First, I created mind maps and mood boards to plan out what would be explained in the video, the animation techniques to use, and the tools I planned to use. I also started working on a script.
Mind Map 1
Mind Map 2
I made mood boards to capture the mood and tone of my video as well. Initially, I chose the second one to work with, but then I changed the heading font because it's more readable at any size.
Mood Board Version 1
Mood Board Version 2
Mood Board Version 3
UPDATED Mood Board Version 2
Next, I made my presenter character using a provided template. I created her hair, watch, and sunglasses. I recolored the rest of her according to my colors. I name her Mara, which means "Of the Sea." The mouth shapes were also provided in a template, but I added the lips and made them a shade of red.
Mara Assets
Mara Mouth Shapes
Now on to production. I started building all the assets I would need in Illustrator. The Earth and Moon were traced using online images as guides. The rest were made from scratch.
Clock
Clouds
Earth Map
Earth Base (later replaced with a 3D sphere object in After Effects)
Moon
Waves (later replaced with wave shapes in After Effects)
Space Version 1
Space Version 2
Once that was done, I created a logo for the video's fictional production company called Oceana Luna Productions. I chose thumbnail #17 to develop in Illustrator.
Thumbnail Set 1
Thumbnail Set 2
Thumbnail Set 3
Logo Draft
Final Logo
At the same time, I developed storyboards detailing how every scene would play out in the video using early drafts of my script as a guide.
Storyboard 1
Storyboard 2
Storyboard 3
Storyboard 4
Storyboard 5
I finalized my script before developing the video.
Script Page 1
Script Page 2
Script Page 3
Script Page 4
Script Page 5
Script Page 6
I composited and animated everything in the final video below. Throughout the process, I animated the character manually, lip-synced her mouth with the audio voiceover (Nichalia Shwartz via ElevenLabs), added transitions, and added music and sound effects.
Final Explainer Video
