combination
live-action and animation together
Both live-action and animation have pros and cons: Animation is good at simplifying abstract concepts, whereas live-action brings a human factor to it. So why not combine them? A combined style of live-action and animation is trendy nowadays. A better use of this style not only helps your audience understand the complex product, but also connects to them on an emotional level. A common mistake in this type of video is that the live-action and animation can appear disjointed; there are no elements tying these two styles together.
First, let’s check out some good examples of combined style and see how they successfully created a unified look.
example 1
Solimar product sizzle
Solimar is a new digital platform from the Trade Desk. It reimagines the media buying experience. The video is part of their product launch package. It’s not only a great example of the combined style, you can also see many elements and technique we've talked about.
The video opens up with a cinematic voiceover alongside emotional visuals. During the first half we see the combination of live-action stock footage and animation. They use graphic elements to tie these two styles together by placing the live-action within animated graphic frames. Applying an overall noise layer on top of everything also helps to create a unified look. It also uses kinetic typography to draw attention. There’s a brief section that visually gives you a tour of the platform itself. Almost a sneak peak of the product demo video.
example 2
Data Share solution from Experian
This is a great example showcasing a combined style of live-action stock footage and animation with icons. The video introduces a new solution that drastically increases process efficiencies in data gathering, sharing and analyzing. It successfully ties the live-action footage with the animation by putting the footage within various graphic shapes. The icon animation simplifies this complex process, whereas the real human faces enhance the authenticity and intimacy.
Example 3
ECS overview
Another example of the combined style consists of a mixture of captured interviews, B-roll stock footage and animated elements. The animation in this type of video is called a motion graphics package and includes an opening and closing animation, lower thirds, and animated transitions and backgrounds. The animation within the motion graphics package is used mainly to transition between scenes, and provides text callouts to help viewers understand the topic.
example 4
Zendesk chat product promo
This video from Zendesk is another great example showing the combine style of captured live-action footage and animation. The goal of this product demo video is to showcase how the platform works and how both the business and customers can interact. You can simply do that with animation only, but when you add real human faces in the video, it suddenly becomes more authentic and personal. You benefit from the pros of both live-action and animation.
