Sketch Videos
Sketch videos, also known as whiteboard videos, scribe videos, or whiteboard animations, are a popular video format for explaining tricky concepts. The illustrator’s hand is shown on screen, and the illustration comes to life at high speed. Sketch videos are perfect for breaking down ideas into digestible chunks, or for showing the relationships between concepts.
The advantages of a sketch video from Sketch Group include:
- We create bespoke illustrations for every video
- Export in multiple formats, suitable for TV, intranet, or social media
- Less expensive than live action footage
- Great for explaining ideas
Hand or no hand? Choose your flavour…
There are three basic types of sketch video, and each approach comes with pros and cons:
- Real Hand (a camera films over the shoulder of the illustrator while they work)
- Fake Hand (software is used to simulate a hand moving about the screen while the illustration is created)
- No Hand (the illustration appears, but without a hand on screen)
Let’s look at each approach in turn.
Real Hand
Sketch videos that show a real hand have been filmed in a real studio—a real illustrator’s hand is holding a real pen, and actually drawing on real paper or a whiteboard surface. This format is the most authentic, because having a real person on screen brings your viewer into the story and helps to humanise your message.
Pros
Authentic
Bring in product
Performance
Cons
Higher price
Fake Hand
There are several software tools available that you can use to create a video that relies on a fake hand (that is, a photograph of a hand holding a pen) moving around the screen. Tools like Sparkol Videoscribe and Doodly do a reasonable job of
Pros
Lower price
Can bring in products/craft items/found objects
Performance
Cons
Looks fake
Clipart
No Hand
Pros
Lower price
Some clients like there being no hand
Cons
No hand