How to Make a Motion Graphic Content Marketing Video

So far, we've been looking at strategy, so I thought we'd take a break and look at tactics and process. Specifically, let's look at how to make one of the cornerstones of any decent content marketing effort: the infographic video (or the "motion graphic" video). I use the word "infographic" because that better explains the content, but call it what you like.

Believe it or not, it is possible to do your own motion graphics video in house, depending on who you have available. If you have someone with experience with any sort of animation (a flash developer is fine) and an Adobe CC license, it’s possible to do this without paying $5,000 or above to have someone else do it.

If you’re wanting to dive into making one of these videos, I can show you how. I’ve done a number of these videos to great effect. My video “What is Automation?” remains the top performing video of all time for the AMX video channel, and is in the leading results any time anyone searching the phrase “what is automation?”

I say that not to brag, but to show how these videos can be so effective. They are great for both inbound and outbound marketing campaigns, as they can simply and easily explain complex concepts for your customers. It is a great way to explain what you do. But how do you do it?

Well, you start with the script. If you aim for a page of text in Word (assuming default fonts, etc.), that will give you a good 2-3 minute length. Go a half-page for a shorter video. When you write the video, aim for simple, clear language. Read the script out loud over and over. Any time you stumble, pick simpler words. This is NOT the place for jargon of any kind. The audio is going to be fired at you quickly, so it should be easy to digest. Also, make sure it is conversational, and ideally a bit funny as well.

Once the script is done, it is time to record the audio. Choose someone who can read clearly and conversationally. This shouldn’t sound like an advertisement. If you record it in house (you don’t have to), don’t worry about reading too fast. You’ll speed up in the editing phase, where you can eliminate the spacing between the lines. This isn’t as hard as it sounds. Just import the recorded audio into Audition (part of Adobe CC), open a new multitrack session, and then cut and trim at the “quiet” parts, moving the tracks together so that the pacing is how you like it. Then, mixdown the session into a new, edited audio file.

Once you have the audio (whether you do it in house or through a third party), it’s time to edit. If you have a flash person, just have them watch a few After Effects (AE) tutorial videos online and play on the software for a few hours. The concepts are very similar, and I’m sure YouTube has plenty of “going from Flash to After Effects” videos they can watch. At any rate, now it’s time to start developing the actual video.

This is my workflow. I start with a new After Effects project. I create an AE comp with just the background (for me, usually a solid layer and a layer with a gradient to give a vignette look, both locked). I call this something like _Blank.

I develop my video in chunks of usually a sentence or two of audio at a time. This keeps the visuals engaging, because you have a new “slide” (comp) coming all the time. Any time you have a new “slide,” you have a new comp. We’ll then put all the “slides” together in Premiere. First, though, you have to create your After Effects animations.

After I have _Blank, I COPY it to make my first Comp. I usually label the comp “AA-” and then a few words from the audio clip for that section. This lets me quickly find the right comp if I want to make a change. Never use numbers in a comp name. There is a weird bug in Premiere that will make it occasionally mess up and lose audio sync if you have an After Effects comp in it with numbers in the name. Weird, I know, but fixing this problem is a pain to deal with, so just use letters and you won’t have to worry about it!

Next, open the full audio file in Audition. Try to decide what you would like the animation to be. When you get to a part where the end of the “slide” (where everything disappears off the screen) that is the end of the first chunk. Select all the audio from the clip you want to chunk and then choose “Paste to New” from the menu. Save that new clip file as My Video- AA in a "clips" folder.

Then, you import the audio clip into AE. Now you add the audio clip to your “AA- …” comp, trim the comp for length, and start animating.

You repeat the process for each clip until you’re done. If you get to a point where you realize the audio needs to be shorter or longer that you thought, just re-trim in Audition and re-export. Don't try to make due. Save yourself the pain in AE.

When done, open a new Adobe Premiere project and use the Dynamic Link option from the File menu (doing it this way lets you import multiple comps at once). Place the comps end to end, add some music, add some Dip to Blacks at the start and end, and you are done!

Now, I’m not saying that any of this is easy. However, if you have the right talents and are willing to invest the time to learn, you can create a repeatable process for developing high-quality infographic videos in house, saving your company a lot of money in the long run. There are still reasons to outsource these types of things, but depending on the subject matter and the budget, having the option to do it in house can be a great advantage.