The animation studio New York brands hire when the deck is already sold and the deadline is Friday.
New York is headquarters to 43 Fortune 500 companies, more than any other American city. Its biggest sectors, finance, advertising, media, fashion and real estate, sell things that are abstract, confidential or not yet built. Animation is how they get shown. Script, design, animation, voiceover and sound design included, with explainer video pricing published upfront.
Agency overflow welcome. Explainer pricing published in full, every other format quoted within 24 hours of the brief. 1,000+ videos delivered, ten years in production.
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beautifully.
All animation. One studio.
beautifully.
All animation. One studio.
Our Work
The work behind the animation studio New York brands come back to.
Every frame from this animation studio New York teams brief is original. No stock assets, no recycled characters, no template packs that turn up in another company's video. Below is a selection across the industries New York runs on. Every animation studio New York brands shortlist will show a reel; ask instead for two projects from your own sector. For work produced specifically for the city, see our 2D animation services in New York, our New York explainer video production page and our New York explainer video company page.
Bitzer AG, industrial corporate explainer
Enter Tech, educational series
Bee-Bot, character animation series
Industries We Serve
Five industries, and almost none of them can be filmed
Finance, securities and fintech
Finance generates roughly 17% of all economic activity in New York City, and the securities industry alone employs more than 201,500 people. Around Wall Street sits the investment banks, asset managers, clearing firms, insurers and fintech platforms that make up the densest financial ecosystem on earth.
This is the most demanding brief any animation studio New York institutions commission will receive, and not because the subject is hard to draw. It is because every frame goes through compliance. A claim about returns, a simplified risk model, an implied guarantee: each one is a legal exposure. We build these scripts expecting legal review, which means fewer rounds, fewer rewrites and a video that actually ships.
Advertising and brand
New York is the global centre of advertising, the industry so associated with the city that it is still called Madison Avenue. Around 47,600 people work in it here, across holding companies, independents and the in-house studios that have quietly taken a great deal of the work back.
Work reaching an animation studio New York agencies use is the opposite of a finance brief. The concept is already strong, the deck is already approved, and what is needed is execution that does not flatten the idea. The usual failure is a studio that follows the storyboard and loses the joke. We work as production partner rather than creative lead here, which is a different job and we price it as one.
Media, publishing and entertainment
New York is the most important media centre in the United States. Film and television employ more than 76,500 people here and publishing around 31,900, alongside the streaming platforms, news organisations and podcast networks that have grown up beside them.
Media clients briefing an animation studio New York side arrive knowing exactly what good looks like, which raises the bar and shortens the conversation. The work is title sequences, promotional animation, explainer content for subscription products and series development. This is also where anime requests come from, and they are the one brief most New York studios cannot take.
Fashion, retail and ecommerce
The Garment District, Fashion Week and the headquarters of a significant part of American retail all sit inside a few square miles. It is an industry built entirely on how things look, which makes it the least forgiving audience an animation studio New York brands hire will ever present to.
Fashion work is rarely explanatory. It is atmosphere, motion and identity, closer to a title sequence than a product demo. The brief is usually a feeling rather than a message, and the measure of success is whether it looks like it belongs to the brand. Ecommerce work sitting underneath it is the opposite again: product motion built to convert on a page.
Real estate, legal and professional services
New York holds the largest commercial real estate market and the largest legal market in the country, along with the consultancies and accounting firms built around them. Between them they sell buildings that do not exist yet and expertise that cannot be photographed.
For an animation studio New York developers commission, this is animation's oldest commercial use: showing a tower, a floorplate or a neighbourhood years before anyone can stand in it. Professional services is the harder half. The product is judgement, and judgement has no visual form, so the work becomes about process, outcome and trust rather than the thing itself.
What We Produce
Five formats, one New York animation partner
2D animation
Custom characters, environments and fluid motion, and the format most animation studios in New York are asked for first. The most versatile format and the one most briefs sent to animation studios in New York end up using, because it carries a story and a product at the same time. Nothing is built from stock libraries. See our 2D animation studio.
