Motion’s Guide to Training Video Production – Benefits of Animation

Employees are the essential core of any business model. We know that training staff and taking them through the stages of development requires a vast amount of resources, time and careful planning. Having the most suitable procedures in place for you staff goes in a long way to making them more educated and productive, which in the end is undoubtedly a more efficient way to run your company.

In this digital age, we have numerous ways in which staff can be trained and taken through new stages of learning. At Motion The Agency, we can offer a helping hand through our production of animated staff training videos, tailored to all your specific needs and crafted by our team of experts.

This article will serve as a guide to take you through the most common ways of navigating these training process – and will show you why animated video is the most consistent, engaging and effective method of employee training.

What is Training Video Production and Why is it important?

Staff training is an area in any business model which can never be overvalued. From providing induction to new members of the team or to developing the skills of seasoned workers, training programmes can bolster your workforce and keep them updated on all the need-to-knows.

Developing and investing the skillsets of employees can take up a lot of resources – but also proves to be a valuable asset over time. Having a solid structure to work from when educating staff is the first vital aspect to creating a flourishing system in which employees can move through their training quickly yet effectively. Making sure they come away with a feeling of satisfaction and that their time was well-spent during the training is a must – as poorly planned training sessions will lead to demotivation and reduced work ethic. A quality training system will reflect to the employee that the company values their time and growth enough to invest in these programmes, and that feeling of support will increase job satisfaction.

In the digital era, there will always be new developments in technology and systems used in businesses. These constant changes could feel overwhelming for your staff if they don’t have a structured and familiar way to be trained on new systems. The adoption of a standard training system can help smooth out these transitions and reduce their impact on efficiency.

Legally, there are many areas in a business which staff must be briefed on to remain compliant to industry standards. Ranging from fire safety to workplace etiquette, these mandatory training issues can feel redundant and a waste of time, especially if staff feel like they are already familiar with these topics. In these cases, creating a dynamic and engaging form of training is even more vital to ensure staff don’t lose focus or resist completing these complacency checks, which could create a multitude of legal issues if not follow properly.

Training options (text-based, in-person, animated, video)

Now that we are aware of why workplace training is an essential area across all business types, we can delve into the possible ways that this training can be implemented.

One of the most standard ways to deliver training is through text-based articles and documents. These can either be circulated online through emails or handed out in the form of information packs. This approach has many drawbacks, as physical packs can be lost or misplaced while there is no guarantee that staff will open and read the email training. Text-based forms just simply lack the engagement that other types of training can provide and can often feel like a chore for the workforce to complete. Bored members of staff will never be as productive as those that are interested and engaged with the training content, leading to them enjoying and absorbing the experience much more.

On the other hand, in-person training options are an option to ensure that staff engage with the training. While this option could be beneficial for the more essential areas of training where attendance is mandatory, it also is a much larger operation to get organised and ensure that all necessary members of staff are present. It takes up drastically more resources of time and finances, to the point where it may not be a viable option for every company. Modern workforces are more used to working digitally or remotely, so having to travel into work to attend these sessions may not be suitable for them.

Comparison table of training video types, including criteria such as cost, production time, and updating/editing. The table compares text-based, animated video, videography, and in-person training methods, highlighting their respective ratings as low, medium, or high.

Therefore, the most useful type of employee training programmes are those that utilise online training videos. This strategy blends a mixture of higher engagement with the ease of access of online circulation. Employees will be more comfortable completing their online training, allowing them to undertake at a time and place that is most convenient for them. The two main options to choose from is either videography content or animated content.

Animated vs Videography: Popular Types of Online Video Training

Video training offers an enhanced learning experience that is consistent, engaging and stands as the most effective mode of staff training. If you decide that video training could be the most suitable option for training your workforce, you might want to consider which type of video creation will be the most suitable.

‘Talking Head’ Videography: This example involves the filming of an individual, focusing on them as they explain and outline a topic. This approach works best if you want to focus on a specific person, such as a CEO, and emphasis their connection with the business.

