Animatics

H O P P E R P E D I A ©
-Brian Hammons


Simple Animatic storyboards are a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. Animators create these simplified mock-ups to give a better idea of how the scene will look and feel with motion and timing. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images (usually taken from a storyboard) to test whether the sound and images are working effectively together.

Creating animatics allows animators and directors to work out any screenplay, camera positioning, shot list and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. The storyboard and soundtrack are amended if necessary, and a new animatic may be created and reviewed with the director until the storyboard is perfected. Editing the film at the animatic stage can help to avoid editing expensive animation scenes of the film.

Animatics are also used by advertising agencies to create inexpensive test commercials.