Animutation |
Animutation is a form of art using Macromedia Flash to create pop culture influenced videos of foreign-language, independent, or (more rarely) mainstream music. The style was invented and popularized by Neil Cicierega (a.k.a. Trapezoid) from Kingston, Massachusetts at the age of 13. The genre is currently expanding to include many other Flash artists. Independent musicians are turning to animutation artists and Flash-based music videos to promote their work for the Internet community. Currently a cult following near that of the also-popular YTMNDs, the genre has the potential to become mainstream within the next few years.
= Albino Blacksheep (ABS) History =
According to http://albinoblacksheep.com, animutation is a style of animation invented by Neil Cicierega at age 13. This style of animation is characterized by random images derived from pop culture in sequence with music. The animation style is strange, weird, random, and from a creator s point of view, very easy to implement. Animutation has grown in popularity over the years and is being accepted as a form of Internet-based art transcending the mere Internet cult following. A commercial featuring Joel Veitch s Spongmonkeys, characters from a Flash movie similar in style to animutation, was aired by Quizno s in 2004.
The first Animutation is believed to be The Japanese Pokerap by Neil Cicierega. Animations by other authors adapting Neil s Animutation style were originally called Fanimutations, as they served as a tribute to Neil s Animutations, and were created by fans of Neil s work. ABS Member, Andrew Kepple created a trilogy entitled Colin Mochrie versus Jesus H. Christ that concluded that animutation and fanimutation are the same genre, ending what he called animupartheid.
Colin Mochrie is a staple of the Animutation style, as his image appears in various Animutations and Fanimutations as a running gag and as remembrance to the original Animutations. Colin Mochrie is a Canadian improv actor leading in Whose Line Is It Anyway , This Hour Has 22 Minutes , Improv Heaven & Hell , Blackfly , and other television series. He is aware of being an Internet celebrity among Animutation and Fanimutation artists and viewers.
Sourced from: http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/animutation/
= Audio =
Animutations can be based on songs of foreign, independent, or mainstream origin. Japanese language songs were used in many of the original animutations by Neil Cicierega (AKA Trapezoid,) but newer animutations use songs in a wide variety of languages, including English language and gibberish. Besides Japanese language, commonly used languages are Dutch language and German language. The style does not require any particular language or genre of music.
== Fake lyrics ==
In many animutations, some or all lyrics are intentionally misheard in a manner related to mondegreens, resulting in nonsensical sentences. These words are often featured in subtitles or as sing-along style lyrics, and they are sometimes depicted visually.
For example, these lyrics were used in the second animutation made by Trapezoid, Hyakugojyuuichi!!! : : TV says donuts are high in fat, kazoo : Found a hobo in my room : It s Princess Leia, the yodel of life : Give me my sweater back or I ll play the guitar!
These took the place of the real Japanese lyrics: : Kimi-tachi to no deai wa zenbu : Chanto oboete ru : Kizutsukeatta koto mo atta kedo : Sore wa (ēto) wasureta
Another example of mondegreens come from this animutation made by the same artist called Earth vs. Funk , using the song Funkastic by Rip Slyme: : Have a good yam key : And a crusty eye : See him on the pot : Now you re funtastic
That took place of: : F-U-N-K- : A-S-T-I- : C on the funk : and funkastic
The real and fake lyrics may not appear very similar, but when one hears the song and imagines that the singer is speaking English language in a heavy accent, it is almost believable. Sometimes, animutations are mondegreened throughout the whole song.
= Video =
Animutations are typically characterized by bright flashing backgrounds (so Photosensitive epilepsy should not view them), cut-and-pasted images (which are often resized or cropped sloppily resulting in a pixelated or rough look), haphazard scribbling on the images or other bad drawing, stick figures, and many other elements that give it a highly raw artistic vision. An animutation may re-use the same image many times, resulting in repetition and choppiness.
Most (or all) Animutation music videos have lyrics, so to represent the lyrics being spoken as dialogue from the random pics, users lasso the mouth section and lower it a little or a lot. Images can also be stretched to represent dialogue also. There are many ways to do this technique.
= Running gags =
The most commonly recurring character in animutation is Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway. Other popular references include Jay Jay the Jet Plane from the PBS children s series of the same name, Pee Wee Herman, Hulk Hogan, Harry Potter, characters from the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mr. Bean, Dave Thomas, the middle finger, SpongeBob SquarePants, Bill Cosby, Steve Urkel, and Mochrie s Whose Line co-stars Drew Carey and Ryan Stiles. Catch phrases from shows have also been used, such as Hi-keeba! and Watch out for snakes! , both taken from movies shown on famous episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Some messages are hidden, lasting for one frame, scrolling too quickly, or scrolling in the wrong direction. Such messages range from orders to buy Funyuns, messages to disobey grandparents, or statements like These pretzels are making my horny (which is derived from Cosmo Kramer s line These pretzels are making my thirsty! ).
Animutation has also generated a few recognizable catchwords, such as gahbunga and wahdee , first seen in [http://www.eviltrailmix.com/animutation/rocket.swf Team Rocket s Journey Through Time and Space] and [http://www.eviltrailmix.com/animutation/funk.swf Earth vs. Funk] , respectively. Animutations tend to incorporate material from previous animutations. In particular, [http://tmst.twu.net/flash/151forever.html Hyakugojyuuichi Forever!] is full of references to past animutations.
= History =
In an early Salon interview, Cicierega said that he was originally inspired by insane Japanese commercials. The original animutations, Hyakugojyuuichi and Lesko s Revenge , both based on Japanese Pokémon music, were made by Neil Cicierega in February of 2001, and quickly became a small Internet fad. The style was adopted by others, and the term fanimutation, to refer to the works by other artists, was adopted. See external link Mutant Genius for more history.
= Parodies =
Some Parody of animutations exist, in particular [http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/internet.php Making An Internet Cartoon Tutorial ]. This notable one, along with a parody animutation, gives instructions to make an animutation, including ones to choose a song that is either Japanese, or sounds funny , take a picture of something and cut the mouth off (poorly) , add text in the middle of the animation that is too long and impossible to read in the fast action of the cartoon , and come up with a new catch phrase that will be all over the internet like: Mejezfeld!!! . The animation itself reflects these animutation tropes.
= See also =
=External links=
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