Anchor: an explainer for invisible software
A software explainer built to make an abstract product concrete in under two minutes.
The film
Anchor software explainer
Software explainer film.
The brief
Software has no physical form, which makes it the hardest thing to film and the easiest thing to explain badly. The standard failure is a tour of the interface: here is the dashboard, here is the settings page. Nobody watches that, because nobody has a problem called "I need to see your settings page".
The version that works starts with the problem. Somebody has a job to do, the job is currently painful, and here is the specific point at which the product removes the pain. The interface appears only where it proves the claim.
Length is a decision, not an accident. An explainer competing for attention at the top of a funnel has roughly ninety seconds before the viewer decides. Everything that is not the argument comes out.
The build combines motion design and screen capture, with the capture treated as a design element rather than a raw recording, so the product looks as considered on screen as it does in use.
How this work gets made
Problem first, product second
The viewer has to recognise their own situation before they care what the software does.
Interface as evidence
Screen capture appears to prove a claim, not to tour the menus.
Ninety seconds of argument
Length set by the attention available, not by how much there is to say.
Designed, not recorded
Captures are treated as design assets, framed and animated rather than dropped in raw.
Questions about this work
How long should an explainer be?
For top of funnel, usually sixty to ninety seconds. Product detail belongs in a longer piece further down, where the viewer has already decided to care.
Do you handle the script?
Yes. Scripting is most of the work on an explainer, and it happens before anything is animated.
Animation or live action?
For software, usually motion design with screen capture. There is more on the explainer video page.
Tell us what you are trying to make
Send the goal, the audience and roughly when you need it. You get a plan, a range and a date back.
