large organizations with specific video hosting requirements should consider Qumu, Kaltura, Panopto, and Brightcove.
Of course, Vimeo and YouTube has distribution benefits, and it’s free, but it’s also not the ideal service to use as your primary storage and distribution channel. YouTube gives you less control over the viewing experience, as users will see commercials and outside videos on their sidebar, but its affordability makes it a considerable choice.
Advance your video skills
Make the most of your Vyond subscription by continually building your video skills. Revisit the knowledge-building tips in Step 4 and check out video resources outside of Vyond. Our video production team recommends No Film School, and our marketing team has learned quite a bit from Wistia.
Anyone Can Become a Vyond Pro
Vyond is meant for people with all levels of experience—from the novice to the film school grad. With this accessibility, it doesn’t take long to become a whiz at using Vyond. Follow these ten steps and you’ll quickly be on your way to making professional animated videos regularly for your organization.
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