How To Make Your Own Animated Short Film

Creating your first animated short film can be tricky, but it is definitely doable if you are willing to learn from others’ mistakes! While there are many ways to get into making your own movie, there are two main types of videos that most people seem to use as starting points - storytelling movies or cartoons.

A storytelling video is one where the plot comes directly from someone else’s story (for example, stories about love conquering all). These stories usually revolve around situations with characters and events that occur in real life, so they may not necessarily involve animals or cartoon-style plots.

Cartoon style films, on the other hand, are ones that feature mostly gags and/or jokes - typically humorous scenes with exaggerated features. This type of movie is very popular since anyone can create their own!

This article will focus more on the second option, creating your own cartoon movie.

Fund your film

Now that you have the basics down, it’s time to start investing in all of the components needed to create your own animated short movie!
Start with our guide here on how to fund your project. There are many ways to launch your filmmaking career, this is not only one of the best but also one of the most cost-effective as well.

Once you have gathered enough funds, there are several ways to begin editing your movie. You can use a free software such as Adobe Photoshop or Premiere Pro to edit your movies, these apps are very accessible and easy to use.

There are plenty of online tutorials for both of these apps so do not worry about going through beginner lessons first.

Write a script

Writing a screenplay is not as easy as many make it out to be. It can actually be quite difficult at times, especially if you are new to writing. This is why there are so many screenwriters that cannot find success in the film industry.

Writing a movie script is like creating a story or novel; it takes time to hone your skills. Luckily, you do not need to know how to write a book before you begin writing a screenplay.

There are several free resources available to learn basic screenplay structure from. You can also visit our article here on some helpful tips for aspiring writers. Beyond those two things, though, writing a movie script is a craft that requires practice.

You will have to experiment with different styles and levels of complexity before you feel comfortable calling yourself a writer.

Make a storyboard

A storyboard is a very important piece of any animation. It’s like an outline for your movie, but much more detailed!

A storyboard breaks down the script into individual scenes with notes about what happens in each scene and how long it lasts. You can also include some brief descriptions about the characters in each scene or anything related to the plot that you want to emphasize.

There are several good software programs that make creating a storyboard easy. Many have interactive features that help you create a flow chart style board, which is helpful to see the relationships between scenes.

Some examples of these are Animator Pro by Adobe (free trial!), Inscape ($99 app-only version or $199 pro version), and Paper $(299 app only). There are many others out there, so do some research and find one that works best for you.

Produce your film

After you have gathered all of your resources, it is time to start producing your short movie! The first step in filming your animated short is deciding where you will host it. There are many ways to do this, but the best way depends on your budget and the features you want to include.

Some examples of hosting sites that let you create an account free include YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo. If you already have a domain name, you can use their website building platform to create a landing page or channel for your video.

If you don’t have a site yet, there are some free website builders you can use to get started like Squarespace, Wix, and Google Sites. Some of these offer premium plans with added features, which would be better alternatives than using a paid service without them.

Finish your film

Once you have done all of these steps, it is time to start editing! The first thing to do is make sure that your file size is below 2MB per video. This can be done by using shorter length videos or through software such as YouTube so that you don’t need to worry about exporting too much.

After this, you should use a free website to test out your movie. You can find many sites where you can upload yourself as a character and see how people look in your short movie. This will help you determine if your characters are fit and if anything looks funny or weird.

And lastly, you must put some effort into marketing your movie. Create an Instagram account for your movie, update it with pictures and media, and spread word of mouth around social networks to get more views.

Sell your film

After you shoot your movie, it’s time to start thinking about how to make money off of it! The first thing is to decide what platform you want to release your short on.

Some great free platforms that do not require you to pay to publish your work are YouTube, Vimeo, and Imgur.

These can be very popular, so your video may get seen by many people quickly. People can also add advertising or sponsorship tags for their videos, which could help earn you some revenue.

There are several ways to make money from your shortfilm via different routes. You can create and sell merchandise, launch a crowdfunding campaign, or find other ways to distribute and market your film through social media, blogs, and more.

A good way to begin is to test out one of these strategies before investing too much time into it.

Connect with influencers

One of the best way to get your foot in the door as an animator is by creating your own content or making animated short films! While most people start this process by going through YouTube tutorials, special events may offer more guidance depending on what level you are looking to advance.

There are many ways to make your film popular so that it can be seen by others. The easiest way to do this is by connecting with other creative individuals.

You could create a video journal where you showcase your work and talk about different things related to animation (or anything else for that matter!). This would be similar to blogging, but only more focused.

Your online presence is a form of marketing so starting these conversations will help promote your artistic growth and career development. People who are interested in the same field as you want to connect with them, so creating a community is a good idea.

Get your film seen

Once you have created your short, it is time to get it out there for people to see! You can choose to create an online platform where others can watch your movie or upload to YouTube so that everyone can access it.

This will depend on what kind of camera you use in your movie and how professional you want your film to look. The settings and kinks you find for your movie should be shared so that other users can learn from them!

Some tips: If possible, make your movie using only free software such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and/or Flash. Many companies offer these programs as free downloads or through their app stores.

You do not need special filming equipment to start making animated shorts! Almost anyone with a smartphone can produce amazing videos.