- Playing with the Medium
These gags surprise the audience by going against expectations in timing, cine-
matography, design, animation, and filmmaking. - Speeded-Up/Slow Motion Action
Use a change in normal speed for your gag. - Laws of Physics
Animation often rewrites the laws of physics. Wile E. Coyote runs in the air before
falling to the bottom of the canyon and flattening, but he always reappears in the next
scene unhurt. - Proportion
Play tricks with big and little, fat and skinny—perspective. - Motion Gags
Any gag that uses motion is especially suited to animation. A treadmill becomes an
escalator. - Death
This is a hard one, but it can be done! The point is that anything can be made funny. - The Surprise Ending
A scene or an entire show may be fairly standard and cliché. But the ending has a
comedy twist and saves it. Often this twist is heightened if what goes just before is
especially everyday and normal. This doubles the surprise.
More Comedy Techniques to Try
To build a gag, try taking a situation, building it, exaggerating it, and then making a sudden
reverse. Or use Gene Perret’s “Uh-oh Technique”: Everything is going all right, then some-
thing happens and the audience says, “Uh-oh!” Or the character doesn’t realize just how
grave the crisis is, but the audience does (see Figure 12.1). Use switching techniques, taking
one basic situation and then making a funny variation on the situation. Make lists of words,
phrases, events, places, people, facts, things, and symbols that relate or are opposite to the
main topic. Conjure up surprising and ridiculous images from your list. Write about what
makes you passionate or angry. Attack authority. Look at a problem from all angles and
home in on what’s illogical. Verbal humor works well when the budget is small and anima-
tion is limited. Visual humor works better internationally, as any word play can get lost in
translation. And it’s okay to be silly! Have fun!
Global Comedy
Comedy can be culture-specific. Certainly, a people’s history influences their comedy. If
you’re writing comedy for a specific country, you should be aware of their preferences in
Animation Comedy and Gag Writing 189