Most animated films fail at the first step, before anything is drawn: somebody has to explain the brand. A deck goes over, a moodboard comes back, a meeting happens, and two weeks later a film arrives in a palette that is nearly right and a typeface that is not yours at all.
A website already holds everything a short brand film needs: what the company does, the words it uses, its colours and its lettering. What is usually missing is the time, the budget or the know-how to turn that into moving pictures that look like the company and not like a template. Nine starts from the site, so the film starts from you.
Next in this piece: What Nine reads from your site
Section 01What Nine reads from your site
- Your colours, as your site declares them.
- Your lettering, the typeface your site is set in.
- Your name and your words, the sentences that say what you do.
Reading your site is done by our own server, and no outside model is used for it. We keep your colours, the name of your lettering and the sentences that end up in a film, never a copy of your site. If Nine cannot find colours it can trust, it says so instead of guessing.
Next in this piece: What you can see for free
Section 02What you can see for free
Type your address on the front page and press See my colours. The films on the page take your colours, so you can see how your look works in moving pictures. You can open any of them in the chamber and try a calmer pace or another shape. It needs no account and no card.
These films are ours, made from other companies' public websites to show what Nine does. None of them is your film, and none of those companies asked us for one. The free plan explores; it never makes a film of your own.
Next in this piece: What a plan makes
Section 03What a plan makes
A film of your own comes with a plan. On a plan, Nine reads your site and writes a film from it, in your words, your colours and your lettering. When the film carries your logo, it is placed from its own file and never redrawn. Nothing in the film is made up: what it says comes from your site, or from you.
Before you see it, the film is looked at by a panel of eight judges, each looking for one thing. Then the Boss gives the whole film one score against 9, and a film under 9 goes back once to be made again. If it still falls short, you see its score with it, so you always know where it stands.
It usually takes a few minutes. You can watch it being made, or close the page, and it waits in Your films.
Next in this piece: How long, and what file you get
Section 04How long, and what file you get
Films are up to 30 seconds on the Film and Film + Transparent plans, up to 90 seconds on Production and up to 3 minutes on Studio. You get a wide video file in 1080p. On Film + Transparent and the plans above it you can also have 2K and 4K; a 4K file costs credits, and the price is on the button before you press. Want it tall for stories? See one film in three shapes.
Next in this piece: What it will not do
Section 05What it will not do
Nine draws your film the way a web page is drawn, so the words stay sharp. It does not make lifelike footage or actors. If you have your own words ready, a film from a script may suit you better than the website.
One tip: the clearer your front page says what you do, the better the film. If one sentence on your site says it best, the film will find it.
Next in this piece: How to do it in Nine
Section 06How to do it in Nine
- Go to the front page and type your web address. Press See my colours.
- Watch the films take your colours. Open one in the chamber if you like. All of this is free.
- When you want your own film, choose a plan on the prices page.
- Signed in, type your address under Your website and press Make a film.
- Watch it being made, or close the page. It waits in Your films.
- Press Get the video file, or Edit in the chamber to change colours, pace or shape first.