Animatic testing: Which storyboard should you pay to shoot?
Give both storyboards the same production treatment. Then see which opening helps viewers understand the product, remember the brand, and explain the promise.
Use an animatic to choose the version of an ad that communicates the promise clearly enough to shoot. An animatic is a timed rough cut built from storyboard frames, with the words and sound needed to follow the action. Compare two cuts at the same level of finish so the production decision comes down to the idea you changed.
Say you are producing a 15-second ad for Threadwell, a laundry spray meant to treat food stains before washing. Your audience buys laundry products for the household. One storyboard opens on a spill. The other opens on someone treating a stain. You want viewers to understand the product and the washing step without a producer in the room to explain either. The brand, scripts, and results below are illustrative.
Show the same idea in two orders
Build the two cuts from the same scenes. In A, show the spill for three seconds, then show the treatment for three seconds. Reverse those shots in B. Both cuts spend the next six seconds showing the garment going into the washer and the last three seconds on the pack and the line “Spray food stains before washing.” Match captions, sound, voice, and production style. Give viewers the sound and caption conditions they would normally have in the intended placement. Rough visuals should still make the action readable. Zappi’s animatic guidance
Show each viewer one cut, assigned at random within the intended audience. After one viewing, ask what happened, which brand they remember, and what the product promises. Get those answers before you name the brand or show a list of benefits. Then replay the cut and ask where they became unsure. An initial answer tells you what they took from the ad. The replay helps locate the scene or line to fix.
Give the producer a decision they can use
Agree on how to score the answers before you watch them come in. For this ad, a correct account says the spray treats a stain before washing. Record viewers who think the spray replaces washing as a separate misunderstanding. Count unaided brand recall from the first answer and write down which spellings or pronunciations you will accept.
Readout after one viewing | Spill first A · treatment first B |
|---|---|
Viewers assigned | A 50 · B 50 |
Named Threadwell unaided | A 29 of 50 · B 32 of 50 |
Explained treatment before washing | A 26 of 50 · B 37 of 50 |
Thought the spray replaced washing | A 15 of 50 · B 5 of 50 |
For the example, the team set three decision rules before the test. At least 35 of 50 viewers should explain the promise, at least 28 should name the brand, and no more than five should expect the spray to replace washing. Both cuts clear the brand requirement. Treatment first meets the other two rules and earns the production slot. The sample and rules are worked inputs. Set your own rules around what your campaign must communicate and plan the sample around the difference that would change the decision.
Copy the readout for your next brief. Add a row for the specific misunderstanding that would make an ad unusable. Below the table, give the editor the time in the cut, what viewers thought was happening, and what needs to change. For Threadwell, the team would preserve the treatment opening and show the move to the washer clearly in the shoot. If neither cut meets the brief, change the point of confusion and compare the revised cuts before locking the shot list.
Carry the same question into the edit
If your first decision is which story to develop, our team can compare the scripts and storyboard sequences with a simulated audience and explore what people take the promise to mean. Use viewers watching the rough cut for the one-view recall readout. When the finished edit changes the performance, pacing, or prominence of the pack, check that the finished ad still communicates the approved claim. Our ad testing guide · Our creative testing services
