Be careful what you wish for. The end amused me greatly, although while I am posting this for your benefit, I have to admit that Tim was the first person I thought of when I saw this.

Enjoy!

Final installment of the three part series.

As you may have noticed, Colin Mochrie is a staple of (f)animutation. He is aware of this, and on his website says, "It was very odd when I first saw the animutations. Obviously the animators are more than a little crazy, but I am very proud of my standing in the animutation arena and hope that some day I can make millions off of it." Colin Mochrie has appeared in all of the (f)animutations I have presented so far, and appears in nearly all of the others on Albino Blacksheep. While some other characters, like Alex Chiu, are also very popular, none have reached Colin's celebrity status. Maybe this is because of the mild-mannered charm his face has, maybe it's because he's a relatively obscure tv celebrity, maybe it's just because everyone else is doing it.

In this final installment, I present a trilogy of fanimutations, "Colin Mochrie vs. Jesus H. Christ", by Andrew Kepple. These are some of the more evolved fanimutations, featuring a resemblence of a plot, almost entirely misheard lyrics, and many references to previous (f)animutations.

The French Erotic Film
Plan 9 from Underpants
Conquest of Animutopia

To conclude this guide to animutation is a final video from an ensemble of artists. It's called The Fingertips Project, named for the song "Fingertips", by They Might be Giants. The project was spearheded by Toxic aka Bob Barker, the artist who made Shumway. If you can stomach to watch this final animutation more than once, some of the characters change.

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say I'm glad it's over.

Part two of a three part series.

While animutations defined the genre, fanimutations are what truly evolved it. Perhaps the artists who made fanimutations weren't aware of the inspirations under which animutations were made, which would allow them more room for creativity, as all they had to do was make a video that felt right. Whether or not this was the case, fanimutations were more experimental and creative, and at the same time carried on their own traditions.

The first of today's three examples is Shumway, by Toxic AKA Bob Barker. This is one of the more popular fanimutations set to music that isn't Japanese. Next is We Drink Ritalin, by Robinson Wilburn. This is set to a song sung in english (Summer Love, from Dance Dance Revolution), and is one of the earliest to attempt to mishear a majority of the lyrics, as opposed to the occasional phrase, or just the chorus. Last is JamezBond, by Dwedit. To the extent of my knowledge, this is the first fanimutation to have an almost consistent sequence of events that resembles a plot (whether or not there's an actual plot is arguable). As an aside, We Drink Ritalin and JamezBond are two of my favourite fanimutations.

In the final installment, I will be presenting a trilogy of fanimutations that adress a recurring character who is in all of the animutations and fanimutations I have presented so far, as well as the issue of animutation vs fanimutation. Also, to wind up my guide I will present an animutation recently made as a group project among thirteen artists.

Part One of a Three Part Series. (Because all at once is too much animutation to stomach.)

Animutation. For people who have never heard of it, the very name itself is confusing, and means nothing. In most cases, an initial reaction such as this makes people believe that upon closer inspection of the topic there is much to be learned about it. However, animutation is an exception, and is in and of itself more confusing and pointless than its name might lead you to believe.

The movies are made up of foreign songs and discongruent pop culture images, often with people who's mouths have been "lassoed" into moving chins like marionettes to simulate speech or singing. Animutations also feature text flashing past too quickly to read, as well as text subtitling non-english phrases as misheard english phrases, for example the phrase "Zwaai je armen in de lucht" could be misheard in english as "Throw your almond in the loo".

According to Wikipedia, animutation is a style of flash music video created by Neil Cicierega, who was emulating the randomness and out-of-context confusion north americans often experience when watching japanese television commercials. The artist coined the term "animutation" himself, and when fans of his work began to make their own similar flash movies they were dubbed "fanimutations".

The appeal of animutation is a mystery. Personally, the ones I find entertaining contain upbeat, catchy music, and show a succession of events which are as strange as my dreams are, and seem familiar to me in that way.

The three flash files I present to you now, courtesy of Albino Black Sheep, are not favourites of mine. They are however the earliest of the animutations, and helped to define the genre as it exists today. Many later animutations make reference to these movies, and that humour would be lost if these have not been seen. First is The Japanese Pokerap, by Neil Cicierega. This is believed to be the first animutation video created, and as such the first lacks the polish of later movies. Next is Hyakugojyuuichi!!!, also by Neil Cicierega. This animutation shows the style begin to fill out and become more entertaining. Third is a fanimutation called Irrational Exuberance (Yatta), by Veloso. This is one of the more frequently referenced of the early fanimutations.

In the next installment I will present three more files, all of which are more entertaining in my opinion, and show the fanimutations becoming more numerous, as well as the further evolution of the genre.