Most requestedMotion graphics
Animated icons, kinetic typography, charts and interface walkthroughs. The right choice for financial products, platform mechanics, market data and any subject where clarity beats character. It is also the fastest format to produce, which makes it the most cost efficient. More on motion graphics.
Best for dataExplainer video
A complete 60 to 90 second piece built to make a complex product understood in one viewing, and the single most requested deliverable from animation studios in New York. Script, voiceover, animation and sound design included, with the price published rather than quoted. See the pricing page for the figures. This is the format most New York software and hardware teams arrive at animation studios asking for by name. See explainer video production.
Published pricingAnime animation
Genuine Japanese anime visual language, frame by frame. Dramatic composition, expressive characters, cinematic camera work. We are one of very few studios producing authentic anime style work for commercial clients rather than fan projects. Quoted per finished minute. See our anime animation studio.
Specialist work3D animation
Product visualisation, technical assemblies and photorealistic rendering. This is the format New York developers, product brands and medical device companies need most, and the one fewest animation studios in New York produce in house, because it shows the inside of things that cannot be filmed. A separate production pipeline, so it is always quoted individually.
Custom quoteWhy Magic Motion Studio
What we do differently from other animation studios
Explainer pricing published, no quote wall
Every plan and every inclusion is listed on the pricing page. You find out whether we are in range before you spend half an hour on a call discovering we are not.
100% original assets, no templates
Every character, environment and prop is built from scratch for your brand, which is not true of every animation studio in New York quoting you. Spotting a reused stock character is the fastest way to tell cheap animation studios in New York from serious ones.
A specialist team, not one generalist
A strategist writes the script, an art director sets the visual language, animators handle the motion and a sound designer mixes original audio. Few animation studios in New York at this price point staff all four. Four disciplines, four people who do only that.
Anime, which nobody local offers
Genuine hand drawn anime production with a dedicated pipeline behind it, not a filter applied to vector artwork. New York studios lean heavily toward live action, agency work and motion design, so anime is the one brief that usually has to leave the city.
You own everything on delivery
Full ownership transfers on final payment. No licensing fees, no annual renewal, no restriction on running it as a paid ad or in any territory. Ask for this in writing from anyone you hire, not just us.
Remote, which is the point
Animation is produced on screens, reviewed on screens and delivered as files. Being down the road changes nothing, which is why New York companies increasingly look past a Manhattan address without losing anything.
From brief to broadcast-ready in 5 steps.
Every project follows a structured five-phase workflow developed over ten years of production. Each phase has defined deliverables and a client approval gate, so you are never left waiting or guessing. It is also why working with an animation studio in New York remotely feels no different from working with one down the road.
Strategy and Script
We define the messaging first: your audience, the one message that drives action, the tone, and the call to action. Then we write the full production script. A weak script produces a weak video regardless of animation quality.
Art Direction and Storyboard
Our art director sets the visual style guide, then produces a full storyboard showing every scene, camera angle and transition. You approve the visual story before any animation begins, which removes expensive revisions later.
Voiceover Recording
Runs in parallel with art direction, not after it. You choose from three to five professional voice samples matched to your brief. Recorded in a treated studio and delivered as a broadcast-quality WAV that becomes the timing track.
Animation Production
Every scene built from scratch, frame by frame or rigged depending on the style. Lip sync on every speaking character and motion curves adjusted by hand. A senior animator checks each scene against the storyboard.
Sound Design and Final Delivery
Licensed music, sound effects timed to motion, and mastering to broadcast loudness. You receive four cuts on the same day: 16:9 MP4, 16:9 MOV, 1:1 square and 9:16 vertical. Full commercial rights transfer on payment.
