Start with the change you want to make
A useful brief explains what the audience should understand, feel or do after watching. “We need a one-minute animation” describes an output. “We need publishers to understand how listeners can become subscribers” describes a communication problem. The second gives a creative team something to work with.
You do not need a finished script to begin. You do need a clear sense of the audience and the main message. If several messages compete for attention, put them in order. That helps everyone see which idea should lead and which information can live somewhere else.
Give the audience some shape
Describe who will see the film and what they already know. Someone discovering a product for the first time needs a different introduction from a specialist audience at an industry event. Tell us where the film will appear, too. A presentation with sound, a social feed and a mobile app are different viewing situations.
Include practical information: the target length, deadline, available budget, required versions and any brand guidelines. Share legal or factual wording that must be accurate. If a claim needs internal approval, flag it early rather than adding it when the animation is nearly finished.
References are a conversation
Reference films are useful when you explain what you like about them. Is it the warmth of a character, the graphic simplicity, the humour or the pacing? Those qualities may be achievable through several visual approaches. Asking for an exact replica makes it harder to develop something that belongs to your brand.
Share references you do not like if they reveal a real constraint. “Too childish for our audience” is useful. “We dislike this colour because it belongs to a competitor” is useful too. Keep the reference list focused so that it describes a direction rather than every possible direction at once.
Explain how decisions will happen
Include the people involved in review and the person who gives final approval. Identify existing assets and say who owns or can authorise their use. If the film will need translation, subtitles or different aspect ratios, include those requirements from the start.
Our Acast Access project explains a service for publishers through playful 2D animation. Its value as a reference is the relationship between the message and the visual approach, not a template to copy. A good brief lets a studio find that relationship for your own subject.
Before sending the brief, check whether a person outside your organisation could describe its main purpose in one sentence. If they cannot, simplify the opening. Then leave room for a creative response. The brief should make the problem clear; it does not have to solve the whole film.
