Skype In The Classroom is a service that creates an innovative learning experiences for schools. However without a cool, slick explainer animation how would the world know how it works? Fortunately that’s where motion graphics studio Mr & Mrs Smith comes in, take a look at this…

Commissioned by digital design company Made By Many, the team were asked to help raise awareness for this service and to explain the story of what Skype In The Classroom can do for education.

Mrs & Mrs Smith have an impressive back catalogue of previous clients including Disney, Comic Relief, Orange, Channel 4, and ITV so it no surprise they took to this project like a chatty child to Skype. I was lucky enough to catch up with the team to find out more about their latest venture.

 

Hi Mr & Mrs Smith, thanks so much for talking to Skwigly today. Is this the first time you have worked with the design company Made By Many? How did you first get involved with them?

Yes, we were MxM virgins prior to making this Skype film. Anne, our business development person, had an existing relationship with them, and they got in touch when they knew they wanted to make a film to describe the service. There was no script and no concrete idea, just the wish to make an animation to help people understand what the service is.

What was you brief for this project and how well do you think you stuck to it?

See above! In this instance, we very much developed the brief with MxM, helping them shape it. They knew what they wanted to say and we understood how to turn that into a story that would engage people.

How long did you have to complete this piece of work?

It was done in stages, but our first chat about it was back in April: initially we did a 20-sec test that they used to show the Skype client how it would look; once we got the thumbs up on that, we made the full film.

How did you go about putting this animation together? What were the biggest challenges along the way?

Skype have very rigorous brand guidelines, so it was a challenge to make something that was a bit different, but still sat comfortably in the Skype world. We started with some key frames to show them the look & feel then padded it out once we had nailed the story.

What software did you use to create the final piece? Do you use one design package or combine several?

After Effects and Illustrator.

Was there anything about the animation you would have done differently or did it come out as you had always envisioned?

We’re very pleased with it, it’s charming and tells the story of the service.

Were any elephants harmed during the making of this film?

Absolutely no elephants were harmed. We did chuckle to ourselves about the elephant in the room a lot though…

What’s next for Mr & Mrs? Will you be doing more for Skype or do you have something else in the pipeline?

Yes, more Skype stuff in the pipeline hopefully; there’s a few different aspects of Skype that would benefit from the same treatment so we’re chatting to MxM about that. We’re also doing some TV titles and music stuff, as well as out & about speaking to people like you do.