Your Pharma client just dropped a bomb – they need a Mechanism of Action (MOA) produced for an upcoming conference…
There’s still plenty of time to brief a medical animation studio and get the job done, right?
There are several trade shows and conference events within the healthcare industry taking place throughout the year. For the sake of argument, let’s pretend it’s the beginning of February and we will focus on the process of producing animation for the upcoming ASCO conference set for early June of this year.
Your conference is still 4 months away, so why should you begin talking to your medical animation studio about developing your animation now?
Actually, from script to screen, a comprehensive three-minute MOA video can take three to four months to complete. But if you’ve got a deadline that coincides with an event in this timeframe, such as ASCO there is still time to take action and find the perfect medical animation studio to produce your MOA.
Let’s look at the typical production process for a three-minute animation.
“To get optimal results, consider giving your animation team – as well as your marketing, creative, and science teams – the time to work through this creative process fully from the start.”
3-4 MONTHS FROM DELIVERY: An Engaging Script
Your script is the foundation for a successful animation. It will communicate the intricate mechanisms of a disease state and the function of the therapeutic process. But the story also needs to be engaging. A script can take an average of four weeks to research, write, refine, and enter the legal review process.
- Tip: Take this opportunity to strike the perfect balance between storytelling and science in a way that will keep your audience engaged.
- Tip: The medical animation studio can always begin development with a general story outline, so don’t rush the script-writing process. Spend this time creating a clear and appealing narrative.
- Tip: Consider the attention span of your audience. A 2–3-minute video can be much more effective than a 5-minute animation. Budget-wise as well.
- Tip: Is the purpose of the video to outline clinical data, to explain the disease state, the mechanism of action, or will it be purely a promotional piece? Ideally, you will want to streamline the story so it’s focused only on one or 2 of these things
- Tip: How do you know you’re writing for 3 minutes and not 8? Typically, 120 words equal about 1 minute of animation. If your word count falls between 350 and 400, you should be golden!
THREE MONTHS TO GO: Visualising Look and Feel with Style Frames
While the script is in development, the animation team will begin designing the players and environments in your story. Molecules, cellular environments, devices, and anatomical representations will be brought to life in 3D renderings, aka, style frames. This process can take two to three weeks, depending on the level of complexity or number of elements needed to tell the story.
- Tip: Take this time to help and guide the medical animation studio on the following: Is the work in progress scientifically accurate? Does the artwork reflect the appropriate level of complexity OR simplicity for the target audience?
- Tip: Determine if the imagery needs to reflect the branding guidelines or if it needs to stand apart stylistically from the current branding.
- Tip: Identify the preferred color palette and mood that the artwork needs to convey. For instance, do you want your drug/ product to appear bright, glowing, or reflective to help visually communicate its role as the hero? Maybe you want the diseaseinitiating molecule to be a darker or warmer color so it can be easily identified as the antagonist of the story.
- Tip: If 3D models need to be revised, they will have much less of an impact on production at this stage than when animation production has already been completed. For this reason, it’s important at this point that all the stakeholders have input on the style frames, including the end client.
TWO AND A HALF MONTHS TO GO: Finding the Visual Flow with Storyboards
The animation team will usually need about 2 weeks to produce storyboards, depending on the complexity of the science.
- Tip: Can you easily follow the story visually, from frame to frame, without confusion? It’s important to ensure the boards not only capture the intricacies of the science story but also follow a clear, linear narrative
- Tip: Are there any areas where the narration covers too much detail within a sentence? What works on paper may be tricky to capture visually within the animation. Audiences need enough time to absorb the action onscreen.
- Tip: It’s okay to expand on the script’s word count where needed if it will help the pacing and flow of the animation. A good medical animation studio will want to produce the best results for you, and an increase in word count that is beneficial to the clarity of the animation shouldn’t usually affect your budget.
- Tip: Get feedback from your medical animation studio team. Lean on their experience and creative advice to achieve a more fluid, visually flowing story – even if that may require minor structural changes to the script.
TWO MONTHS TO GO: Let’s Start Animating!
Once storyboards are refined and approved, the team will begin the animation process. A rough, unpolished animatic may be provided first for initial feedback and then further refined into a second, third and eventually a final pass. Towards the end of this stage, professional narration will be recorded and music and sound effects composed and mixed into the final video. The process of rough animatic to final approved pass can take an average of six to eight weeks.
- Tip: Consider the expertise, experience and creativity of the animation studio. They can provide great ideas and solutions throughout the process to various creative challenges.
- Tip: The animation stage, especially the final pass, is the most time-intensive part of the project. Communication is key at this point – any changes to the script, look or flow need to be communicated and actioned as early as possible to avoid last-minute crunches that could jeopardise deadlines.
- Tip: Stuff happens, but do your best to keep to the agreed schedule and avoid any sudden acceleration of the timeline or addition of content.
- Tip: Be sure to communicate the appropriate mood and style of the music/sound design.
- Tip: Make sure you’ve identified when all deliverables need to be received, including additional ancillary assets that may need to be produced.
- Tip: Find out when the AV team at the event will need to test and receive the animation and be sure to identify the digital formats they require. Be sure to communicate your format needs early in the process.
- Remember: Madmicrobe has the expertise and creativity to create truly stunning effects, using cutting-edge CG tools, BUT, your input is crucial. Do you want that ‘all bells and whistles’ approach –jaw-dropping animation that rivals the most sophisticated movie effects? Or would you prefer something more calm, informative and educational in tone? It’s important you have your say throughout the process and brief the animation team on tone, look and “feel” as closely as possible.
YOUR TARGET DATE HAS ARRIVED: Success!
Your MOA should now be in your hands and ready to go! Enjoy the accolades of producing a beautiful and effective crowd-pleasing animation in time for your event.
HELP! I DON’T HAVE THREE TO FOUR MONTHS – I Only Have Eight Weeks…
Will MadMicrobe be able to deliver the MOA sooner?
YES. MadMicrobe Studios are often required to accelerate production in order to accommodate shortened timelines and can still deliver on time; however, you will need to talk to us now.
In conclusion, if you plan to hire a medical animation partner to develop your MOA assets for ASCO this May, you probably should be looking to hire a medical animation studio very soon.
Perhaps even ours!
If so, contact Vincent Elsey [email protected] and he’ll help get you on the path to producing that stunning MOA ASAP.
