Explainer video

What this is about

What actually gets planned here is language. The explainer condenses a product, service or process into a spoken argument of roughly sixty to ninety seconds, with visuals serving the words — live action, screen capture, graphics or a mix. That makes it the umbrella above the animated explainer, which commits fully to illustration, and separates it from the tutorial, which teaches steps to someone already convinced. The production footprint is small; the fight is editorial. Every stakeholder wants their feature mentioned, and the script survives only if someone defends the message hierarchy: one problem, one solution, one next step.

The format determines scope, crew and timeline — before the first location has been scouted.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• Word count is the length control: spoken voiceover runs at a fairly stable pace, so the script's word budget decides the runtime before any footage exists
• The visual layer is chosen per script section — screen capture where the product convinces, live action where people do, graphics where abstraction helps
• Voiceover casting and recording are schedule items of their own: the voice defines the brand feel as much as the pictures
• Comprehension is testable before production: reading the script to an outsider costs an hour and saves a re-edit

What the plan has to deliver

A production plan is useful to this role when it provides the following:

• A locked script with sign-off from every stakeholder before visuals are produced
• A section-by-section visual plan naming the medium for each script beat
• A voiceover plan: voice direction, casting shortlist, recording date and pronunciation list

Common pitfalls

What most often goes wrong in practice:

• Starting visuals while the script is still collecting stakeholder wishes — every added sentence re-opens the picture layer
• Cramming three audiences into one script instead of cutting three short versions
• Writing for the page instead of the ear: subclauses that read fine and speak terribly

With TillyGen

TillyGen structures the explainer from briefing to script skeleton and visual plan, keeping the message hierarchy intact while stakeholders comment — the runtime stays honest to the word budget.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.