Pricing
What animation actually costs in New York costs
Most New York studios will not give you a number without a discovery call. Asking an animation studio New York side what a video costs should not require a meeting. We publish both production plans in full on our pricing page, so you can budget before you talk to anyone. The same fixed rates apply across all five boroughs, so hiring an animation studio New York side costs the same wherever your office is.
| Plan | Price | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Published | One complete 60 second animated video. Script, storyboard, custom animation, professional voiceover, sound design and revisions, all included. |
| Pro | Published | Everything in Standard, plus 60 to 90 second runtime, five revision rounds, social resizes, cutdowns, animated GIFs, still images and source files. |
| 3D animation | Custom | Quoted per project because 3D runs on a separate rendering pipeline with different cost drivers. |
| Series and longer runtimes | Lower rate | Per minute cost falls once characters and environments are built, because those assets carry across every episode. |
Nothing is added later. No licensing fees, no renewal fees, no charge for the files you already paid to have made. Anime work for the city is quoted the same way and covered on our anime animation studio New York page. The full factor by factor breakdown is on our explainer video pricing page.
See the full pricing breakdownKnow your number? Get it scoped.
Send us the brief and we come back with a fixed price and a timeline, usually within 24 hours.
Buyer's Guide
Six questions for any animation studio in New York, including us
Ask every animation studio New York has on your shortlist the same six. Compare the answers, not the showreels. Any animation studio New York buyers shortlist should be willing to answer all six in writing. A showreel is selected highlights and tells you almost nothing about what your project will actually be like.
Will you show me the price before a call?
An animation studio New York buyers approach that will not state a range until it has qualified your budget is pricing you, not the project. The same sixty second video should not cost two companies two different amounts because one of them looked wealthier on a call.
Red flag
"Contact us for a quote", a wait, a discovery call, then a number that was never in your range.
Where we stand
Both plans published in full. You can budget tonight without speaking to anyone.
Who owns the files when it is finished?
Ask directly, and ask specifically whether editable source files are included. Plenty of studios retain the project files and charge an export fee later if you want the video changed. Others license the video rather than sell it, with a recurring fee or a usage limit you only discover at renewal.
Red flag
Ownership is not mentioned in the proposal, or source files appear as an upsell.
Where we stand
Full ownership on delivery. No licensing or renewal fees. Source files on the Pro plan.
Is voiceover and sound design inside the price?
This is where cheap quotes hide. Professional voiceover casting, direction and recording, plus sound design and an original music mix, commonly runs several hundred dollars as a separate line item. A quote without them is not a cheaper video, it is an incomplete one.
Red flag
Audio listed as "optional" or "client supplied" anywhere in the scope.
Where we stand
Included at both plan levels. Script, voiceover, sound design and music.
How many revision rounds, and what happens after?
Unlimited revisions is either untrue or priced in somewhere you cannot see. A fixed number of rounds at each stage, with a stated rate beyond them, is the honest structure. Ask what specifically triggers a change order, because that definition is where disputes start.
Red flag
"Unlimited revisions" with no definition anywhere of what counts as one.
Where we stand
Fixed rounds at every stage. Scope changes are flagged before they are billed, never after.
Have you worked in my sector before?
This matters more in New York than in most cities. Finance, advertising, media, fashion and real estate each carry their own vocabulary, audience expectations and compliance constraints. An animation studio New York side learning your sector on your budget will take longer and get it wrong more often. Ask to see two projects from your own industry, not the general reel. The reel is the best work. You want the typical work.
Red flag
Every example shown is from a different industry to yours.
Where we stand
1,000+ videos across finance, healthcare, logistics, software and manufacturing.
Can I see the script and storyboard before animation?
Any animation studio New York companies hire that animates before you approve a storyboard is setting up an expensive argument. Approval gates protect you far more than they protect the studio, because they are the only point in the process where changes are still cheap. Changing words costs nothing. Changing finished frames costs weeks.
Red flag
The first thing you are shown is a near-finished animation.
