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Published on May 24th, 2014

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Intro

With millions of new videos showing up daily it’s getting more difficult to stand out and get discovered on the net. Many video clips are dropped after the first 10-20 seconds of viewing merely because the presentation is not polished.   You can increase your follow through rate by showing your viewers that you’re serious about your videos with a video intro or logo animation which is technically known as a “Logo Sting”.

Logo stings are found at the beginning of professional Hollywood movies where a fancy logo is swished across the screen with tantalizing sound effects.   Logo stings used to only be seen on videos by studios with large budgets, however new markets have opened that allow even novices to create fancy logo stings.  The odd thing is that very few people and businesses use them and most can be created in under 30 minutes.  In this article I’ll show you how…


Screen Cast


Step 1:  Create Logo

If you already have a logo you can skip to Step 2.

This is one area where you don’t want to be cheap.  When I started with my first logo I thought it was “OK” and being in a rush to get to other things I settled for one that I didn’t really love.  This decision ended up costing me allot of time down the road.

After a few years of looking at the logo, it really started to bug me so I ended up spending the time and resources to do it right.   This meant I had to update everywhere I had a logo (which was all over the place).  Locations like YouTube were too much of a hassle to try and update so the old logo would have to just remain forever.  This is not a good option if you’re trying to create brand awareness and consistency.

So the key is to be 110% satisfied and truly LOVE your logo.   Treat it like it’s your baby and give it all kinds of lovin.  Unless you’re really good with graphics, I would strongly consider that you outsource or crowdsource this item.  You can also purchase a pre-made logo if you’re on a budget.  Below is a break-down for each approach.

FREE LOGOS

Free logos are available online; however you will want to pay close attention to the license for each one as they are all different in how they can be used.  Here are the steps to make your logo for free.

  1. Find Logo: LogoOpenStock.com
  2. Download Inkscape: Download Here
    1. For .ai files just rename to .pdf and open
    2. For .eps files go to convert.files.com and convert to pdf
  3. Hire Designer: If you have troubles using Ink Scape I would hire a designer on Fiverr.  I’m not a pro in this area so my knowledge with vector software is limited.  This is why I strongly recommend going with the next option as it will save you time and possible frustrations.

COMMERCIAL LOGOS

Premade logos are less expensive and faster to produce than crowdsourced ones.  The drawback is that someone could buy the same logo template in your industry; however chances are pretty low that you would have a direct conflict.  If this concerns you then have your designer alter the logo so that it has a different variation to it.   Here are the steps to creating the premade logo.

1. Find Logo:  GraphicsRiver | Pond5 | iStockphoto

2. Hire Designer: To do one of the following

a. Email the original logo designer.

Email Example

Hi,

I love your logo designs, however I don’t own a copy of Adobe Illustrator, would you be able to edit this image for me and send be back a large 1920×1080 png of this file with my company’s name?

b. Hire a designer on FreelancerDon’t pay more than $100 max; otherwise just use Crowd Spring and get a custom one.

c. Take a chance with Fiverr.  After emailing 3 designers on Fiverr, they all said they could change the text on my .ai or .eps files.

d. If you are good with vector based software just edit it yourself

CROWDSOURCED LOGOS

If you’re really serious then this is really the best way to go.  Crowdsourcing is quite amazing in that you get so many different permutations and ideas for a logo.   It’s really hard to walk away from this and be disappointed.

99Designsor Crowd Spring

The process for crowd sourced logo is pretty simple:

  1. Fill out a quick questionnaire about your business.
  2. Designers submit their design from around the world.
  3. You choose the one you like and pay for it.

Step 2:  Choose Video Template

So you have your logo, now comes the fun part of finding the logo animation template.  Start looking around for a sting that you love. Most high quality stings are usually created with After Effects.  This is how I have done all of my logo stings. It offers great detail, along with superb uniqueness and quality.   Below are the providers I use and recommend.

  • Video Hive:  My preferred selection and what I use 90% of the time.
  • Pond5Provides a good selection, but authors seem less responsive.

Once you have chosen your sting template wait to make the final purchase and go to Step 3 where the process is finalized.

STING RECOMMENDATIONS:

After Effects: Try and Choose After Effects templates over other software engines.   After Effects has the largest author base.

NO Plugins:  Some logo stings will have something that says “Requires plug-ins”.   Be sure this is set to “No”.   Plug-ins are add-ons to After-Effects that can be very expensive and many authors will not have them.  This means they will NOT be able to render the video for you.

Resolution:  Look for 1920x1080px HD

Duration:  Keep it under 12 seconds preferably 8 seconds max.   People don’t want to watch a long logo sting at the beginning of each of your videos especially if the video is short.   I created a long intro for one of my videos and while its shiny; it just too long and can be more distracting than good (of course this is personal preference)

Comments: Review the comments making sure the author is friendly and helpful.


Step 3:  Produce Logo Sting

With a strong preference for using Video Hive, I’ll run you through the quickest way to get a logo sting created.

  1. Contact Author: Contact the author of the template you found in Step 2.  Ask them if after purchasing their work would they create an mp4 file of the sting pending you provide them your logo.  I have done this with several logo sting projects and 90% of the authors will do this for free or a small fee, and it’s definitely worth it.
  1. Purchase:  Be sure to do this step after you have buy-off from the author/designer/freelancer that they can work with the template.  This way you don’t buy the template only to find out the designer can’t really do what they claimed they could.  Then purchase the video logo sting and also be sure to purchase the audio file as well.   The audio file is normally a separate purchase.
  2. Send Work: Now send the files along with your logo to whomever is doing the video, and ask them how long it will take.  Be sure they send you back a sting in a format you can use.  I prefer mp4 as this is easy to drag and drop into Camtasia and most video editing software.

Once you’re done with this process you’re now able to make your presentations look more professional and help create a theme for your videos. If you end up creating a Logo Sting from this tutorial I would love to see it. Please leave a link to your sting in the comments section!

Resources

Videos:
Video Hive | Intro Champ

Logos:
Graphic River | iStockphoto

Outsource:
Crowd Spring | 99Designs | Fiverr | Logo Nerds | Mycro Burst | Logo Garden

Tools:
For all the tools used in this video checkout the Tools Page.

7 thoughts on “Easy Video Logo Stings That Rock!”

  1. Hi Cory,

    Thanks for the detailed overview of this process! I didn’t realize it was that easy to get such professional looking intros integrated into a video, I’ll be trying this soon.

  2. Thanks for this info!
    I came across VideoHive and was looking around to see if I have any friends who have/know After Effects. After reading your post, I’ve submitted a request to one of the authors to see if they can create something for me. Let’s see how it goes.

    Thanks much!

    1. That is great Oz! In most cases you should get back a good product. Let me know how it goes…

      Cheers~

  3. Thank u Cory. I found it very usefull. Will be trying out soon for my company logo. Appreciate all your advise.
    Regards,
    Marianna O’Neill

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