Explainer video style · Layered papercut

Papercut shadow box explainer videos

Deep shadow-box paper layers with soft light. Brief it in one sentence and get a narrated, animated explainer film in the Layered papercut style, scored and voiced, in about 15 minutes.

Make one in this style

Or let the director choose a style for your topic.

What it looks like, and when to use it.

Six to nine stacked layers of matte cardstock, each cut with a clean edge, lit so the depth comes from soft shadows between the layers. Layered papercut is quiet and cinematic, and it gives landscapes and journeys real depth.

Best for

Journeys, landscapes and geography
Folk tales and storytelling
Calm brand films

Try a brief like

“How a river carves a canyon”
“The migration of the Arctic tern”
“Where our coffee comes from”

The art direction the director follows.

Every style is a full art direction, not a filter: its own palette, type, motion and music. This is the brief the director works from for Layered papercut.

Look: Layered papercut shadow-box diorama photographed straight on: 6–9 flat stacked layers of matte coloured cardstock, each cut with a crisp scalpel edge and a clean silhouette, no painted detail or gradients inside a layer; depth comes only from soft ambient-occlusion shadows each layer casts on the one behind it; a limited harmonious palette of 4–5 paper colours stepping from light far layers to dark near layers; visible cardstock tooth; shallow depth of field.
Motion: Slow, deep parallax camera drifts through the layers, layers rise and settle with soft springs, light sweeps, gentle floating motion.
Music: Airy cinematic ambient: soft piano, warm pads, light strings, gentle swell at the climax.
Type: Clean elegant sans or serif, cut-paper title cards.

One sentence is enough.

Describe your topic, approve the storyboard, and get a narrated, animated film in about 15 minutes. Explainers is invite-only for now: sign in and tell us what you want to explain.

Make an explainer in this style

Papercut shadow box explainer videos

What it looks like, and when to use it.

Best for

Try a brief like

The art direction the director follows.

22 more styles. Or let the director choose.

Editorial collage

Risograph print

16-bit pixel art

Watercolor editorial

Swiss modernist

Archival documentary

Claymation look

Neon synthwave

Ukiyo-e woodblock

Kinetic typography

Felt & yarn craft

Pop comic book

Blueprint / technical

Oil impasto

Isometric low-poly

Ink noir + one colour

Mid-century cartoon

Data-journalism dark

Whiteboard doodle

Nature documentary

Bold flat vector

Chalkboard lesson

One sentence is enough.