How Offing Media Produces Animation Videos in Singapore — Process, Timeline and Pricing
Executive Summary
- Offing Media’s animation production process follows seven defined stages from brief through to final delivery — brief and discovery, concept and script, storyboard, voiceover, animation production, post-production, and delivery
- The full process typically takes five to ten weeks depending on animation type, complexity, revision requirements, and client review speed — 2D explainer animations at the shorter end, complex 3D productions at the longer end
- The most important client responsibility in any animation production is prompt, consolidated review at each approval stage — animation stages build on each other, and delayed or fragmented feedback at one stage delays every subsequent stage
- Offing Media has produced animation video for 450+ Singapore businesses across technology, financial services, pharmaceutical, safety, and marketing applications — the process described here reflects how we have refined our approach across 11 years of Singapore animation production
- Every animation production at Offing Media begins with a free brief review — a conversation to confirm scope, format, and timeline before any proposal is issued
Commissioning an animation video for the first time raises a specific set of questions that a live action video brief does not. What do I need to provide? How long will it take? What decisions do I make at each stage? What does the process look like from my side? And critically — where does it go wrong, and how do I prevent that?
This guide answers those questions by walking through Offing Media’s animation production process exactly as it runs — every stage, what happens in it, who is responsible for what, and where the most common problems arise and how to avoid them. Whether you are commissioning a 2D explainer video, a 3D product demo, a pharmaceutical mechanism animation, or a safety incident reconstruction, the underlying process structure is the same.
Stage 1 — Brief and Discovery
Duration: 1–3 days
What happens: The client submits a brief and Offing Media’s producer reviews it, identifies any gaps or ambiguities, and arranges a discovery call to confirm the production scope before any proposal is issued.
The discovery call is the most important conversation in the entire production. It confirms five things that determine everything that follows:
The single message. What is the one thing the animation must communicate? Not the product’s features, not the company’s history, not a list of benefits. The single most important thing the viewer needs to understand or feel after watching. Every animation production at Offing Media begins by identifying this single message — because animation is most effective when it is built around one clear idea rather than several competing ones.
The target audience. Who will watch this? Their technical sophistication, their familiarity with the product or concept, their primary concern before watching, and what action they should take after watching. The audience profile determines the language level of the script, the visual complexity of the animation, the duration, and the distribution format.
The animation format. 2D, 3D, motion graphics, or a hybrid? The format decision follows from the content requirements and budget — not from a creative preference. A SaaS product explainer communicating a workflow process is almost always best served by 2D animation. A pharmaceutical drug delivery mechanism requiring spatial realism in three dimensions is best served by 3D. A marketing explainer for a financial product is best served by motion graphics. Offing Media recommends the format that best serves the brief — not the format that maximises production scope.
The distribution context. Where will the animation be published and on what platforms? Website, LinkedIn, trade show display, sales deck, LMS, YouTube, paid advertising, regulatory submission? The distribution context determines duration, aspect ratio, audio approach, and delivery format — all of which affect the production scope and cost.
The timeline. When does the finished animation need to be available? Working backwards from the delivery date, the discovery call confirms whether the required timeline is achievable within Offing Media’s current production schedule, and whether any stages need to be compressed or expedited.
From the discovery call, a fixed-price proposal is issued — covering the full production scope, all deliverable formats, the production timeline stage by stage, and the terms for revision rounds and scope changes.
Stage 2 — Concept and Scriptwriting
Duration: 5–10 working days
What happens: Offing Media’s scriptwriter develops the animation script from the agreed brief, the discovery call notes, and any reference materials provided by the client.
The Script Brief
Before a single line of script is written, a script brief is issued to the client — a one-page document confirming the agreed message hierarchy, the narrative structure, the target duration, the visual metaphor approach, and the key messages in priority order. The script brief is the last checkpoint before scripting begins. It is significantly faster and cheaper to change direction at the brief stage than at the first draft stage.
Script Development
The script is written in a two-column format — voiceover narration on the left, visual direction on the right. Every line of narration has a corresponding visual description. This format makes the relationship between what is heard and what is seen explicit at every point in the script — preventing the common failure of narration that relies entirely on audio to carry the communication load while the animation shows generic visuals.
For complex technical content — pharmaceutical mechanisms, engineering processes, regulatory frameworks — Offing Media’s scriptwriter works from the client’s technical documentation and subject matter expert input to ensure content accuracy before any visual production begins. Technical accuracy review by the client’s subject matter expert at the script stage is a non-negotiable step for any content where accuracy has regulatory, legal, or commercial consequences.
