‘Snappy’ Couple’s Product is Animation
Hana and Shmuli Landesman use AI and human talent to create tools for companies and Jewish organizations looking to maximize targeted messages to their clients and customers.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Experiences with websites featuring rabbis dancing, folks “fishing” for investments, and congregations depicted as “Creation,” may have been designed and executed by Shmuli and Hana Landesman.
These married sabras work together as owners of SNAP Animation Studio which produces lively videos for companies and organizations, covering the entire range of promotion, marketing, and sales.
“The name ‘SNAP’ reflects the magic created by snapping fingers, symbolizing lightness, speed, and sharpness — all values aimed to deliver to customers. Our diverse background with roots in the Orthodox world and Israeli and American culture, brings richness to our work,” stated Shmuli.
Hana added, “We help our clients conceive the initial concept and accompany them all the way to the final product. We have a wide variety of clients who are looking for creative marketing to stand out in the marketplace — dynamic companies, lawyers, social media, organizations, and healthcare clinics, who want to communicate with their patients.”
Animation projects include an annual fundraising video, a series of illustrated books about rabbis, informational videos for hospitals in Israel, and a marketing video for an investment company. Skilled animation, priced at $6,000 per minute of animation, does not come cheaply.
At the beginning of 2021, the couple joined forces to work together professionally. They arrived in Atlanta a year ago, after spending 18 months traveling in Europe during the pandemic while working remotely with Israeli clients and home schooling their two sons. With a clear division of roles, art director Shmuli is the lead animator and in charge of design, while Hana handles business development, marketing, and sales.
Hana said, “We work as a team, and we work great together because we emphasize openness, listening, and patience. In addition, we work with a professional team of freelancers who assist us in making the entire operation happen, including animators, screenwriters, and voice actors.”
Operating out of Atlanta, they still have clients from Israel. Recently they began expanding and focusing their main activities on the American market, matching with companies who want to convey messages in memorable and humorous ways.
Their studio’s designs and animations are digitally hand-drawn with special attention to detail. They embrace progress and technology, utilizing AI for creative and visual work.
SNAP specializes in creating videos that tell a story or showcase the use of a product, often incorporating light humor and using relatable characters. They employ freelancers, most of them from the U.S. or Israel, adapting to clients’ needs in terms of script and visuals.
Shmuli said, “We love incorporating humor and storytelling into our animations like a narrative involving a father and his son embarking on a journey, witnessing the history of their congregation from the creation of the world. Another animation features friends who go fishing, and through their fishing experiences, learn about investing principles.”
Hana’s best advice is for businesses to create personal relationships that communicate with the target audience, crafting an image with which the viewer identifies. She continued,
“Storytelling is crucial, especially on social networks using short and catchy videos. For those starting a business, maintaining a personal voice, and finding uniqueness is essential.”
Both owners hail from Israel — Hana from Gush Etzion and Shmuli from Rehovot. Shmuli has family roots in Atlanta where his grandparents, Alice and Nathan Spielberg, thrived as part of Congregation Or VeShalom. Shmuli served in the IDF in the Combat Engineering Corps, while Hana served in National Service, working with children removed from their homes.
Since he was a young child, Shmuli has “never stopped drawing.” Hana said, “Luckily, he didn’t listen to his teachers who told him to stop doodling in class. After the Army, he studied animation at a college in Israel and immediately got involved in the industry with a feature animation film. Following that, he worked as a lead designer in a well-known animation studio in Israel. Hana graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design and managed a studio.
Hana concluded, “In five years, with G-d’s help, we aim to be pioneers in creating messages with character, promoting the idea of marketing through animation and storytelling.”
For more information, visit https://snap-animation.com/
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