The ‘Effing Epic Explanimate Blog Quiz Extravaganza

Hold onto your explainers, optimise your search engines, and blank your blanks because we’re taking an epic look back through our back catalogue of fascinating Explanimate blog articles and dammit, we’re bringing you along for the ride. Remember the time we profiled successful examples of brand videos? Or our epic two-part A to Z guide to digital animation technology? Ooh, we just bet you don’t. Thankfully we’re here to give you the ultimate cheat sheet: 10 of our best explainer video blogs (but also the others are pretty good) condensed down into one handy little quiz!

question 1: the future of animation

The future is now! By which I mean the future is within roughly 20 years, according to our predictions on the future of animated film.

But what did we predict Australia’s film industry would become known for?

A) 2D Animation
B) Visual FX (and nothing else)
C) A Blinky Bill / Mad Max crossover franchise where post-apocalyptic koalas ride steampunk motorbikes through the desert

Answers at the end of this article!

question 2: music in animated video

Music makes the people come together, yeah – at least according to our article ‘5 ways to make music work for your animated video‘ (…and Madonna, I guess).

What should good music aim to be in an explainer video?

A) Invisible
B) Loud and obnoxious
C) A copyright infringement case waiting to happen

question 3: agencies partnering with studios

In our article on agencies, we expounded the joys of teamwork (and Boggle).

But why does it pay for agencies to partner with an animation production house for explainer videos?

A) It allows the agency to better focus on their clients
B) It saves the agency money on upgrading technology
C) It has no added preservatives and no artificial flavours
D) It gives agencies an adjustable level of control over the project
E) All of the above (except that C one)

question 4: pros and cons of explainer videos

Writing a pros and cons list is a great way to help make a tough decision, to find reason within a difficult issue, or to promote your favourite explainer-creating company in a totally non-biased way.

In our article on the pros and cons of explainer videos, we uncovered the advantages of explainers in keeping a viewer’s interest compared with text information. When a retail site visitor views video, how much more likely are they to purchase than other site visitors?

A) 64% more likely
B) 3.14159% more likely
C) 2% reduced fat, containing the same 9 essential nutrients as other milk
D) I just want milk that tastes like real milk

question 5: making your explainer video stand out

Standing out in today’s busy online world is like screaming into a box of… of like, things that are already screaming. Yeah. Take that, everyone who said my Creative Writing degree was useless.

If you want to stand a chance of standing out, it’s important to be familiar with best practice tips, like the ones from our article: ()

At the time of writing, what are YouTube’s most important ranking factors for meta data?

A) Good looks, yelling into the camera, and ’24/7 lofi beats to relax/study to’
B) Elsa, Spiderman, and Paw Patrol
C) Title, description, and tags
D) Blood, sweat, and tears

question 6: designing appealing characters

When you’re embarking on the grand journey of creating an explainer video it’s vital to look at the art of appealing character design. Some of the more important aspects to consider include shape, colour theory and animation functionality.

But what is the major aim of the principles of design when creating characters for an explainer video?

A) To allow for quick recognition of character types and concepts
B) To get your money’s worth on that Arts degree
C) To create a truly hideous character design that bears striking resemblance to your ex
D) All of the above

question 7: advertising a startup with animation

Saying you don’t run your own startup company these days is like saying ‘I don’t use the internet’ or ‘I don’t know how I got caught in this doggy door but could you please stop laughing’. Well maybe not that last one but you get the idea. Advertising for startups can be a tricky science, as outlined in our article on the topic:

What is just one of the issues startups face when advertising?

A) Startups are often highly risky ventures so advertising must be equally risky and contain several sick motorcycle fire-hoop jumps off a dangerous cliff
B) Startups are new and faceless to consumers so advertising must project the right company voice
C) ‘Startups’ sounds awfully close to ‘fartups’ so advertising must strategically avoid all mention of beans, soft drinks, and of course Brussels sprouts, the most marketable food of all.

question 8: making the purpose of your explainer clear

We got our philosophy on in the most corporate of ways in our article ‘Does your explainer video have purpose?’. From conversion funnels to end goals, we covered the major ways to speak to your audience and make their next steps clear.

What’s the name of the technique used to give the viewer a clear impetus and instruction for what to do after watching your explainer video?

A) Call to action
B) Call of duty
C) Call the midwife
D) Call me maybe

question 9: the popularity of whiteboard animation

Who doesn’t love a good whiteboard drawing? Apparently very few people, according to our research:

But why do we think whiteboard animation is so damn popular these days?

A) It strikes a nostalgic chord for our old school days
B) It satisfies our desire for completion and the need for a human element
C) Mr Squiggle subliminally primed us to enjoy watching things being drawn on boards

question 10: using animation to reach all 3 learning styles

Are you a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner? In our article on VAK we took a look at all three learning styles and how animated video is capable of reaching every last damn one of ’em.

How can animation be used to reach kinesthetic learners?

A) Kinesthwhatnow?
B) Interactivity
C) It’s B
D) We all know the answer is B
E) I don’t know why you keep asking me. The answer is very clearly B. If you don’t believe me, check out the answer key below.

answers

Twist ending: the answers were within you all along.

(…Also the questions were really easy.)