An explainer video does one job: make a product, a service or a process understood in under two minutes by someone who has never heard of it. It is the most requested corporate format after the brand film, and the most often botched, because "explaining" gets confused with "listing." Here is what an explainer video is, the four kinds, when a company needs one, and how to get it right.
The four kinds
Live action. Real people, real places, a presenter or the product in use. Best when trust matters and when what you sell can be seen: a service, a machine, a place, a team.
Motion design. Animated graphics and text. Best for the abstract: software, finance, a process, data. Fast to update, easy to translate.
Screen capture. The product on screen with a voice. Best for software demos and onboarding; cheap, and only as good as the script.
Hybrid. A person on camera plus animated overlays. The most common choice for B2B, because it combines trust and clarity.
When a company needs one
When prospects ask the same three questions before every sale. When the sales team repeats the same fifteen-minute explanation. When a website page has traffic and no conversions. When a product is new and nobody understands what it replaces. When onboarding new customers or employees takes too long. In each case the video pays for itself by shortening one repeated explanation.
How long, and in what order
Sixty to ninety seconds for a homepage or an ad; up to two minutes for a sales page or a demo. The order that works: the viewer's problem in one sentence, what changes with you, how it works in three steps, proof, and one next step. Starting with the company's history or logo loses a third of viewers before the point is made.
What drives the budget
Not the length, but the writing and the assets: a script that has been tested on real prospects, a voice that fits the audience, real footage rather than stock, translation for each market, and the short cuts for social. Two explainer videos of the same length can differ by a factor of ten in cost depending on those choices. Ask for the breakdown, not a single number.
The mistakes that make viewers leave
Explaining features instead of the problem solved. A script written by the team that knows too much. Stock characters and stock music. A voice that reads. No proof. No next step. And a video that tries to explain everything, when its only job is to earn the next conversation.
Explainer video and brand film are not the same object
The explainer makes understood; the brand film makes trusted. Most companies need both, in that order of urgency: explain first if nobody understands, build trust first if everybody understands and nobody calls. Studio FLF shoots live-action and hybrid explainers alongside its corporate films in Miami, with real people and real places rather than stock.
If your team repeats the same explanation every week, tell us what it is: that is the video.