The Art of Characterisation in Animation: Delivering Powerful Messaging to Your Audience

Animation is an incredible storytelling medium, and characters are at the heart of it all. They provide an unparalleled level of aesthetic, persona, background, and behaviour, thus enhancing the audience’s ability to connect with them. By bridging the gap between complex scientific fact and comprehension.

At Mummu Studio & Mummu Health, we strongly believe in the power of characterisation to convey concise, meaningful and empathetic messages to audiences, particularly in the health and wellness sector, and we know how powerful utilising this storytelling technique can be. 

In this blog post, we will delve into the art of using characterisation in animation to deliver powerful messaging that deeply resonates with your audience.

Establishing a Connection between the Character and the Audience

Establishing a connection with the intended target audience is crucial to making an impact that lasts. This is where characterisation comes into play. Humanising inanimate objects or things by brand messaging through mascots or creating relatable personas as stand-ins for the workforce or service users is a powerful way to inject the human element that can be lost.

As an example of this, take a look at our work with Health Aid. We gave each flavour a human touch, transforming a collection of drink flavours into a group of ‘friends’ with their own individual personalities. This creative approach allowed us to differentiate between flavours and connect with diverse demographics.

Relatable traits, aesthetics, behaviours, and challenges make a difference. When audiences identify with characters, they care about the messages conveyed.

For instance, if you’re creating an animated character, or characters, for a health and wellness campaign, the character should have relatable health challenges, reflect the mood and explain how the product or service can alleviate them, mirroring the intended emotion required.

Whether it is a lack of sleep, stress, poor eating habits, age, gender or illness, connecting your character’s struggles to real-life issues and worries can build a bond of trust and empathy whilst giving relevance to your messaging

Medical and scientific communications, such as science professionals or animations for Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) may have credible style characters to build trust and knowledge.

Humanisation through Body Language and Facial Expressions to Emphasise the Message

Body language and facial expressions are potent tools to convey an individual’s mood, emotions, and message. Extra emphasis is placed on crafting distinct expressions and postures to accentuate the character’s delivery. 

For example, if the character promotes healthy eating or exercise, their body language can reflect a sense of vitality and vigour. If the end user requires comfort, the character’s aesthetic may be synonymous with that character trait, and if empathy is needed, there may be elements that are built into the development of the character.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands may personify objects or different elements of their product range to bring a sense of fun and humanity to both branding and product. Such gestures enhance the audience’s ability to relate to the character and message.

Knowing Your Audience, KOLs, D2C and healthcare professionals

The target audience is the backbone of the animation process. It’s difficult to deliver a message successfully if you are not in tune with your audience’s pain points. To effectively communicate with your audience, creating relatable characters is crucial when your content has a better chance of making an impact.

Tell a Story

Storytelling through a character’s journey permits the end-user to understand a message, as they are led through the narrative. The character may serve as the narrator or represent the service user in this process. This approach utilises the power of storytelling; providing greater audience engagement and an improved understanding of the intended message.

At Mummu Health, we possess considerable expertise in crafting human and relatable scripts, developing distinct character tones of voice, and effectively managing the entire voice over (VO) process. Our clients even log in live during the recording session to ensure that project targets and goals are being effectively met.

Conclusion

Characterisation in animation is an art form that requires creativity, planning, and attention to detail. By creating relatable characters, emphasising message with body language, making memorable characters, knowing your audience, and weaving storytelling, you can deliver powerful messaging that resonates with your audience. For marketing agencies and health and wellness brands, using these techniques in their animation will undoubtedly lead to better engagement and higher ROI. We hope this blog post has been helpful in understanding the importance of characterisation in animation.