How To Write An Animation Script For Educational Videos
Writing a normal script is a piece of cake for educators or instructors. However, creating an animation script is a more challenging task. In this article, we’ll share super secret keys that will help you write an awesome animation script for a fantastic educational video!
What Is An Awesome Animation Script?
An excellent animation script is one that can connect a video with audiences in the most simple, natural, and direct way. Hence, the best writers are those who can create a script that comes from the mind. Below are 4 must-know characteristics of a good script.
1. Simple Language
A good script doesn’t require a high level of English. The purpose of an animation script is to make explainer videos as easy to understand as possible. We aren’t here to challenge students by including complex dictionary language.
You will be successful if you can write down academic knowledge in the learners’ language. Simplify your language so that everybody can easily grasp the content, even those who don’t have background knowledge about what you are talking about.
2. Short, Crisp Sentences
Using short, crisp sentences keeps the subject clear and allows your learners to absorb the information quickly. The maximum length of a crisp sentence is 20 words. If your sentence is over 20 words, try to break it down into shorter sentences and they will be much easier to read. It isn’t an IELTS exam or a writing contest at school, so you don’t need to add difficult structures or long sentences.
3. Conversational In Nature
As we mentioned before, your writing is best for educational animation when it’s natural, for example, as if you’re speaking. Set your tone in your script, make it like a conversation. Write as though you are talking with your audiences, channel your dialogue into your words and you will have a natural conversational script in no time!
4. Moderate Length
The length of a script is also crucial for animated videos because the length of a video affects audience engagement. It’s a sad fact that the average attention span of a human is only 8.25 seconds. Therefore, if you want people to watch your animated video to the end, keep your script short. The optimal length for an animated video is 90 seconds, which equals about 200-250 words in a script.
5 Keys To Writing An Awesome Animation Script
General Rules
1. Start With A Brief
Briefing is a vital step in writing a script that guides the overall direction of your animated video. Why should you do it first? Because a brief identifies the learning objectives, primary audience, animation style, and video core messages.
When creating a brief, you have to ask yourself various questions to ensure that you’re clear on how you want the learning outcomes to be. Make a list of questions, answer them carefully to figure out your key points. Then, write down everything that you need to say as if you were in a physical class. It will make your script conversational and flow.
2. Think About Tone
The tone is one of the most important parts of your animation script. As it is, an animated video’s sound helps your course become more exciting and engage learners.
When the topic explained is dry, the writers should always try to add a little bit of humor into the video to make it enjoyable. However, an educational animated video not only needs to be fun but also keep its educational purpose. Animation is used to help to create effective fun, not distracting fun. On the other hand, the tone of your video also means the type of voice over. Take it into account to ensure the voice over will match your script and your brand voice.
3. Tell A Story
Stories always attract humans' brains. In educational animation, telling a story can transform academic boredom into fascination. Storytelling can be described merely as writing a script with the scenario-based learning method. The scenarios here are the realistic content, the relatable stories, or problem-solution scenarios.
A well-told story with a powerful message can grab learners' attention, trigger emotions, and improve learning outcomes. Furthermore, it motivates people to take action in your course, such as sharing your video or continuously taking part in another class.
4. Call-To-Action At The End Of The Script
The Call-To-Action tells your audience exactly what they should do after watching your course. Great educational animation can’t be efficient if it lacks a Call-To-Action (CTA). Your viewers don’t know what to do next, and you lose a chance to attract your learners for another course. To add a CTA isn’t a hard task. At the end of your video, leave the screen for a few extra seconds and put a CTA there. A CTA can be whatever you want: subscribe action, visit our website, or just an introduction for your new course.
5. Don’t Forget The Review Session
If you have finished writing a script, congratulations! You have done a good job! However, it doesn’t stop there. You have one more step, to review the whole script. The revision will help you eliminate all the unnecessary or distracting information, helping to keep the videos to the point.
To revise, ask for your teammates’ opinions or ask yourself some questions like these:
- Is your script easy to read?
- Is it natural and conversational?
- Are the sentences short and crisp?
- Does it set the right tone?
- Does it tell a relatable story?
- Is the CTA a natural connect?
Special Key Notes For Your Course (Depending On Who You Are Teaching)
As a visual designer, you should know your audience when you create an animation script. The behaviors and the needs of K12 and pre-school students are quite different from the higher education learners and corporate employees.
If you deeply understand learners’ behaviors, you can shift your script from “Ok” to “Wow”!
K-12 And Pre-School
- Create as many characters as possible in the script
K12 and pre-school students are always big fans of cartoons because they are fascinating, fun, and beautiful. Hence, the key to an animation script for children is fun. Humorous characters and conversations can help your script become more natural and interesting.
- Go for anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. In the animation world, you have a chance to humanize the animal characters with their actions and expressions. Let your animal characters talk, act, make conversation like humans do to add more fun and joy to your video.
Higher Education Students/Corporate employees
- Let your visuals speak for you
It’s a great idea to stick to the verbal narration when your visuals can talk for you. First and foremost, it helps you create visual awesomeness that is more interesting. Besides, it also effectively conveys the gravity of the situation. Therefore, write a script in which your visuals can speak instead of you for better visual communication.
- Draw from realistic experiences
One of animation’s features is to bring experiential learning to courses that fit with adult learning theory. Grown-ups learn best when they are directly involved in the experience. Draw from a realistic experience to enrich the persuasiveness of your courses’ content and enhance the attractiveness of your course.
- Keep the "hook" of the content: make it short and get straight to the point
The "hook" is the most critical part that decides if the audience stays watching your video or not. For a 1-minute video, the hook is the first 8 seconds. Needless to say, it’s essential to write an impressive intro for a script. However, you also need to keep the "hook" of the content by making the script short and getting straight to the point. Limit your word count—short, but full of points is better than long and content lacking.
Conclusion
These are particular tips that you should use to become an awesome animation scriptwriter. Take the time necessary to do it, get feedback from your co-workers, and make sure it’s engaging and easy to understand. And don’t forget to follow your learning objectives in order to produce effective educational animations.
Read more about animation-based learning and training:
- Everything You Need To Know About Animation-Based Learning
- How To Create A Positive eLearning Environment With Animation
Originally published at www.flearningstudio.com.
