Animation Vs Camera footage – Which Sells Best?

I want to compare animated sales videos with good-ol’ filming with a camera. Let’s start with a couple of examples.

In the animation corner, we have the motion graphics and more cartoony style animations like this.

and there’s the, currently popular, whiteboard animations.

There’s plenty of other styles, including the Lego videos my son makes.
Over in the camera footage corner, here’s one I baked earlier – half promo half demo, so excuse the length:

Of course to really tell which sells best, you’d need to set up some kind of split test experiment with one of each based on the same script. It’s also worth considering which is easier to make and which best suits a given circumstance. Filming the wood-chipping machine only took a couple of hours, and about a day for editing.

Animation can be much more time consuming if you have to draw the graphics, and animate frame by frame or by ‘tweening’ every movement. Especially 3D animation.

Animation does suit some things though. I recently made a video for a hair loss studio including an animated hair growing out of a cross section of skin. I couldn’t have filmed that! And of course there is no need for studios, talent, locations – just a computer. Animation is supposedly better at simplifying complex messages.

On the other hand, I think camera footage is better at portraying emotion, a key part of most buying decisions. Just look up wedding or baby videos on Youtube, with all their dreamy shallow depth of field, soft focus, back-lit, slight over-exposure and sentimental music and you’ll see what I mean. (Personally I prefer industrial wood chipping machines and high-vis jackets – not really). A good story line with drama and catharsis, will bring emotion to any footage or animation.
Camera footage is better at showing reality (obviously). For example if you want to show how to line a ceiling with plasterboard, camera footage will show much better how to handle the weight, size and fragility of the material.

A power-point style animation might be better a communicating a bunch of facts quickly, where viewer attention will be short and decisions will be quick. But buyers are likely to want more in-depth information for bigger complex purchases.

I’ll be honest, I generally find it easier to put a camera on a tripod and hit record. Does that make me bias about which sells best? What do you think? Appreciate any comments below the blog post.

By Keith Rhodes