The animation studio Philadelphia teams hire when the science cannot be filmed.
Philadelphia sells things a camera cannot see: a T cell reprogrammed to find a tumor, a gene carried into the body by a virus, an mRNA instruction, a health plan benefit, a research finding. That is the work this animation studio Philadelphia life science, health system and university teams hire is built for. Script, design, animation, voiceover and sound design included, with explainer video pricing published upfront.
We are a remote studio. No Philadelphia office, no Center City rent in your quote. Explainer videos take 3 to 4 weeks from approved brief to final file, and everything else is quoted within 24 hours.
We've received your details and will send your Calendly booking link within a few minutes. Check your inbox, we'll be in touch shortly.
beautifully.
All animation. One studio.
beautifully.
All animation. One studio.
Our Work
The work behind the animation studio Philadelphia teams brief remotely.
Every frame from this animation studio Philadelphia clients commission is original. No stock assets, no recycled characters, no template packs that turn up in another company's video. Below is a selection weighted toward the work Philadelphia asks for most: corporate explanation, education and character animation. Full write-ups, with the brief, the approach and the result, are on our animation case studies page.
Bitzer AG, technical corporate explainer
Enter Tech, educational series
Bee-Bot, character animation for young learners
Industries We Serve
Philadelphia runs on eds, meds and money, and all three need explaining
Cell and gene therapy, pharma and biotech
Some of Philadelphia's biggest recent science stories are ones no camera could record. A CAR-T therapy developed at the University of Pennsylvania by a team led by Carl June, tisagenlecleucel, became the first gene therapy approved in the United States in 2017. Later that year Spark Therapeutics, founded in 2013 to commercialize research from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, won approval for Luxturna, which NPR reported as the first gene therapy for an inherited disease. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman shared the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for modified mRNA work done together at Penn. Add a major Merck research and manufacturing site at West Point, and it is easy to see why the region's cell and gene therapy cluster gets called Cellicon Valley.
A T cell engineered to find a cancer, an AAV vector delivering a working gene, an mRNA instruction read inside a cell: these are mechanisms, and mechanism of action (MOA) animation is how they get explained to investors, partners, physicians and patients. An animation studio Philadelphia biotech teams hire should use 2D where clarity matters most and 3D animation where the scene is cellular or molecular. Device teams can see how we handle hardware on our medical device explainer videos page.
Then there is review. Every script is laid out for your medical, legal and regulatory reviewers: each claim on its own line, easy to locate, reference and change, with edits made at script stage when they cost nothing. Your MLR team owns the claims; the job of any animation studio Philadelphia pharma teams hire is to make their markup fast.
Health systems and children's hospitals
Philadelphia's hospital history runs deep. Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond and is now part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, founded in 1855, was the first hospital in the United States dedicated to the healthcare of children. Jefferson and Temple run large systems too.
Most of what reaches an animation studio Philadelphia hospitals brief is patient education: what happens before a procedure, how to take a medication, what to expect after discharge. It has to be calm, accurate and readable at a low reading level, and it often has to work for a child and a parent at once. That is where character animation earns its place, and it is a real strength of our 2D animation studio. We weigh the formats honestly in patient education videos, animated vs live action, and our healthcare explainer video page covers the wider range: staff onboarding, service line launches, donor and foundation films.
Universities and research communication
Penn, Drexel, Temple and Thomas Jefferson University anchor a large higher education sector, with many more colleges across the region. The mRNA story shows what is at stake. Work on modified mRNA at Penn led to a Nobel Prize, yet most people still could not explain how it works.
Universities bring an animation studio Philadelphia researchers can work with four kinds of brief: research explainers for grant reports and public engagement, admissions and program films, animation for online courses, and pitch videos for tech transfer and spinout companies. Motion graphics carry the data and the process; character work carries the human side. See how this fits campus and public sector work on our explainer videos for government and education page.
Insurance, asset management and media
Independence Blue Cross, founded in 1938 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the largest health insurer in the Philadelphia area. Vanguard runs its corporate headquarters from Malvern, a Philadelphia suburb, and Comcast is headquartered at the Comcast Center in the city.
Health plan briefs are member onboarding, benefits explainers and open enrollment, where the reader is busy and the product is a contract. Investment briefs are investor education that must never overpromise. Media and technology briefs are product demos and internal communications at enterprise scale. An animation studio Philadelphia insurers and financial firms commission has to flag anything that reads as a guarantee or a projection while it is still words on a page, and that is how we work. Related reading: explainer videos for fintech and financial services and explainer videos for employee onboarding.
