TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Animutation
(aka: Fanimutation)

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2e2af987_3981_40ff_9e3e_2c87a007c587.jpeg
"Once upon a time, some guy took a
copy of an overpriced animation utility
and animated a bunch of strange pop-
culture images set to even stranger
Japanese music. Like moths to a flame,
a dozen copycats completely ripped off
the idea, starting a freaky movement.

And everybody say... 'Yatta!'"
verylowsodium, Irrational Exuberance

Animutation or fanimutation is a type of fan-made video collage, partly inspired by Japanese commercials and the old Hatten är din meme, involving Clip-Art Animation and extensive Photoshop manipulation, usually with some sort of fast-paced and/or bizarre song playing over it. Animutations are one of the more common types of flash animation, as they are fairly easy to make but can have startling results when done... er, properly.

The animutation community has developed several tropes and in-jokes of its own; for example, several people or images are regularly referenced in them (e.g., comedian Colin Mochrie, a Jesus action figure, plush monster Domo-kun, the "God kills a" kitten, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, the "dancing Hitler" animation). Many use foreign songs with fake English lyrics full of mondegreens, while others use fast-paced techno along with hyperkinetic intercutting in the video. Near-unnoticeably fast or tiny messages between and within the images are also common. Animutations tend to be surreal and dadaistic; among fans, the more absurd and incomprehensible an animutation is, the better.

Flash portals such as Newgrounds, Albino Black Sheep and Evil Trail Mix have extensive listings of animutations. The Fanimutation Wiki hosts information about the animutations and how to create them.

In 2020, Animutationportal.com shut down, but most of its music videos were saved onto BlueMaxima's FlashPoint.

Neil Cicierega, better known to some as Trapezoid, Deporitaz and Lemon Demon (yes, of "Ultimate Showdown" and "Potter Puppet Pals" fame), invented and named the animutation.

Compare YouTube Poop and Buffalax (Gag Sub with song lyrics) music videos, which combined are arguably its spiritual descendant.


Examples


Tropes frequently found in animutations:

  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: Captions consisting entirely of mondegreens, almost always from a foreign language.
  • Breakout Character: Colin Mochrie. He appeared in The Japanese Pokerap, but Mike Brady was the star and Mochrie was only a background singer. Starting with Hyakugojyuuichi, Mochrie became increasingly prominent while Brady fell by the wayside.
  • Camp: A Surreal Take
  • Clip-Art Animation: Most of the time, the animations are crude and done by cutting up a photograph into pieces and then animating from there.
  • Clumsy Copyright Censorship: The Jamezbond animutation featuring Peter Pan cosplayer Randy Constan was censored on YouTube, since the real Constan filed a DMCA complaint for "infringing on his trademark". He was covered up with text lampshading the situation on that version only. [1]
  • Easter Egg: The most common way of finding them is to right-click at the end of the video and chose "Play", which will trigger an extra scene.
  • Fun with Subtitles / Gag Sub: A staple of the genre is to either subtitle phrases that sound vaguely like English (but aren't) with the English they sound vaguely like. Usually this only pops up occasionally, but Earth vs. Funk managed to do with with the entire song.
  • Mind Screw: The trippy use of deranged animation and clip-art animation combined with mondegreens of foreign music effectively simulates what it’s like to be on acid.
  • Mondegreen Gag: Usually in the form of the aforementioned Gag Subs, but occasionally a picture of the thing will appear instead, like a map of Ohio for the line "Ohayo~!" in Irrational Exuberance.
  • Retraux: It is quite common to see newer Animutations deliberately made in an early-2000s-esque style.
  • Running Gag: Colin Mochrie as the face of the sun, among many other things.
  • The Walrus Was Paul: Even when there's a clear plot, animutations don't make sense.

Tropes relating to specific animutations:


 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Alternative Title(s): Fanimutation

Top

Hyakugojyuuichi

One of the most famous animutations of its era, Neil Cicierega's Hyakugojyuuichi demonstrates many of the hallmarks of the genre, including Flash animation, bizarre images, and a general nonsensical tone. Later in the video (and not in this clip), mondegreen lyrics (another genre hallmark) are also shown.

How well does it match the trope?

4.88 (8 votes)

Example of:

Main / Animutation

Media sources:

Report