Where we stand
Script, then storyboard and style frames, both approved before a single frame is animated.
New York Animation Heritage
American animation was invented here, not in California
1929
Fleischer Studios founded by Max and Dave Fleischer
9
Years headquartered on Broadway before the move south, 1929 to 1938
1
Invention that changed animation permanently: Max Fleischer's rotoscope
Characters created by a New York studio
All of these came out of a building on Broadway, years before most of the famous California work existed.
Betty Boop
Fleischer Studios
Popeye the Sailor
Fleischer Studios
Superman
Fleischer Studios
Koko the Clown
Out of the Inkwell
Bimbo
Fleischer Studios
Mighty Mouse
Terrytoons, New Rochelle
Max Fleischer invented the rotoscope, the technique of tracing live action to produce lifelike movement, and it is still in use a century later. His brother Dave dressed as a clown and was filmed so animators could trace him, which is how Koko the Clown came to exist. The studio was acquired by Paramount in 1942, but its influence never left the city.
New York's animation history did not stop there. Terrytoons ran in New Rochelle from 1929 until 1972. Nickelodeon opened a New York animation studio in 1999. Brooklyn has been quietly producing adult animation for networks for over two decades.
Fleischer's work was described as deliberately urban and grittier than its West Coast competition. That difference is still the reason New York briefs ask for personality and edge where other cities ask for polish.
Areas We Serve
An animation studio New York wide, and across the boroughs
Manhattan and Brooklyn
All five boroughs and greater New York
Common Questions
Hiring animation studios in New York, answered
Still have a question after this? Email info@magicmotionstudio.com and we reply within 24 hours.
Explainer video pricing is published in full on our pricing page, both plans, factor by factor, so you can budget tonight without a call. Every other format, 2D character work, motion graphics, 3D and anime, is quoted on the brief and we come back within 24 hours. Manhattan studios carrying Midtown or Flatiron office costs typically quote considerably higher for comparable work.
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Animation is produced on screens, reviewed on screens and delivered as files, so for animated work a Manhattan address adds rent to your quote without adding anything to the video. We cover 2D animation, motion graphics, 3D, character animation, anime and explainer video for New York brands on exactly the same terms as a Midtown studio.
Five sectors cover most of our New York work: finance and securities, advertising and brand, media and publishing, fashion and retail, and real estate and professional services. They brief almost nothing alike. A Financial District compliance video and a Garment District brand film are opposite jobs and should not arrive looking similar.
Yes, and a good share of our New York work arrives this way. When the concept is already approved and the deck is already sold, you do not need a creative lead, you need execution that does not flatten the idea. We work to your storyboard, under your brand guidelines, and we do not put our name on the result unless you want us to.
Usually, because we write expecting one. New York finance, insurance and pharma work goes through legal before it ships, and the common failure is a studio writing a strong claim that compliance then strips out, which collapses the script. We flag anything reading as a guarantee, a projection or an implied return while it is still words on a page.
Yes, and it is a format most New York studios do not offer. The city leans heavily toward live action, agency production and motion design, so genuine hand drawn anime is the brief that usually has to leave town. We run a dedicated anime pipeline, not a filter applied to vector artwork.
Yes, and the surrounding area. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, plus Long Island City, Jersey City, Hoboken and Westchester. Because the work is produced and reviewed remotely, a Financial District bank and a Bushwick studio get identical terms in the same week.
Yes, in full, on delivery. No licensing fees, no annual renewal, no restriction on running it as a paid ad or in any territory. Editable source files are included on the Pro explainer plan. Ask for this in writing from anyone you hire, not just us.
Free quote, no obligation
Ready to brief an animation studio?
If you are comparing an animation studio New York side with a remote team, tell us what you are making and this animation studio New York brands trust comes back within 24 hours with a scope, a timeline and a fixed price. If we are not the right fit for your project, we will tell you that instead.