Ahhh humor, it can either be your friend or your enemy, especially when it comes to your company’s homepage video. One of the most challenging aspects of my career as a video producer is gauging the amount humor in videos with my clients.
Incorporating some laughter into your video is a great strategy for making your video memorable. Although, irrelevant or just too obviously comedic videos have a tendency to wash out the entire meaning of your video.
So how do you know how much comedy to add to your explainer video?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a solid formula for the amount of humor to add to your videos, but there are strategies you can use to help gauge this.
Our first line of action is to remember that timing is key. When you listen to a person tell a joke well, or watch a comic who’s perfected his or her routine, you can see this principle at work. There’s setup, rhythm, build-up, delivery—all executed with precision. This same attitude will go into your online video. Here’s a great example of timing in the video we produced for Guitarbots. Watch our reference on getting to know your neighbors….
Next you need to consider utilizing characters and imagery. Typically if you’re a business, you do not have much legroom for a joke or phrase to be interpreted poorly. For instance, sarcasm, although funny, can also offended people from different cultures or demographics. For our explainer videos, we often create laughter through our visuals. We use interesting backgrounds and characters to create the humorous mood we desire without the risk of misunderstanding. Watch our use of comedic characters in the explainer video we produced for Webpub.