Script Review and Approval
The first draft script is submitted for client review. This is the most consequential review in the entire production — the script is the complete specification of the finished animation. Changes to the script at this stage cost nothing to implement. Changes to the same content at the storyboard stage cost more. Changes at the animation stage cost significantly more.
The client’s review of the script should cover: accuracy of all factual claims, correctness of the narrative structure, appropriateness of the language level for the target audience, completeness of the key messages, and suitability of the visual directions for the intended animation style. Aesthetic preferences about word choice and phrasing are secondary to these content-level concerns.
Two rounds of script revision are standard. A revised script is resubmitted for final approval — which gates the storyboard stage. Production does not proceed to storyboarding until the script is formally approved in writing.
Stage 3 — Storyboard
Duration: 5–8 working days
What happens: The approved script is translated into a visual storyboard — a panel-by-panel illustrated representation of every scene in the animation, showing what the viewer will see at each moment of the video.
What a Storyboard Contains
The storyboard shows:
- The visual composition of each scene — what elements are on screen, where they are positioned, and how they are arranged relative to each other
- The character or element design — the visual style of all characters, objects, and environments, establishing the animation’s look before full production begins
- The key animation movements — arrows or annotations indicating how elements will move within each scene
- On-screen text — any titles, labels, callouts, or text overlays that appear on screen alongside the animation
- Scene transitions — how the animation moves from one scene to the next
The storyboard is produced in the agreed visual style — the colour palette, illustration style, and character design approach that has been confirmed with the client. For clients who have not yet confirmed a visual style, Offing Media presents style options at the brief stage based on the brand guidelines and the communication purpose.
The Importance of Storyboard Approval
The storyboard is the last major checkpoint before animation production begins. Animation is expensive and time-intensive to produce — a completed animation scene that requires redesign because the visual approach was not confirmed at the storyboard stage costs significantly more to revise than the same change at the storyboard stage.
The storyboard review should confirm: the visual style is appropriate for the brand and the audience, the scene compositions clearly communicate what the script describes, the character and element designs are correct, and the overall visual narrative flows clearly from scene to scene. This is also the stage to flag any visual elements that the client’s brand guidelines prohibit or require — after animation begins, brand corrections become expensive changes.
Two rounds of storyboard revision are standard. Approved storyboard gates the voiceover stage.
Stage 4 — Voiceover Recording
Duration: 3–5 working days
What happens: A professional voice artist records the approved script narration. The voiceover is produced before animation begins — not after — because the animation timing is built around the voiceover audio, not the other way around.
Voice Artist Selection
Offing Media maintains a roster of professional Singapore voice artists covering English in Singapore and regional accents, Mandarin (Simplified and Traditional), Malay, Tamil, and other languages where required. For each production, the producer recommends two to three voice artist options appropriate to the brand’s tone and the target audience — warm and conversational for consumer-facing content, authoritative and precise for technical or regulatory content, energetic and clear for training modules.
The client selects the preferred voice artist from the options presented. A brief audition read — the opening fifteen to twenty seconds of the script — is provided for each recommended artist to allow tone comparison before the full recording session.
Recording and Delivery
The full script is recorded by the selected voice artist. The recording is reviewed for pacing, pronunciation accuracy for any technical terminology, and tonal consistency throughout. Edits or retakes of specific lines are requested where needed.
The approved voiceover audio is delivered to the animation team and becomes the timing reference for the entire animation production. Every animation scene is timed to the voiceover — ensuring that the visual content and the spoken content are precisely synchronised in the finished video.
Multilingual Voiceover
For productions requiring multiple language versions, all language voiceovers are recorded in the same production phase — English first as the primary timing reference, then all additional languages. Recording all languages before animation begins allows the animation to be optimised for the language with the longest narration duration (different languages cover the same content in different amounts of time), ensuring all language versions fit the animation timing without awkward pauses or rushed pacing.
Stage 5 — Animation Production
Duration: 10–21 working days depending on format and complexity
What happens: The animation team produces all animation sequences specified in the approved storyboard, timed to the approved voiceover audio.
2D Animation Production
2D animation production follows a defined workflow: character and asset design (finalising all illustrated elements in their approved style), rigging (creating the internal structures that allow characters and elements to move), scene layout (placing all elements in the correct spatial relationship for each scene), and animation (producing all movements, transitions, and interactions).
