Animutation

"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, party 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, the "Buddy Christ" figurine from the film Dogma, 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.

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, which is arguably its spiritual descendant.


 * Hyakugojyuuichi, generally considered the first animutation of note, though an earlier example (Japanese Pokerap) exists
 * French Erotic Film, first part of the Colin Mochrie vs. Jesus H Christ fanimutrilogy, continued with a part 2, Plan 9 From Underpants, and a part 3, Conquest of Animutopia.
 * Irrational Exuberance
 * Earth vs. Funk
 * We Drink Ritalin, notable for its song, Hot Limit. It's an English translation of a Japanese song, done by an Italian band who can't speak English. The end result? Gratuitous English unlike anything you've ever seen before.
 * Chocolate Niblet Beans, especially notable for popularizing animutations where certain elements are randomized for every individual viewing.

Tropes frequently found in animutations:

 * Blind Idiot Translation: Captions consisting entirely of Mondegreens, almost always from a foreign language.
 * Cameo
 * Clip Art Animation
 * 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.
 * Deranged Animation / Widget Series: The genre both loves these and is these.
 * Ear Worm: A Subjective Trope, but man, some of these tunes will haunt you years later, and the Mondegreens will only entrench the memory.
 * Easter Egg
 * Gag Sub
 * Mind Screw
 * Mondegreen: An intentional use of mondegreens is a staple of the genre.
 * Running Gag
 * Stupid Statement Dance Mix
 * Unreadably Fast Text
 * Video Collage
 * Word Salad Humor
 * Word Salad Title