Animated video practices for NGOs in pandemic times

When it comes to inspiring people or joining forces to solve any problem, non-profitable organizations and NGOs can be very influential. Let’s have an overview of some animated video practices, which help them to communicate with the audience effectively. Moreover, we will tell you why animated educational explainers are so in demand today and why non-profitable organizations should make good use of this trend.

We honestly believe that good video content is essential for non-profitable organizations, thus it increases awareness of your company. Darvideo Animation Studio has already implemented lots of similar projects and we are always ready to cooperate with companies that strive to benefit people.

Hard times drive explainers

The pandemic of COVID-19 requires people to be informed and aware of potential risks around them. That makes non-profitable organization’s services way more necessary in such times. Among other things, non-profit organizations make a lot of educational video content: scientific explainers, educational vіdeos, and so on. As you will see below, animated videos about coronavirus are popular and necessary more than ever. And most of them go viral.

Through an animated video, you can easily convey indispensable information in an accessible form. Especially for that, a various set of animation techniques could be applied. Let`s look through them below.

Animated explainers could be made in both 2D and 3D animated video formats. For a fresh start let’s compare these two works.

This Widescale custom video was made as a 3-Dimensional animation. That highly detailed and complex work was rightly appreciated by the audience – twenty-seven mln views on the Youtube channel.

Let’s take a look at another example.

“Global COVID-19 Prevention” video by Stanford Medicine was one of the first illuminating videos on this topic. Its 2D graphics are really simple. But it appeared so that attracted 1.2 million viewers within 10 days of its release.

Thus, the examples above support the idea that both simple and complex solutions can be effective. We hope that the points below will help you decide what type of animated video your company needs.

Why animated video works better than anything?

An animated video is more suitable for the presentation of specific content. Some more reasons when and why it could be used.

1. A lot of things can be shown better as animated images or infographics. 

Complex mechanisms in economy and politics, processes that take place in the human body, cutting-edge invention – that`s what needs to be shown. Нow the SARS virus is transmitted from person to person?  You can find it out in “Coronavirus outbreak” explained through 3D animation (7,6 mln views). It wouldn’t be so convincing without animation, isn’t it?

2. Sometimes abstract drawn heroes are more acceptable than actors.

Depersonalized characters may be much better perceived by the viewer when it comes to diseases and similar things. A good sample is “Recognizing Day to Day Signs and Symptoms of Coronavirus” by FreeMedEducation.

This well thought and dynamic character animation is made in 2D, which is way cheaper than 3D. But, the authors have prepared a thought-through script that made a 10-minute animated video look like a whole new short film with depersonalized characters. And it worked – the video got 13.8 mln views on Youtube.

3. 2D and 3D animations could be changed way easier than live-action videos. 

Especially it concerns animated explainers in topics like Covid-19, which requires brand-new info about the latest updates to stay compatible. New information may appear frequently. If new data become already known, you can quickly correct and supplement a certain episode by changing it or the voiceover. The information must always stay up-to-date and animated videos will grant you that use. Wanna have a look at the video sample with the cutting-edge innovation?

3,6 mln people looked through “Coronavirus Test: Real-time RT-PCR” by Biology with Animations.

4. Animation provides endless possibilities for working with any unusual style you can imagine. 

Video “Why you can’t compare Covid-19 vaccines” by Vox grabs 8 mln views.

Even though the company that has presented the work above uses quite difficult material saturated with scientific terms, we can measure it as a great example of a scientific video. Why so?

• The plot raises such a controversial topic as the effectiveness of Covid 19 vaccines. But it was created in a strict style with a sustained color scheme that points out. This video could be considered an attractive one thanks to the balance of its idea and implementation.
• This work is a good example of how an animated video could work with graphics, live-action parts, and photos in one product. Pay your attention to the kinetic typography technique in this video. It uses moving text to capture our attention.

Wanna have a look at another approach? In “The Story of Coronavirus” by the Global Health Media Project (4,8 mln views) animated video we can spotlight raster graphics that have been used.

Illustrators have literally drawn every image and made them move, just as it was made in the first cartoons. This technique is called stop motion and it’s a convenient way to tell a persuasive story in chronological order, even though it has been used less frequently due to the possibilities of CGI today. Moreover, this form is so much appropriate for a kid’s animated video – as we can see from the video above.

Stylish images give more views and unique stylistic stay competitive. Designers said anything is possible with animated graphics. You have a look at some examples to make sure of this.

Still, why do NGOs need an animated video?

NGO and non-profitable organizations do much essential work. But for people to know about any meaningful initiatives, it needs to pitch ideas on time. Making useful content is one way to draw attention to your work. Whether you make captivative content about what you stand for or brief animated explainer videos which tell about your organization – it will attract the audience! To sum up, here are some more points for you:

• Animated video is both an effective and not expensive way of promotion in comparison with other methods. There are lots of platforms to promote this type of content.
• Animated video can be used across social media, websites, video presentations.
• It does not require large investments but it gives you a great number of viewers.
• It will increase awareness of your company. And brand recognition as we know leads to the donations-growth.

Of course, not only NGOs need animated videos in pandemic times. If you have a small business (a cafe, for instance) you could make a video about your company: how do you care about safety; what rules the staff follows, and so on. Your clients will appreciate it.