This may be useful as a single short video as part of a larger training programme, but using this to deliver lots of information at once will be expensive (for that individual’s time and presence, the need for a camera and the filming process) This will also run the risk of losing engagement with the viewer due to the lack of graphics and animations. For more information on Talking Head Videos, Riverside has a complete guide on this form: https://riverside.fm/blog/talking-head-videos

Live-Action Explainer

Another form of videography is to film multiple individuals in a scripted scenario, that may outline a certain example of process that the staff must learn. This has the benefit of making the training relatable and straightforward as the employee can see the exact actions they should learn, but at the cost of again being expensive due to the filming process.

Any changes to the process displayed in the video will require the entire video to be reshot, further increasing the price yet again. Since safety procedures are constantly being updated, it would only be a matter of time before this training became outdated and redundant. Video Brewery demonstrates the relatable and engaging nature of live-action videography, if you do believe it could still be beneficial for your staff.

Whiteboard Video

‍Moving onto an animated form of training, one of the simplest and most accessible forms is the Whiteboard Video. This involves explaining a concept by outlining key points from drawing on a whiteboard, creating a relaxed and informal explanation that can be created by someone who lacks the technical knowledge of creating a digital animation with software.

While these can be quick, cheap and focused, they are most effective when used sparingly for specific concepts, as an entire training course created through whiteboard drawings might lack the depth needed. Such as live-action videography, these animations also cannot be edited once created.

Animated Explainer

‍Similar to the Whiteboard Video, the Animated Explainer Video can take the simplicity and focus of that method and make a much more engaging and in-depth training session. These types of videos can be produced with a specific need in mind, allowing complete creative control to the company and results in a much more unique aesthetic rather than the generic form of the whiteboard.

While slightly more expensive that the previous budget option, the increase in price accommodates a wide range of benefits and the ability to be produced remotely. Here at Motion, we can fully create Animated Explainers that are flexible and accessible, engaging and fully hand-crafted to suit your training needs. No need for a camera or any expertise in animation, our in-house team of experts are all you need to create this form of training for your company.

Stock Video Training

‍When looking for a more generic approach to training, stock videos can be acquired to outline broad themes that may be applicable to your workforce. These stock videos can be editing together or come pre-made, making them great when you are short on time. However they lack any distinct features for your company, and many staff may dismiss them as unimportant.

AI Produced Corporate Video

‍AI is a powerful tool that can create tailored videos in a fraction of the time of hand-made content. Software such as Sythesia allows text and ideas to be generated into an AI video, with a variety of different avatars and languages to use in the process. While these tools can be extremely useful, quick and cheap they still lack the depth that true hand-crafted training courses can have.

If staff identify AI, they may also dismiss the importance of the training if they believe the company is opting for the quickest route possible. In specific cases, the application of AI is unparalleled in usefulness but must be used cautiously as not to alienate the viewer. Idomoo has a useful article on the benefits and implications of AI Videos for businesses.

AI and Animation Combination

‍Taking the best of both approaches from Custom Animation and AI Video and blending them together can be a very useful combination. For example, taking the AI generated avatar with a scripted voiceover and adding it to the hand-crafted motion graphics creates a training video that shores up the main weakness of the purely AI content, while adding an extra engaging element similar to the Talking Head style of address.

The additional time needed for the graphics is balanced out by this increased effectiveness and removes any need for filming with a camera while maintaining a personal feel.

Between the two major forms of video training, animation proves itself to be much more adaptable than videography and applicable to many more training scenarios than the limited usefulness of live-action recording. The benefit of remote production is not to be underestimated in a workplace that moves further and further towards being fully digital.

Once you have an idea for what types of Video Training may be the most suitable for your workplace, you’ll need some types of training cases to apply these techniques to.

Video Training Cases

Health and Safety Training

‍These types of programmes will be mandatory at every workplace. While many employees may tend to glaze over this training due to its repetitive nature and their familiarity with the content, it is absolutely vital to make sure they are aware of the fire safety rules and other procedures that may be unique to the work place.

