Creativity is not something that you can teach someone in an instant. Yes, it can be honed, and there are practices and tips that you can try to enhance your creativity, but you have to be in a certain mindset to think creatively and come up with unique ideas for your animation videos.
Your imagination is your biggest asset, but sometimes your mind shows up empty-handed and you’re left with nothing. All you can do is wait for the inspiration, but you don’t always have the luxury of buying time.
Some things need to be taken care of urgently, and you have to come up with original content and finish the project. In this blog, we’ll discuss creative ideas you can use for 3D animation in situations where the clock is ticking.
But before we get into the ideas, let’s discuss why you need to stand out in today’s market and why it’s more important than ever to think outside the box and be creative.
Your 3D Animation videos must stand out
Today, the market for 3D animation is flooded. Every digital and advertising agency is offering animation video services and they’re all in the race of landing clients no matter how they come. To stay relevant in this highly competitive market, you must stand out.
There’s no room for mediocrity, you are competing with the best animators and storytellers around the world. With that being said, the upside of all this is that; most agencies and freelancers producing 3D animation videos don’t stand out because they don’t have anything customized to offer and that’s your window of opportunity.
10 Creative Ideas for 3D Animation Videos
I’ll share 10 creative ideas that you can use for your animation videos.
Be a little ‘Abstract’
Abstract art is rising and at an all-time high, so why not use it in your 3D animation video?
It’ll not only look good and creative; it also gives you room to play around with the visuals in a way you feel right. There are no limitations and creative boundaries.
You have the liberty to be ‘imperfect’ you can use lines, shapes, colors, forms, and gestural marks to depict your ideas. Abstract art showcases how artistic you can get on a project.
Bring objects to life
You can do literally whatever you want; all you need is a good idea, and the possibility of that increases exponentially when you disconnect yourself from reality (just for a video).
You can use literary devices such as magic realism, personification, and anthropomorphizing in your videos to make pencils, pens, shoes, cigarette boxes, chairs, or anything talk and walk. Hell, you can tell a story about your shoebox, your childhood treehouse, or anything that you find interesting.
3D animation videos are a medium to show the world why your creativity has no boundaries.
Get creative with words
Every video doesn’t have to be full of objects and characters; some only require words. A well-produced typography animation video can get your message across to the audience. Dynamic and three-dimensional typography is very interactive and keeps the audience hooked.
Multiple brands, like Apple. Burger King, Nike, Google Design, and many others have used 3D typography videos for their commercials.
Also, musicians love their lyric videos to be made in 3D typography, so you find inspiration for your lyric videos from pop culture icons such as Taylor Swift, Eminem, Drake, Adele, Bruno Mars, and Olivia Rodrigo.
Create a charismatic character
A good story with a strong character or multiple characters will leave your viewers in awe. Use 3D animation to bring your superhero to life! You must have heard about the Hero’s Journey, right? Create your hero, write a story, make him overcome obstacles and fears, and showcase his triumph.
Every character has its traits and characters, so make sure you pay attention to tiny details and gestures.
Be Surreal – bring your Dalí out
The biggest struggle when you’re short on creative ideas is that you have to keep everything logical and sensible. Surrealism takes that obstacle and throws it out of the window.
You’ve now stepped into a world where logic, sense, and reason no longer exist – You’re free to create.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concept – Surrealism is an artistic movement started after the First World War. Its main themes are magic, dream, unconsciousness, and subconsciousness.
A French writer André Breton started surrealism, but it was popularized by Salvador Dalí. You can look up his work and guarantee you’ll find inspiration for 3D animation videos for the rest of your life.
Futuristic
Have you heard of the term “Cyberpunk”? It’s a sub-genre of science fiction that highlights dystopia and high-tech. If you are a fan of flying cars, high-tech, and AI robots, you should give it a try.
You can get creative ideas if you add cyberpunk and futuristic elements to create interesting storylines and narratives.
Tell stories through animation videos
I know that all videos must have some sort of storyline attached to them. But you can create a 3D animated video where all you focus on is a story.
Start with writing a story and then think about the visuals, whatever style suits the best. This way you can take the pressure off from thinking about the visuals and technicalities. In the next phase, create a storyline, edit your script, and find music to complete the video.
Explore different art styles
Surrealism, pop art, cubism, expressionism, realism, minimalism, graffiti, etc. These are not just terms; they all have their own worlds. If you lack creative ideas, it’s always better to explore a new art style; maybe you find something that you can use in your animated videos.
3D animation is quite dynamic, so you can pretty much use any style that you like and create a video based on it. It’s all about putting your time into the research and studying all the elements and nuances of art. If you look hard enough, you’ll find the idea you’re looking for.
Merge 3D animation with Live-Action
Don’t limit yourself to 3D; you can add live-action to make your videos more interactive. 3D animation with live-action footage is a guaranteed hit! You can play around with so many ideas to make the characters and environment much more interesting.
You can take inspiration from Mark Wahlberg’s “Ted” to come up with your own story. Take the humor route in your video and add interactive elements to the live footage to bring laughter out of your audience.
Create for a cause
Animated videos are a great medium to raise your voice on matters that you care about. Use your 3D animation skills to raise awareness and make people pay attention to social, political, and humanitarian issues.
Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of social injustice, atrocities, and inequality in our society. There must be something that you care about or bothering you, it’s a perfect time to pull that out and use it as an inspiration to create something larger than life.
What’s your next step?
It’s important to keep the spark going. I’m sure that out of these 10 ideas, you must find one or a few interesting enough for your animation videos. We live in a time where these ideas are easily accessible, and you can find inspiration wherever you look. You just have to be present in the moment. 3D animation allows you to break boundaries and take your artistry and craft to the next level. It’s true that due to content saturation, you start to see repetitive content a lot, and your attention span decreases, but if you look in the right places, there are so many ideas in the world that you would never have to worry about finding inspiration again.
