Most clients see the finished video and the invoice. Everything between — the drafts, the decisions, the moments where a scene goes from rough sketch to polished animation — happens behind the curtain. Here's what actually goes on at each stage when we make an explainer video, and why the process is built the way it is.
Stage 1: Discovery — before a word is written
What you see: A 30-minute kickoff call.
What's actually happening: We're extracting the information the script needs: what the product does, who it's for, what the viewer should do after watching, and what makes the company different. Half of scriptwriting is asking the right questions — "what's the one thing you want viewers to remember?" cuts an hour of rambling into a single clear message.
Why it matters: Clients who arrive with a brief (even a rough one) start ahead. If you want to prepare, see what to include in an animation project brief.
Stage 2: Script — the make-or-break stage
What you see: A document, usually 150–180 words for a 60-second video.
What's actually happening: Translating business complexity into viewer clarity. The script doesn't just say what you do — it engineers the viewer's emotional journey: hook, problem, solution, proof, action. Every sentence earns its runtime or gets cut.
The before-and-after: First drafts from client input often read like landing page copy — feature-heavy, audience-vague. A finished script reads like a conversation: short sentences, active verbs, and one idea per scene. The gap between draft 1 and the approved script is where most of the creative work happens.
You review the script with unlimited revisions until it's right. Once approved, the script is locked — everything downstream builds on it.
Stage 3: Storyboard and style frames — the visual blueprint
What you see: A series of panels — like a comic strip of your video — plus 2–3 fully designed style frames.
What's actually happening: Two things at once. The storyboard maps the script to scenes: which words go with which images, where the camera "moves," and how the story flows visually. The style frames establish the exact look — colors, character design, illustration style, typography — so you approve the aesthetic before any animation begins.
Why the storyboard stage exists: Changing a sketch takes 15 minutes. Changing a finished animation takes days. Every disagreement about the visuals that's caught in storyboard saves an order of magnitude in time and cost. This is the most underappreciated stage, and the one clients are most grateful for afterward.
Stage 4: Voiceover — the voice your audience hears
What you see: Audio files, typically 2–3 narrator options.
What's actually happening: We cast from professional voice actors matched to your audience and tone — a warm, conversational narrator for a consumer product; a crisp, authoritative voice for enterprise; friendly and clear for training. The selected narrator records the approved script, timed to match the storyboard pacing.
Why it matters more than people expect: The voice sets the emotional register of the entire video. A miscast narrator makes a great script feel flat. We present options so the choice is yours, and re-record if the read isn't right.
Stage 5: Animation — the part everyone pictures
What you see: Your storyboard panels come to life, timed to voiceover.
What's actually happening: Scene-by-scene animation: elements move, characters act, data visualizes, transitions flow. This is the longest stage (7–14 days for a 60-second video) because it's the most labor-intensive — but it's also the stage with the fewest surprises, because the script, storyboard, and voiceover have already been approved.
The before-and-after: A storyboard panel is a still image. The animated version adds motion, timing, character expression, and pacing that make the scene feel intentional rather than assembled. The difference between good animation and great animation is in the easing, the secondary motion, and the timing — subtleties that register as "this feels professional" even if the viewer can't articulate why.
Stage 6: Music, sound design, and delivery
What you see: The finished video, with music and sound effects, delivered in every format you need.
What's actually happening: Licensed music is selected and timed to the animation's pacing. Sound effects are added where they reinforce the visuals — a subtle "pop" on a key stat, a transition whoosh, ambient texture. The final mix is balanced so voiceover stays clear. Then we export: MP4 for web, high-res for presentations, vertical crops for social, captioned versions for LinkedIn and social feeds.
The pattern: approve small, build forward
Every stage produces a reviewable deliverable. You approve it, we build the next stage on top of it. This isn't bureaucracy — it's the reason the project stays on budget and on schedule. Because each approval locks a foundation, the work only moves forward. No circling back to re-debate the script during animation.
This is also why our unlimited revision policy works: you can refine as much as you want within each stage, because the cost is contained. The revision policy is a timeline tool and a quality tool, not just a pricing feature. For the full schedule, see how long an explainer video takes to make.
See it for yourself
The best way to understand the process is to start one. Tell us what you're making and we'll walk you through exactly what each stage looks like for your project — with a fast, no-pressure quote. Four MarCom Awards, custom work only.