What We Produce
Six formats, one Philadelphia animation partner
2D animation
Custom characters, environments and fluid motion. It is the format for patient education, children's content and any story that needs a human face. Most of the 2D animation in Philadelphia that we produce is character led, for patients, students and plan members. See our 2D animation studio.
Most requestedMotion graphics
Animated icons, kinetic typography, charts and interface walkthroughs. The right choice for research data, benefits tables, study results and platform demos, anywhere clarity beats character. Motion graphics in Philadelphia research and finance work is usually the fastest and most cost efficient route to a clear message. More on motion graphics services.
Ideal for dataExplainer video
A complete 60 to 90 second piece that makes a complex product understood in one viewing. Script, voiceover, animation and sound design included, with the price published rather than quoted and delivery in 3 to 4 weeks from approved brief to final file. The figures are on our explainer video pricing page, and the method is on explainer video production.
Published pricing3D animation
Cells, molecules, viral vectors, devices and assemblies. 3D shows the inside of things that cannot be filmed, which makes it the format an animation studio Philadelphia biotech and device teams need most for MOA scenes. It runs on a separate production pipeline, so it is always quoted individually. See 3D animation.
Custom quoteHealthcare and life science video
Patient education, HCP education, MOA and device demonstrations, written for the reader rather than the brochure and laid out for medical review. Our healthcare explainer video page covers the full range, and our guide to explainer videos for healthcare explains when animation beats footage.
Life sciencesAnime animation
Genuine Japanese anime visual language, frame by frame: dramatic composition, expressive characters, cinematic camera work. No local studio we are aware of offers it, so an animation studio Philadelphia brands can book for anime usually sits out of state anyway. Quoted per finished minute. See our anime animation studio.
Specialist workWhy Magic Motion Studio
What we do differently from other animation studios
Explainer pricing published, no quote wall
Every explainer plan and inclusion is listed on the pricing page. A hospital department or university office can see the number before the first call, which shortens the approval chain.
Scripts built for review committees
Claims sit on their own lines, references are noted against them, and edits happen in the script, where they are free. Set up for medical, legal, regulatory and academic reviewers, who keep full ownership of the approval.
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. Four disciplines, four people who do only that.
Characters for patients and children
Pediatric and patient audiences need characters that reassure rather than perform. We design them from scratch for each client and keep them consistent across a whole series, so the tenth video looks like the first.
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, at a conference or in any territory.
Remote, which is the point
Animation is produced on screens, reviewed on screens and delivered as files. An animation studio Philadelphia clients never need to visit costs them nothing in Center City rent and loses nothing in quality.
From brief to broadcast-ready in 5 steps.
Every project follows a structured five-phase workflow developed over 10+ years of production. Each phase has defined deliverables and a client approval gate, so you are never left waiting or guessing, and your medical, legal or academic reviewers see the script and storyboard at exactly the points where their markup matters. It is also why working with an animation studio Philadelphia teams brief remotely feels no different from working with one in Center City.
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 costs in Philadelphia, published
Asking an animation studio Philadelphia buyers shortlist what a video costs should not require a meeting, especially when a procurement office, a department head or a grant budget needs a figure first. Both explainer video plans are listed in full, factor by factor, on our pricing page. Everything else is quoted on the brief and we come back within 24 hours. The same rates apply in Center City, on the Main Line, in South Jersey and in Delaware.
| Plan | What is included |
|---|---|
| Standard | One complete 60 second animated video. Script, storyboard, custom animation, professional voiceover, sound design and revisions, all included. |
| Pro | Everything in Standard, plus 60 to 90 second runtime, five revision rounds, social resizes, cutdowns, animated GIFs, still images and source files. |
| 3D animation | Quoted per project because 3D runs on a separate rendering pipeline with different cost drivers. |
| Series and longer runtimes | 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 is quoted per finished minute and covered on our anime animation studio 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 this animation studio Philadelphia teams use comes back with a fixed price and a schedule, usually within 24 hours.
Buyer's Guide
Six questions for any animation studio in Philadelphia, including us
Ask every animation studio Philadelphia has on your shortlist the same six. Compare the answers, not the showreels. 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 Philadelphia 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 a startup in the Navy Yard and a health system in University City two different amounts because one of them looked better funded 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 explainer 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 keep the project files and charge an export fee later if you want the video changed, which hurts when a label update or a new indication means one scene must change.
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 a music mix, often appear later as separate line items. 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 Philadelphia than in most cities. Cell and gene therapy, health systems, universities and insurers each carry their own vocabulary, audiences and review process. For a pharma or biotech project, ask five things: how scientific accuracy is checked, how the studio works with your subject matter experts and medical writers, how many review rounds the script and storyboard get, whether cutdowns are included, and whether you receive the source files. An animation studio Philadelphia life science teams hire should answer all five in writing.
