Educational Animation Cost
Animations provide entertaining and engaging material for your coursework. It adds a more immersive and interactive touch to your course design that brings true value to learners. But how much does 2D animation cost per minute? When calculating the educational animation cost, your options could range from less than $100 to over $100,000!
Choosing freelance animation for $10
Educational Animation Cost – If you look around, you can find freelancers that are willing to do work for a wide variety of prices; and many can be as cheap as $10 per one minute of animation. This can be a substantially more affordable option as a professional studio would likely charge you around 100 times more than that. But what could you get from $10 work? You’d be lucky to get fully formed characters and a detailed background!
So why is it so much cheaper?
If you are considering going for a $30 animation, you might want to consider doing all of the extra work yourself. That means, if you want it to be cheap, you would have to do the script and voice-over work yourself; or hire another freelancer to do that for you as well. However, it would likely be more beneficial to do that on your own. You know your work better than anyone else and what works best for your coursework. Additionally, you’ll have more control over the turnout of the project and stick to the learning objectives you set out more closely.
Freelancers tend to use cloud-based animation software. This allows you to use a subscription service that charges you a little bit a month in exchange for a wide selection of animation assets. With this software, you’ll have all the tools you need to make an animation with more relative ease. That just leaves the task of coming up with a splendid animation much more achievable! However, for $10, you would still likely expect to see pretty basic animation. If you’re looking to liven your animation up with more spectacular visual effects and music, you’re going to have to pay more.
Going for a small studio for $200
Educational Animation Cost – If you are looking to upgrade your animation without breaking the bank, you could go for one of the smaller animation studios. With a small animation studio vs. a feature animation studio, you could expect charges anywhere from $100 to $200 per one minute of animation. Multiple factors affect the overall price of an animation project, however, just be mindful of the complexity of your animation as that will ultimately determine the cost. For example, if you want a hand-drawn animation with multiple characters interacting with one another, the price would be far steeper than a simple whiteboard animation. However, it is still much more affordable than going for a larger, feature length studio. Just because you are paying less, doesn’t mean you are getting less quality.
So what could you expect?
Educational Animation Cost – Going for a small studio over a freelancer means you’ll have more authentic work. There’s usually a team of people dedicated to customizing your every design request to the finest detail. They’ll make sure to follow the guidelines according to branding as closely as possible. If you are a local professor that just wants to create an entertaining animation for your students, following the branding is likely not your concern. However, if you are working with a training company or government agency with specific guidelines that must be followed, you want an animation not only lays out the details, but also showcases the company’s branding and ideals.
Another important aspect of choosing a small studio would be their end-to-end service. When hiring freelancers, you are usually only hiring them for one specific skill. If you need a scriptwriter, illustrator, animator, or storyboard artist, you will have to hire them all separately. If you work with a small studio, you typically speak with one person, usually the producer, and that person communicates your needs to an entire team. This makes the process significantly more simple, and puts a lot less stress on you to keep the project together. Basically, a small studio could offer you a lot more bang for your buck than even a professional feature studio.
As an example, here is a project from a small studio, Austin Visuals. Though small, we commit ourselves to creating the best possible quality animations for our clients. This commercial was done while working with 10RMFitness, a local gym in Austin. We were given specific guidelines to follow and our team worked closely with the company to ensure all goals were met.
Deciding on a large, professional studio
Educational Animation Cost – So why is there a such a large difference in the price between small and large studios? One reason could be that many studios are located in countries with a lower cost of living. Let’s say if the average income in the UK is $41,330 USD, that is multiple times higher than the income in China or India. As a result, you could possibly get a probably get an animation of the same quality for a more affordable price depending on where you go. This is also why a lot of studios outsource animation services to developing countries to reduce costs. On one hand, these studios would be cutting costs by getting the similar quality for a lower price. However, on the same token, the studios in developing countries would get more projects and thus, more profit.
A $1200 animation from a large studio would certainly be a huge jump in price. However, that is still on the lower end of what you could expect and you would be wise to stay in that area. One full minute of animation could cost anywhere from $1200 to $60,000. If you were to choose 3D animation, it’d be even pricier; with basic models starting from around $10,000. Prices for work are typically not displayed, as costs are usually tailored to the type of work done. If you want to find out how much a project with cost, you should expect to contact the studio, notify them of your budget, the details and desired style of your project, and they may be able to give you a general estimate.
High quality results from a professional studio
Educational Animation Cost – Going for a professional studio would undoubtedly bring fantastic results. You would be ensured the best possible quality animation with the finest details. You could cut costs by working with a studio in India or China, however, you’d would still have to deal with geographical and possible language barriers. If this is something that concerns you, it might be best to go with a studio closer to you (assuming you live in the United States). Additionally, choosing a more local studio does not always mean a steeper price. Depending on the details of the project, the animation could be significantly lower in cost than expected.
In Conclusion:
Educational Animation Cost – By now, you should understand the varying prices behind different methods of producing your animation. If you’re looking for a quick, simple animation for your students with no real branding guidelines to follow and a tight budget, then a freelancer would do just the trick! However, if you are looking for a more detailed animation with specific instructions, then you may want to go for an animation studio that can tailor to your needs. Whether you go for a larger or a smaller studio depends on the level of quality you want vs. the amount you are willing to pay! Whichever you choose, just be sure to send them a layout of what you are looking for and they should be able to give you a general estimate of what you could expect to pay.
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