Image: lynda.com
From basic animation how-to to resources for more advanced artists, sources like Lynda.com, Udemy, and Skillshare can help animators hone their skills.
Think of the word “animation” and several recent popular examples come to mind if you’ve lived anywhere on planet Earth (whether or not you have kids). One of them is probably 3D computer-animated comedy “Minions” from Universal Studios/Illumination, and another is “Frozen 2” from Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Watching them is mesmerizing, and nothing more is needed to tell these films’ stories—no actors on-screen and no physical locations or props. Adding to animation’s appeal, on a much smaller scale, is the presence of free computer software that allows video production enthusiasts from novices to professionals to create animation and visual effects (VFX).
Whereas traditional animation was an art only highly skilled individuals were capable of, using images to make it appear as though something was moving—or stop motion animation which involved using actual objects to make it appear as though they were moving—computer animation can be at every computer user’s fingertips.
Image: blender.org
Blender's free software provides high-quality rigging and animation tools.
Free software like Blender, for instance, can blow the mind of anybody who cares to investigate animation. VFX too, used to enhance or manipulate moving media beyond what can physically occur in live-action shooting, can be achieved with Blender.
Church-specific considerations
With so much technology available to all skill levels of video and film content creators, a question arises: Does your church’s film project call for animation? Some say animation is a good choice right now because social distancing has created an environment where it’s not safe to get actors and crew together on a film set.
In theory, animation may sound like the next best alternative to craft a church’s promo videos, sermon series trailers, or other videos and get the content out to attendees and others through live streaming. But whether or not a church film team should consider animation really depends on the answers to three key questions, gleaned from picking the brain of a past church technical artist and current professional animation and VFX artist, Jesse Henning of Henning Animation + VFX in Durham, N.C.
A professional animator's top advice for churches: play to your strengths and the project's needs.
The three questions are: 1.) Does your church film team have the time, talent, and tech to do it right? 2.) Considering the story your church is trying to tell, is animation the right fit to get the message across? And 3.) Can your team create a rock-solid script?
If the answers to these questions are yes, animation can be a solid choice for a church film project. “My biggest piece of advice,” Henning says, though, “is play to your strengths and the project’s needs.”
Much as lighting experts advise church techs to use moving lights conservatively in live production settings (pre-pandemic), and to consider a message’s context and tone before creating movement, animation must make sense in the context of a film’s message if it’s to truly work.
If a church project’s ends are well-served through animation and the team includes a skilled animator, then 2D or 3D may be the way to go, Henning says. But if a church wants a fully animated piece and doesn’t have the time or talent to pull it off, contracting an animator is an excellent option for those with the budget.
Another good option is to buy pre-made generic animated videos from websites like WorshipHouse Media, Igniter Media, or SermonSpice.
Basic animation options & typography
If a church film team has the chops to execute animation, even free production-quality software like Blender takes time to learn.
Henning puts it this way, “Just like you will find with any software … there is a learning curve, so I wouldn’t venture out into full 3D or 2D animations with it if you’re just starting out. But it could definitely be a great supplement for adding basic 3D elements into your videos.”
When it comes to 2D animation, Henning’s software choice is Adobe's subscription-based After Effects, which he believes is a good church film team option to use for motion graphics (such as bringing a graph or other web design to life).
Image: WorshipHouse Media
Another option for church film teams that want to use animation-like content is a typography video, which can be used to create a recap of a pastor’s sermon, as one example. “You can set it to some cinematic music with a cool moving background and either animated text or text simply popping onscreen as the pastor says it. This is an option that people of many different skill levels can accomplish, and it can allow you to drive home the power points of a message in an engaging way,” Henning says.
Another option for church film teams that want to use animation-like content is a typography video ...
An animation workflow outline
In less than a week, a skilled animator like Henning can create a :30 to :60 animated video. This is what that workflow looks like.
1-develop a working and approved script
2-choose the music
3-throw text from the script into a timeline and edit it to the music, along with visual cues (like a generated color that would cut to a beat so Henning knows where his scene breakups are) OR use data burn-in with timecode and frame count
4-export the video and bring it into After Effects to use it as a template to animate
5-break up animations into comps and organize them by scene “so that I can export them in chunks instead of one long animation,” he shares
6-recut them together in Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve (free) or Adobe's Premiere Pro (Henning: “A trick I use for keeping text animation a little more iterative and friendly to work with is by creating travelling mattes with a white solid that is animated instead of masking and pre-comping my text.”)
7-set the Text track matte to Luma or Luma Inverted (Henning: “This keeps me from having to worry about masks for each text layer and the problems that scaling and animation can have on masks. I can also duplicate these track mattes and use them on other text layers very quickly.”)
All or nothing?
The idea of animation can quickly become overwhelming to filmmakers who have limited knowledge of it or who have never tried it before. And this is why it’s crucial for each church to focus on its individual needs, one project at a time.
Starting small is the wisest move. “Sometimes all you need is some moving text or some shapes that move in a certain way to add an element that aids some live action footage or B-roll,” Henning says.
Beyond that, the internet offers innumerable resources on how to do basic animation with little or no prior knowledge of the skill set or software. For those that are a bit more advanced in working on animation and who are trying to improve, there are a million online tutorials to take you to the next level.
Henning suggests checking out courses through Udemy, Lynda.com, and Skillshare. Even for a skilled animator like him, the learning never stops.
“I pick up classes right and left, or I’m watching a tutorial even while on a project,” he notes. “Animation as a craft is all about learning and pushing the boundaries … so I keep my mind pliable.”