A rough render — a low-quality, fast-rendering version of the complete animation — is produced and reviewed by the Offing Media producer before the client review is scheduled. The producer’s review catches technical issues (timing errors, movement inconsistencies, visual elements that do not match the storyboard) before the client sees the first cut.
3D Animation Production
3D animation production requires additional stages not present in 2D: 3D modelling (building all product components, environments, and characters as three-dimensional digital assets), texturing (applying material properties — metal, glass, plastic, fabric — to all models), rigging (creating the internal structures for movable components), and rendering (producing the final image quality from all scenes).
For 3D productions, a grey-box or low-resolution render of the complete animation is produced for client review before final rendering — this allows the camera angles, animation sequences, and scene compositions to be confirmed before the computationally intensive final rendering process begins. Final render corrections are expensive; grey-box review catches issues before that cost is incurred.
Client Review of Animation
The first cut of the animation is delivered for client review with the voiceover and music bed integrated. This is the first time the client sees the complete animation from brief to delivery as a coherent whole — all previous stages were reviewed in parts.
The review should cover: animation accuracy against the approved storyboard, synchronisation of animation with voiceover, visual clarity of all key messages, brand consistency throughout, and whether the animation effectively communicates the single message confirmed in the brief.
Two rounds of revision are standard at this stage. Revisions that require re-animation of scenes rather than post-production adjustments (colour, text, audio) are more time-intensive and should be prioritised for communication in the first revision round rather than identified for the first time in the second.
Stage 6 — Post-Production
Duration: 3–7 working days
What happens: Sound design, music integration, colour grading, text and graphic finalisation, subtitle production, and format preparation for all delivery specifications.
Sound Design
Atmospheric and mechanical sound effects appropriate to the animation’s content are integrated — interface sounds for software product animations, mechanical sounds for engineering animations, process sounds for manufacturing animations. Sound design transforms the animation from a purely visual experience into a fully immersive one — it is frequently underestimated in its contribution to the finished video’s perceived quality.
Music
Royalty-free music is selected from Offing Media’s licensed music library to match the animation’s tone and pace. For brand-sensitive productions, the client’s preferred music style or specific track can be accommodated within the licensing framework. Music is mixed under the voiceover at a level that supports rather than competes with the narration — never so prominent that it distracts from the spoken content.
Text, Captions, and Subtitle Files
All on-screen text elements — titles, labels, callouts, data points, brand elements — are finalised and checked for accuracy and consistency. English subtitle files are produced as standard for all animation deliveries. Additional language subtitle files are produced for multilingual productions.
Final Colour Grade
A final colour grade unifies the visual treatment across all scenes — ensuring consistent colour palette, contrast, and brightness throughout the animation. This is particularly important for 3D productions where different scenes may have been rendered under slightly different lighting conditions.
Stage 7 — Delivery
Duration: 1–2 working days after final approval
What happens: The approved animation is exported in all agreed delivery formats and transferred to the client.
Standard Delivery Formats
Every Offing Media animation production is delivered in MP4 at 1080p as a minimum. Additional formats are delivered as specified in the production proposal:
- 4K for productions where display quality at large scale is required
- Square (1:1) and vertical (9:16) formats for social media distribution
- Broadcast-specification master files for television or digital out-of-home distribution
- SCORM-packaged formats for LMS integration where the animation is part of a training module
- Separate subtitle files (SRT or VTT) in all required languages
Source File Archiving
Offing Media archives all animation source project files — original design assets, animation project files, rendered sequences, audio recordings — for six months after final delivery. During this period, updates to the animation can be produced from the original source files at significantly lower cost than a full re-production. At the end of the archiving period, clients are notified and can request transfer of source files to their own storage.
Animation Production Timeline Reference
| Animation Type | Script | Storyboard | Animation | Post-Production | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2D explainer (60–90 seconds) | 1 week | 1 week | 2 weeks | 1 week | 5–6 weeks |
| 2D explainer (2–3 minutes) | 1–2 weeks | 1 week | 3 weeks | 1 week | 6–8 weeks |
| Motion graphics (60–90 seconds) | 1 week | 1 week | 1–2 weeks | 1 week | 4–5 weeks |
| 3D product demo (60–90 seconds) | 1 week | 1 week | 4–5 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 7–10 weeks |
| 3D product demo (2–3 minutes) | 1–2 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 6–8 weeks | 2 weeks | 10–14 weeks |
| Pharmaceutical mechanism (60 seconds) | 1–2 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 4–6 weeks | 1–2 weeks | 7–12 weeks |
All timelines assume prompt client review and consolidated feedback at each approval stage. Delayed reviews at any stage extend the total production timeline by the equivalent delay period.
