Why humor is essential in animated explainer videos

Unlike a ‘real’ video format, through which ‘real’ people could represent light more intense human emotions with equal magnificence, the animated video format could, at best, be used to imitate real human emotions, essentially in a fun and happy way. This is mainly because the default and prominent attribute of animation as a technical communication, regardless of its purpose of use, is happiness. And while animated characters can represent humans (or human-like beings) in a video, they can’t replace them when it comes to showing real, deep emotions that can recharge or move viewers. Thus, the only emotional resource that goes especially well with the technique of animated video communication is humor.

The biggest advantage of using an animated character explainer video for communication is that it allows you to present a visualization of your complex concept with the help of one or more personified characters. Since these characters are hand-drawn by a storyboard artist and could represent any imaginable entity (real/unreal, tangible/intangible), there is endless scope for creating unique character portrayals that are both fun and lovable.

Furthermore, since animation has elements of motion and sound, creative communication techniques such as ‘Exaggeration’, ‘Satire’, ‘Parody’ and others that cause laughter, could be wonderfully used to bring out visual humor through a funny body and/or facial language. expressions of the characters in motion. This is another reason why humor naturally goes well with the technique of animated video communication.

Types of humor elements and how they could be incorporated into an animated explainer video

strong mood

Loud humor involves those elements of humor that are presented in a very apparent way and that viewers can easily experience as funny and laughable. An obvious way to bring out this type of humor in an animated explainer video is to intentionally write a funny script using one or more punning techniques such as puns, phonetic mix-ups, obscure words and meanings, double entendres, rhetorical devices, and creating support for. Elements of visual humor, so that the voice-over (the script) and the visual-together bring out the humor. Needless to mention, sound effects play a very important and supporting role in bringing out strong humor in an animated explainer video.

quiet humor

Silent humor, in an animated explainer video, is the ‘not so obvious’ kind of humor. One way to bring out quiet humor is to create only visual humor elements. Imagine, for example, a video frame being shared between a main animated character and a secondary animated character. When you are watching the video, although most of your attention would be on the main character, the secondary character could still be animated to bring out the humor through her body language or facial expressions. These kinds of subtle elements of humor add that ‘special effect’ or ‘magic touch’ to your animated video. Although the expressions or body language of the secondary characters would follow the flow of the script, their sense of humor remains independent of themselves.

It often happens that when an element of humor is not very obvious to all viewers, it makes it even more attractive because then, the viewer automatically becomes interested in interpreting this subtle humor and, by doing so, pays more attention while watching the video.

Humor acts as the glue that keeps viewers watching your animated explainer video, until the very end. Therefore, when using an animated explainer video technique for marketing, make sure that it has some elements of humor in it. How many? Well, that completely depends on your type of business entity and it’s up to you to decide.