What is Needed to Make Low Budget Animated Short Films?

Yes, low budget animated short films do exist. It doesn’t take a professional studio to make animation. It does take imagination, some tech tools, some fine motor skills, and some labor. And a healthy amount of planning.

Most animated films are developed from storyboards. The director directs the animators from the page, instead of from behind the cameras. They work out the narrative elements, brainstorm “camera” angles, deal with pacing, all without any cameras present in the production.

Scripts are mostly there to guide the actors and actresses who give the animated story its voices. The script from which they work is written out quite a bit later in the development process.

Your process, of course, could be different.

Even if you’re not a talented artist, in the sense of drawing and coloring each frame by hand or on an electronic tablet, you can still make a film (especially a short film) using animation. The net effect can be animated many ways, creating the illusion of moving images from a sequence of still images, without any motion effects provided by the camera itself.

I encourage people all the time to start making short films with whatever equipment they have–even if it’s just a mobile phone. Using whatever you have, you can use a still camera or mobile phone to take photographs, and then using a computer and widely available software you can sequence the images, create transitional effects, record voice-over narration, and add an audio track to the visuals.  (Got any dinosaur action figures leftover from your childhood? Or can you borrow some from a local kid?)

Software programs to make a short animated sequence:

Assuming you’re not on a studio budget, of course, and aren’t planning to compete with Pixar…

• Flash
• Maya
• Anime studio

Screenplay for a short animated film:

Looking for a screenplay for a short animated film? I’ve got one for sale! Budget friendly, Creative Commons licensed. Available very inexpensively as part of a book of short film screenplays. And it’s fun! Click here for more about my animated short film script…