Two different crafts that get lumped together
"Motion" gets used as one word for two genuinely different disciplines. Motion graphics moves shapes, text, logos, and layouts — the same visual language as graphic design, just given movement and timing. Character animation gives a rigged character believable weight, personality, and acting through movement.
Why the pipeline is different
Motion graphics works directly with vector shapes and text layers, timed to music or voiceover, without needing a skeleton or rig underneath. Character animation requires the character to be modeled or drawn, then rigged with a control skeleton, before a single frame of actual performance can be animated — that rigging step alone can take longer than an entire motion graphics piece.
Why this changes the quote, not just the vocabulary
A rate that covers motion graphics work specifically excludes character animation for exactly this reason — rigging and character performance are a separate skill and a separate time commitment, not a bigger version of the same task.
How to know which one you actually need
If the brief is "our logo comes together and the headline types itself in", that's motion graphics. If the brief is "a character walks across the screen and reacts to something", that's character animation, and it should be scoped and quoted as its own project.