How Do You Direct An Animated Film?

While not every movie has to be like The Lion King, there are some fundamental ways that most animated feature films begin their production process. These include: writing a script, hiring artists, finding a director, filming, editing, and releasing the movie!

In this article, we will talk about how to direct an animated film. This includes things such as deciding what genre your movie fits into, choosing who your main characters are, picking your story’s premise, developing your storyline, brainstorming ideas for scenes, and creating a shooting schedule.

If you want to try directing an animated film, start small by making sure everything is color-coded and organized before going in front of a camera! Keep reading to learn more.

Pick your cast

As mentioned earlier, actors are the backbone of any animated feature. They play important roles in defining the characters and setting the tone for the film. With that said, choosing the right people to be part of your project is very crucial to success.

Finding the perfect mix depends mostly on the type of movie you want to make and what kind of audience you want to reach. For example, if your movie wants to emphasize comedy then looking for comedic talent is essential!

Likewise, if your movie wants to focus more on action or drama, then looking for dramatic or powerful individuals will help convey that message. Make sure to do some research and find out who these professionals are so you can determine if they are a good fit for your film.

General tips: just being yourself and creating a comfortable environment for conversations will probably work best. If there’s ever a question about something, don’t worry about looking wrong - instead, ask how others have resolved the same problem before.

Set up your set

The next thing to consider is where you will be setting up your camera for each scene. This includes deciding if you want to use a static or moving camera, as well as figuring out what kind of filming style you’d like to use in individual scenes.

There are three main shooting styles that can be used for feature length animated films: documentary, narrative, and experimental.

A documentary style movie follows a specific story with events happening chronologically. Narrative movies have a plot and stories arc, but happen across time rather than linearly. An experimental style film does not follow a structure per se, instead exploring different creative concepts during production.

Which one you choose depends mostly on the script and whether or not there is a clear beginning, middle, and end to the story. It also comes down to which ones you feel most comfortable using, and how effective they are at telling the story.

Plan out your shots

As mentioned before, story is one of the most important parts in animation. This goes beyond just telling a tale; you have to make sure that everything about the film feels connected to this narrative.

The second part of storytelling in animated films is establishing characters and settings. Since these are not live action movies, there are no direct eye contact or physical interactions between people. Therefore, how we feel about a character can sometimes outweigh what they say!

Having a strong understanding of someone’s personality is very important when animating them. Just like with actors, if you watch enough animated films, you will eventually find yourself comparing notes as to who some of the characters seem similar to.

This process helps you connect their traits to real humans and gives your audience more inspiration for creating their own characters.

Organize your team

As mentioned earlier, story is one of the most important parts in animation. A strong script will help get you through part two, where directors come together to organize their team.

You have many different people with unique skills that can contribute to the film. These include artists, writers, producers, and more. All these individuals play a role in creating the movie so make sure to give credit where it’s due!

Just like any other profession, there are certain individuals who work well as a group. For example, a writer will not do well if he or she must be asked to work alone for extended periods of time. Similarly, someone who does not enjoy drawing may need frequent feedback from peers.

It is very important to know what each person’s weaknesses are and how to use this information to motivate them.

Write your script

Writing a screenplay is hard enough as it is, writing an animated film is even harder! But what makes writing for animation different than other scripts is that you not only have to tell a story, you also need to give expression to the stories being told through pictures.

In addition to telling a narrative, the screenwriter must also develop characters, settings, and themes in order to fully convey the movie’s message. The most important part of this is understanding how character development works in both fiction and non-fiction films, which has some similarities with how it works in cartoons.

Just like people, animals and fictional characters will go through various stages of emotion, so developing emotional relationships and tone are essential parts of any good cartoon.

Another key element of storytelling in media is repetition. For example, when someone talks about something they think about or experience frequently, we listen more closely because we know what they mean by context.

With animations, this becomes even truer, especially if there are lots of repeating patterns or scenarios. A professional writer would take note of these and apply them to his or her own work.

Produce your movie

As mentioned earlier, producing an animated feature is very similar to producing any other type of film. The main difference being that you do not have dialogue to write nor actors to hire.

Instead, you will need people who are skilled in drawing or designing characters and environments (graphics artists) as well as writers who can create scripts for different scenes.

Storyboards exist mostly outside the realm of written words, so someone with experience in this field would be helpful.

Filmmaking is a long process, even more so when it comes to animating! Therefore, there is a lot of time spent developing the script, researching settings and trying to find appropriate locations for filming, finding graphics artistes to collaborate with, and gathering enough money to produce the final product.

Market your movie

Now that you have chosen to make your film, the next thing is to market it! This can be tricky because there are so many ways to spread the word about your project. There’s no one specific way to do this, but most experts agree on some fundamentals.

Start by creating a business plan for your project. Include things like mission statements, goals, strategies, and products and services. These should all relate to your movie or media production company.

You also need to create content to promote yourself and your product. This could be blogs, articles, advertisements, etc. It doesn’t matter what type of content you use as long as people read it and believe in it.

After everything is ready, launch and grow! Figuring out how to market yourself isn’t something that happens instantly, but planning ahead will help you get the ball rolling.

Get your movie released

Once you have finished animating, it is time to get your film into the hands of people! This article will talk about some ways to do this including through festivals, online streaming services, and direct selling.

Festivals are great way to spread your animated movie’s name and learn about other formats for marketing your work. There are many different festival types that differ in what they accept, but all require you to be within their rules and regulations.

These can include short films, feature length movies, or even VR projects. A lot of times, festivals give out awards at the end of the event which help promote the filmmakers career. These typically go to best director, writer, etc., depending on the fest.

Online streaming sites like YouTube and Netflix are another way to show off your work. By having your film published on these sites, more eyes will be exposure for yourself and your talent.