Red flag
Every example shown is from a different industry to yours, and accuracy is "handled by the client".
Where we stand
1,000+ videos across healthcare, education, finance, software and manufacturing. Every scene checked against your sources.
Can I see the script and storyboard before animation?
Any animation studio Philadelphia companies hire that animates before you approve a storyboard is setting up an expensive argument. 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.
Philadelphia Animation Heritage
Philadelphia was animating before animation had a name
1861
Coleman Sellers of Philadelphia patents the Kinematoscope
1870
Henry Heyl shows the Phasmatrope at the Academy of Music to about 1,500 people
1887
Animal Locomotion published from Muybridge's work at Penn, 781 plates
A Philadelphia timeline of moving images
From parlor devices to a university motion lab and a film studio of its own.
1861, Coleman Sellers
Kinematoscope patent, stereo images in motion
1870, Henry Heyl
Phasmatrope at the Academy of Music
Mid 1880s, Muybridge at Penn
More than 100,000 images of motion
1887, Animal Locomotion
781 collotype plates published
1902, Siegmund Lubin
Lubin Manufacturing Company formed
Since 1805, PAFA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
On February 5, 1870, Henry Heyl projected waltzing dancers and an acrobat from glass transparencies on a rotating disk, timed to music, in one of the earliest public projections of moving photographic images. In the mid 1880s Eadweard Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania, producing more than 100,000 images of people and animals in motion. The sequences published in 1887 as Animal Locomotion are still used as reference for walk and run cycles. By 1910 Siegmund Lubin's film studio, known as Lubinville, stood at Twentieth and Indiana Streets.
The tradition continues in the classroom. Drexel offers a BS in Animation and Visual Effects with a co-op, PAFA is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States, and the 2024 closure of the University of the Arts, whose students included film and animation majors, sent many of them on to Temple, Drexel and Moore.
Our observation, for what it is worth: a city that broke motion into frames still judges motion carefully. Philadelphia briefs tend to ask for accuracy before spectacle, which suits an animation studio Philadelphia scientists and clinicians have to sign off.
Areas We Serve
An animation studio Philadelphia wide, and across PA, NJ and DE
Philadelphia neighborhoods
Greater Philadelphia, PA, NJ and DE
Common Questions
Hiring animation studios in Philadelphia, 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 explainer video pricing page, both plans, factor by factor, so you can budget 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. Because we are a remote animation studio Philadelphia clients hire without a local office, there is no Center City lease inside the number.
No. Magic Motion Studio is a remote animation studio serving Philadelphia, and we will not pretend otherwise. Animation is produced on screens, reviewed on screens and delivered as files, so a local address would add rent to your quote without adding anything to the video.
Yes. We build MOA animation in 2D or 3D for stories such as CAR-T, AAV gene therapy and mRNA, working from your references, publications and subject matter experts. Every scene is checked against the sources you provide, and your scientists approve the storyboard before animation starts. Any animation studio Philadelphia biotech teams brief should show you that step rather than skip it.
It is written for it. Scripts and storyboards are set up for your medical, legal and regulatory reviewers: every claim on its own line, numbered, easy to reference and easy to change. Changes are made at script stage, when they are free. Your MLR team owns the claims and the approval. We do not provide regulatory advice; we make your reviewers' job faster.
Yes. Patient education is written in plain language at a low reading level and built around the questions patients actually ask. For children we design original characters that reassure rather than perform, and keep them consistent across a whole series. Our healthcare explainer video page shows the wider range of health work.
Yes. As an animation studio Philadelphia universities can brief remotely, we turn papers, grant reports and lab findings into short explainers for funders, public engagement, admissions and tech transfer. Your researchers review the script for accuracy before anything is drawn, and motion graphics carry the data so it is simplified for the audience without becoming untrue.
Yes. This animation studio Philadelphia companies hire works on exactly the same terms in the suburbs as in Center City. King of Prussia, Conshohocken, Malvern, Cherry Hill, Camden, Princeton and Wilmington are all served remotely at the same price, because location does not change what it takes to produce animation. The same applies anywhere in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware.
Yes, in full, on delivery. No licensing fees, no annual renewal, no restriction on running it as a paid ad, at a conference or in any territory. Editable source files are included on the Pro explainer plan. Ask for this in writing from any animation studio Philadelphia buyers shortlist, not just us.
Free quote, no obligation
Tell us what Philadelphia needs to see
A mechanism of action, a pediatric patient guide, a research explainer or a benefits walkthrough: tell us what you are making and this animation studio Philadelphia teams brief remotely comes back within 24 hours with a scope, a schedule and a fixed price. If we are not the right animation studio Philadelphia needs for the project, we will tell you that instead.