Animated storytelling videos
Animated storytelling with a cartoon cast or an illustrated guide
Pick who carries the story: a cartoon cast that acts out a business story, or a recurring guide who walks the viewer through illustrated scenes of the past.
Animated storytelling videos: what it is
Animated storytelling videos give a topic its people. Unfaced makes them two ways. In cast storytelling, a founder, an investor, an engineer, a shop owner, a scientist or a reporter acts out the decisions and turning points. In the illustrated guide, an explorer, a historian, an archaeologist, a librarian, a sea captain or a time traveller stands inside the scenes and walks the viewer through the subject.
Viewers follow characters more easily than facts, and a guide who returns every episode gives a channel a host. Each way has its own story formats and looks: deep dives, rise and fall or the costly mistake for the cast; timelines, docudramas or minute by minute for the guide. For both you choose literal scenes or visual metaphors, how many words sit on the pictures and whether speech bubbles appear.
Good for
- Business and company stories
- History and archaeology channels
- Rise and fall stories
- Ancient world and exploration tales
Animated storytelling videos: the variants
Each is its own choice in the studio, with its own look. Pick one when you create a video or a series.
Cast storytelling
Make it as Cast storytelling →A consistent cartoon cast acts out discoveries, decisions and events from your topic. Best for business, invention and rise and fall stories. You pick the cast, a story format such as the costly mistake or inside the deal, and a look from clean webcomic to graphic novel.
Illustrated guide
Make it as Illustrated guide →A recurring guide inside illustrated scenes, with diagrams and maps when the subject needs them. Best for history, archaeology and lore channels that want a recurring host. You pick the guide, a format such as a chronological timeline or minute by minute, and a look from storybook to woodcut.
What you can set
Every channel style renders vertical 9:16 for Shorts, TikTok and Reels, and horizontal 16:9 for YouTube episodes. The look, the voice and the review flow stay the same.
Cast characters
- Founder
- Investor
- Engineer
- Shop owner
- Scientist
- Reporter
Guide characters
- Explorer
- Historian
- Archaeologist
- Librarian
- Sea captain
- Time traveller
Cast looks
- Clean webcomic
- Colour comic
- Soft studio
- Pencil sketch
- Graphic novel
Guide looks
- Storybook
- Engraving
- Watercolour
- Woodcut
- Cinematic
Story formats
- Investigative deep dive
- Rise & fall documentary
- The costly mistake
- Inside the deal
- Behind the numbers
- Historical deep dive
- Docudrama reenactment
- Chronological timeline
- Lore & antiquity dive
- Minute by minute
Scenes and video
- Literal scenes
- Visual metaphors
- No words on pictures
- Some words
- Lots of words
- Speech bubbles
- Humour
- Vertical 9:16
- Horizontal 16:9
Video ideas for Animated storytelling videos
Topics that suit this style. Pick one, or bring your own idea: one sentence is enough.
- 01How a bicycle repair shop ended up building aeroplanes
- 02Minute by minute: the night the Titanic sank
- 03The rise and fall of the pager
- 04How the Library of Alexandria really came to an end
- 05Behind the numbers: why so many new restaurants close in their first year
- 06A day aboard a tea clipper racing home from China
Made to keep viewers watching
Hook scored before you render
The opening line gets a hook score while you can still change it, so a weak first three seconds gets fixed before the render.
Every scene checked
An automatic scene review compares each picture with what the narrator says. A scene that fails stays out of Ready until it is fixed or you accept it.
Measured after you publish
Retention curves show where viewers left, and the next episode is planned from your own numbers.
From idea to video
01
Describe the idea
One sentence is enough. Pick the style, the language and Shorts or long-form.
02
Review the script and voice
Unfaced writes the script, voices it and builds every scene in the style. Change any line before the render.
03
Approve and publish
Watch the result, fix a scene if you want, then schedule it to YouTube, TikTok or Instagram.
Questions
How do I make animated storytelling videos?
Describe the story in one sentence, pick cast storytelling or the illustrated guide, then a story format. Unfaced writes the script, casts the characters and builds every scene with them in it.
What is the difference between cast storytelling and the illustrated guide?
In cast storytelling a cartoon cast plays the people in a story, which suits business and company stories. The illustrated guide puts one recurring host inside illustrated scenes of the past, for history, lore and exploration.
Which characters can I pick?
For the cast: founder, investor, engineer, shop owner, scientist and reporter. As a guide: explorer, historian, archaeologist, librarian, sea captain and time traveller.
Can the characters talk on screen?
Yes. Turn on speech bubbles, and choose how many words appear on the pictures: none, some or lots.
Can I make Shorts with it?
Yes. Both render vertical 9:16 for Shorts, TikTok and Reels, and horizontal 16:9 for YouTube.
More styles
See all examples →Stick figure animation
A ball-headed stick figure acting out every line in bright, painted cartoon scenes. Stills can be upgraded to video animation later (~10–12 credits/scene).
13 examples · 3 ways to make it
Animated map videos
One continuous map, no faces. Every figure said becomes an object on it: coins, a country rising, shares, calendar pages. Relief for today, sepia for the past.
10 examples · 3 ways to make it
Documentary
Real footage, source excerpts, maps and charts that explain the actual subject.
8 examples