How to Write an eLearning Animation Script

Every impactful animation starts with a great script. At Belvista Studios we have been creating eLearning scripts and animations for years. We have learnt what to do, what not to do and how to create solutions that make a difference. Our experience has enabled us to come up with a repeatable formula for script writing. We are quite the generous bunch so we are going to share the magic that allows for minimal reviews and happy clients!

Here is our tried and true formula, in order!👇🏻

1. Attention Grabber

Start your animation script with an attention grabber. By doing this you will engage and capture the attention of your viewers. Hook, line and sinker!

To do this, think about what is important to your viewers. Yes, you have a project goal to meet but what are your viewers’ goals? Whether we like it or not, our viewers are more interested in their own goals over ours or the organisation’s. If the viewer does not understand how the animation will add value to their lives, it is highly unlikely that they will engage with it.

You can discover your viewers’ motivations by taking on a human-centred design approach. To do this:

• Check out our videos on:
• How to Create a Persona (Grennan, 2020a). 
• What is Important to your Learners (Grennan, 2020b). 

These activities will enable you to build a sense of empathy for your viewers and speak to their motivations on a human level.

Imagine that you are creating an organisational health and safety animation. Your project goal might be to educate employees on the health and safety policy. Will employees care about that? Watching a video that starts talking about a policy can send anyone to sleep. What you could find through a human-centred design approach, is that employees care about their teammates. The health and safety policy is likely to impact the safety of their teammates and therefore this should be the focus.

Let us look at this in action. Rather than starting the animation with…

'This video will show you how to abide with the health and safety policy.’

It is more engaging to start with…

‘Do you want to contribute to keeping your teammates safe?’

The second opening line speaks to your viewers motivations and elicits a care-factor from them. Emotion is a powerful motivator.

2. Impact 

Now that you have the attention and care-factor from your viewers, it is time to share how they specifically can have an impact.

Think about how the actions of the viewer can have a positive impact relevant to your opening line and the project goal.

In line with the organisational health and safety example, you would identify and share the impact that the viewers could have personally.

You could say...

‘Every day you contribute to the health and safety of your teammates. Your decisions and actions can keep your teammates from harm and enable them to return home safely, each day.’

3. Expectations

Your viewers are now engaged and understand the significance of their contribution (nice!). Now they are probably thinking, ‘What do I actually need to do?’. This is where you share specific actions that they can take to make a difference (to their goal and yours!).

We recommend focusing on actions over knowledge. It is likely that your project goal will require some form of behaviour change and this is a great opportunity to encourage it.

Transform the learning objectives of your learning initiative into actions and share them with the viewer.

For example...

‘To keep your teammates safe:

• Familiarise yourself with the health and safety policy
• Speak up if you believe a teammate’s safety is at risk
• Identify potential hazards in your work environment
• Take action to reduce the risks associated with hazards.’

4. Support

Lastly, provide your viewers with support. In other words, where do they go if they have questions or want to learn more?

For example...

‘If you have questions:

• Review the health and safety policy
• Complete the health and safety eLearning
• Speak to your supervisor.’
  

That is it! Our repeatable formula for animation scripts. It captures your viewers’ attention, helps them understand the impact they can have, shows them how to have an impact and lastly provides them with support. We hope that this adds value to your animation projects. It definitely adds value to ours.

If you would like to discuss this topic in further detail, contact our passionate founder Kim via kim@belvistastudios.com or by connecting with her on LinkedIn.

References

Grennan, H. [Belvista Studios]. (2020a, April 21). How to Create a Persona | How to Become an Instructional Designer [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/s415p7xthPI.

Grennan, H. [Belvista Studios]. (2020b, April 27) What is Important to your Learners? | How to Become an Instructional Designer [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hnrKrmfFiiw.