Animation Pricing Reference
| Animation Type | Duration | Starting From |
|---|---|---|
| 2D explainer video | 60–90 seconds | S$3,500 |
| 2D explainer video | 2–3 minutes | S$6,500 |
| Motion graphics | 60–90 seconds | S$2,500 |
| 3D animation (production quality) | 60 seconds | S$6,000 |
| 3D animation (photorealistic) | 60 seconds | S$10,000 |
| Safety animation (2D) | 60–90 seconds | S$4,000 |
| Pharmaceutical mechanism (3D) | 60 seconds | S$10,000 |
All prices are starting references for standard complexity productions. Complex technical content, multiple language versions, extensive 3D modelling requirements, or expedited timelines affect the final investment. Every production is quoted on a fixed-price basis after the discovery call — no variable costs emerge after production begins.
Related Resources
- Animation video production Singapore — the complete guide
- Animation video company in Singapore — 2D, 3D, motion graphics and explainer videos
- Scriptwriting for animation and explainer videos — why it determines success or failure
- 3D animation for product demos in Singapore — costs, formats and when to use them
- 3D animation for safety incident investigation and workplace accident reconstruction
Frequently Asked Questions — Animation Production Process Singapore
What do we need to provide to get started with an animation video?
The minimum required to begin the discovery call is: a description of the product or concept to be animated, the target audience for the video, the intended distribution platform, and a rough indication of target duration. Offing Media does not require a completed brief, a script, or a storyboard from the client before beginning — the discovery call and the production process develop all of these. CAD files, technical documentation, brand guidelines, and existing video content are useful but not required at the outset.
What is the most common cause of animation production delays?
Delayed client review and approval at each stage. Animation production stages are sequential — the storyboard cannot begin until the script is approved, the animation cannot begin until the storyboard is approved, the final render cannot begin until the grey-box review is approved. A review that takes two weeks instead of three days delays the entire production by at least eleven days. Designating a single named reviewer who can provide consolidated feedback promptly at each review stage is the most impactful thing any client can do to keep an animation production on schedule.
Can we make changes after the animation has been produced?
Changes after animation production is complete are possible but carry cost implications that depend on what needs to change. Post-production adjustments — text corrections, colour changes, audio level adjustments, subtitle corrections — are typically manageable within the standard revision round. Animation changes — replacing a scene, changing a character’s movement, redesigning a visual element — require re-animation and are costed as scope additions. Script changes after animation has begun are the most expensive category of change because they may require re-timing the entire animation to a revised voiceover. Getting the script right before storyboarding begins is the most effective way to minimise change costs.
Do you provide the source files after delivery?
Offing Media archives all source project files for six months after final delivery. During this period, clients can commission updates from the original project files at significantly reduced cost. At the end of the archiving period, clients are contacted to confirm whether they wish to receive a transfer of the source files to their own storage or authorise deletion. Source file transfer is available as part of the original production proposal for clients who require permanent ownership of all production assets.
Can you match our existing brand guidelines and visual style?
Yes. Every Offing Media animation production is developed within the client’s brand guidelines — applying the approved colour palette, typography, icon style, and visual language to all design elements in the storyboard and animation. For clients who have an existing animation library or a defined illustration style from previous productions, new animations can be produced to match the existing visual language for consistency across the content programme. Provide brand guidelines and any relevant reference materials at the brief stage.
What happens if we need the animation urgently?
Expedited production is available at a premium — typically an additional thirty percent above the standard production rate — where the production timeline can be compressed. The practical limits of compression depend on the animation type: 2D explainer animations can often be expedited to three to four weeks from brief, while complex 3D productions have rendering time requirements that cannot be compressed beyond a certain point regardless of resources applied. Discuss timeline requirements at the discovery call — Offing Media will confirm what is achievable and at what investment before any commitment is made.
Start Your Animation Project With Offing Media
Offing Media has produced animation video for 450+ Singapore businesses since 2015 — across 2D explainer, 3D product demo, pharmaceutical mechanism, safety animation, and motion graphics formats for clients including Samsung, PerkinElmer, West Pharmaceutical Services, ASM Technology Singapore, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Every animation project begins with a free brief review — a 30-minute discovery call to confirm scope, format, and timeline before any proposal is issued. No commitment required at this stage.