FAQs

How long does it take to produce an animation?

We typically request two months from kickoff meeting to finished product, but our record is three minutes of animation in one week for clients with very urgent deadlines.

How is pricing determined?

We charge per minute of finished animation (rounded down to the nearest 15 seconds). The per-minute rate varies based on the complexity of the subject. For an accurate quote please contact us and we’ll be happy to jump on a quick call to hear the details of your project.

How do you determine the length of an animation?

We can accurately predict the length of a finished animation once we have a detailed list of the concepts that should be understood by the audience. When we provide a quote for your project, we include a breakdown of screen time estimates for each concept for your review. We determine these times based on cognitive factors, including short term memory residence time and working memory integration, all while maintaining optimum pacing– never tell a story too slowly! During production, we manage the project scope with other metrics, ensuring that the project stays within scope and on budget.

What is the average animation duration?

While we occasionally produce shorter animations to accompany in-person presentations such as TED talks or powerpoints for investor meetings, stand-alone animations typically range from 90 seconds to 2.5 minutes, depending on the story our clients need to tell. We always recommend that our clients allow us to keep the message succinct and compelling, ensuring that audiences watch our films all the way through. Occasionally our clients request projects that are much longer than usual. In these cases, it is often better to split the story by theme into two or more parts to allow viewers to control their information dose. In these cases we always also produce a single, long video in addition to the parts at no additional cost, so that our clients can be in complete control of how their story is told.

How are your animations used?

Animation is a perfect way to prime an audience with a frame of reference and a basic understanding of the principles at work in our clients’ technologies. As a result, our animations are useful during almost any contact with potential customers. Our work has been deployed in trade show booths, on tablets during sales visits, in powerpoint demonstrations with investors, as links in emails, and embedded on our clients’ websites. We optimize our deliverables for embedding with Vimeo and YouTube (although we prefer Vimeo) in order to maintain the highest streaming quality, and we work with our clients’ web developers to make sure the deployment process is seamless.

Why did you stop using the name Cosmocyte?

Microverse Studios is easier to spell, more memorable, and truly captures our mission to bring the microscopic world to vivid life. Cosmocyte is still our legal name, but doing business as Microverse Studios makes things run a little more smoothly.