Therefore, creating a dynamic and engaging video to showcase this training is always in the best interest of the company, even if it demands a lot of resources.

Cybersecurity Training

‍Making sure every employee is familiar with staying safe in the digital workplace is also essential, especially as you don’t want to assume everyone has the same level of tech-literacy.

Helpful tips on identifying spam and potentially dangerous links and emails can go a long way in not only protecting your staff but also any important digital infrastructure in the workplace. Some of the more simple forms of video training can go a long way in providing these small bits of information to your staff.

Compliance and Onboarding Training

‍Workplace etiquette is another core aspect of maintaining a positive and efficient dynamic between your staff, and making everyone aware of anti-harassment policies and other HR requirements, including procedures of reporting any issues.

Making your staff feel safe and aware that these protections for their wellbeing are in place will contribute to a healthier work environment. A video animation such as the whiteboard style can be perfect for this, with its relaxed and causal presentation being extra effective to talk about these workplace issues.

Service and Sales Training Videos

‍Creating a showcase to employees on what to do in certain situations when in a customer facing role could be a massive benefit to their effectiveness. A helpful video could be an aid they can refer to, keeping themselves refreshed on how to deal with difficult situations.

Product Training Videos

‍If there are any complicated technical devices around the office, supplying educational videos on how to use them will increase staff confidence and efficiency, removing any anxiety they may have about being unable to work with a certain device or software.

Costs and Timeframes of Video Animation

So, if you decide to opt to outsource the creation of these training videos to an external company, what can you expect to be paying for?

Some of the key factors that influence the cost of creating training videos range from type to type. As discussed earlier, techniques such as AI generated content will be extremely time and cost effective while videography content will be much more quality and specific to your brand, but requires a vast amount more resources. Animated Explainers and the other forms of animation videos fit in the middle of the price scale, reaching a compromise between speed, price and quality to create the most efficient option for training content.

Videography will always require additional costs from hiring the professional-grade equipment and finding a suitable shooting location, as well as hiring actors, voice-over artists and any other crew needed for the shoot. Animation can be done from a single location by a single individual, dramatically reducing any of these extra costs down.

To begin planning the process of estimating costs, you’ll have to consider many aspects in the production of your video. These include:

• Defining the goals of the training: What outcome do you want for your staff?
• Determine the length of the training course: Will this be short clips or a longer informational video?
• Choose the type of video that will suit the size and goals best: Would live-action or animation fit better?
• Factor in additional costs: These will vary depending on video type, but may include editing, special effects and costs for any professionals working on the project, as well as location and equipment costs.

Overall, you can easily shift down the price of creating video content by choosing animation over videography. While filming live-action has its benefits, this usually is not worth the additional costs and the same goal can be reached with animation techniques instead.

Deploying Video Training

Once your company has spent valuable resources on getting these training courses created, you’ll want to ensure that your staff are remaining compliant and getting the most out of these training opportunities.

Learning Management Systems is the favoured software for our client base, which can ensure that all staff have absorbed the training by quizzing their knowledge to make sure they are complacent.

Here are a few of popular options, each with its own pros and cons:

Summary

If you find yourself considering that creating animated training videos may be a beneficial route for your company to take, then Motion is here to help. We can lighten the load by spearheading the effort to create an in-depth, effective and engaging series of animated training videos for you. Our in-house experts can cover all needed areas in this process, from creating a clear and concise script to designing and editing the animated content – with all your wishes and needs in mind. We know that adaptation is key when creating this content and while it can be scary outsourcing such essential work to an outside company, we are here to accommodate your every requirement to retain that personal touch that allows you to have a tailored training programme just for your staff.

Why Partner with Motion The Agency?

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• Free Sample: See our capabilities with no obligation. Request a free video sample today.
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• Fast Turnaround: Quick delivery without compromising on quality.
• High-Quality Design: Award-worthy visuals that communicate effectively.
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