7 Things You Actually Get From 2D Animation Services

Most buyers approach 2D animation with a rough idea of what they want and very little idea of what they are buying. That gap is where budgets get bruised and timelines stretch. A finished 90-second animated film is the visible part. What sits beneath it, a script, a storyboard, style frames, voiceover sessions, sound design and format delivery, is where the real decisions happen. Knowing what each stage does, and what it costs when it goes wrong, puts you in a much stronger position before any studio quotes you a number.

A Script That Does the Thinking First

Animation that skips proper scriptwriting almost always fails on delivery. Not because the visuals are weak, but because the brief was never translated into a filmable, hearable piece of writing. A script is the first real deliverable, not a formality the studio knocks out before the interesting work begins.

Read it aloud and time it. At roughly 130 to 150 words per minute, a 60-second film needs around 130 words of voiceover copy. If your draft runs to 220, something has to go, and that conversation is far cheaper at script stage than at post-production. A brief-aligned script tells the viewer one thing clearly, in the right order, at the right pace. A rushed one tries to say five things and ends up saying none of them well.

The script is also where tone gets fixed. Changing the register from authoritative to conversational after the voiceover is recorded means booking a new session. After the animation is built around that recording, it means rebuilding scenes. The script earns its place in the schedule for exactly that reason.

Storyboard and Style Frames Before a Frame Is Animated

Style frames are static images, usually two to four, showing what the finished film will look like visually. Colour palette, typography, illustration style, character design where there are characters. They exist so that everyone, client and studio alike, agrees on the visual language before a single second of animation is produced.

The storyboard follows, mapping each scene in sequence, showing camera moves, transitions, and how the visuals track against the voiceover or music. Skipping it to save time is one of the most reliable ways to overspend, because changes at the animation stage cost four to six times what they cost on a storyboard.

This stage should feel collaborative. If a style frame shows a character that looks nothing like your brand, you say so now. If the storyboard misrepresents a product feature, you catch it before it is built. Studios that rush past this step to get into production faster are not doing you a favour.

Where Does the Budget Actually Go?

Most of the budget goes into time. Motion design is skilled, manual work, and a complex 60-second piece with character animation, detailed environments, and custom illustration takes significantly longer than the same duration built from simpler graphic shapes.

The main cost areas in a 2D animation project

• Motion design complexity: character rigs and detailed scenes cost more than flat graphic animation. The difference can be substantial on longer films.
• Voiceover: a professional session with a native speaker, studio recording, and editing adds a fixed cost that varies by talent rate and usage rights.
• Sound design and music: licensed music is cheaper than a bespoke composition, but premium sync licences for broadcast use carry their own fees.
• Revision rounds: most studios include two rounds in their quote. A third or fourth round, particularly after animation is locked, is where unexpected costs appear.

Ask explicitly about revisions before you sign anything. Animated video production scoped well from the start almost always runs cleaner than a job where the brief shifts mid-production.

How Long Does a Finished Film Take to Produce?

A standard 60-second to 2-minute 2D animation, planned properly, takes roughly four to eight weeks from brief to final delivery. That range is wide because client approval rounds are the single biggest variable.

The approval gates

Script approval, style frame sign-off, storyboard approval, and animation review are each a gate. If any one of them takes two weeks to get a response, the schedule shifts. Studios can build in a buffer, but they cannot manufacture time on your side of the process.

A tight but realistic schedule

One week for script and style frames. One week for storyboard. Two to three weeks for animation. A final week for sound, voiceover, and delivery. That assumes timely feedback at each stage. Delays in feedback are not usually the studio’s fault, but they are always the studio’s problem to manage.

What You Receive at Final Delivery

The finished film is typically delivered as an MP4, but the format conversation matters more than most buyers realise. A landscape 16:9 master suits a website or YouTube. A square cut works on LinkedIn. A vertical 9:16 version is the one mobile-first social platforms favour. If you need all three, confirm that before production, not after, because reframing a finished film is extra work.

Source files and future-proofing

The After Effects or equivalent project files that contain the animation are not automatically included in delivery. Some studios retain them and others provide them for an additional fee. If you anticipate updating the film in future, whether to change a price, a product name, or a date, owning the source files protects you from commissioning a rebuild later. For explainer video production, where the core message rarely changes but product details do, this is worth raising at the briefing stage.

Music licences

A track cleared for online use may not cover broadcast or paid social advertising. If your distribution plan includes paid placement, confirm the licence scope covers it before the film goes live.

Talk to Us About Your Project

If you have a brief, even a rough one, share it. Dragonfly works with businesses and brands at every stage of the process, from initial concept through to final delivery, and can give you a clear picture of scope, timeline, and cost before any commitment is made.

Talk to the team about your video project and get a straightforward quote based on what you actually need.