Alan Melikdjanian

Alan Melikdjanian (; ; born April13, 1980), known by the alias Captain Disillusion, is a Latvian-born American independent filmmaker and YouTuber. Melikdjanian was active in the founding of video-sharing sites Openfilm and Filmnet.com, and is the creator of the webseries ''Captain Disillusion'', which focuses on critical analysis of visual effects and video editing while promoting critical thinking and skepticism.

Early life

Melikdjanian was born to Soviet-era circus performer parents of Armenian and Russian descent. His father, Vilen, was a well-known performer. Alan toured the Soviet Union with his parents until he was six years old, after which he lived with his grandmother while attending school. During the summer, he would resume touring with his parents. In his youth, Melikdjanian spent most of his free time trying to copy the styles of Disney animators.

His parents defected to the United States in the late 1980s; he joined them two years later, attending the William H. Turner Technical Arts High School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production.

Career

FilmNet.com and Openfilm

Melikdjanian co-founded FilmNet.com as a creative director, and co-founded Openfilm as chief creative officer. Both were intended as alternatives to popular video-sharing site YouTube, but for serious amateur filmmakers who "don't want to place their work alongside YouTube's mediocrities." Openfilm closed in August 2015.

YouTube channel

The "Captain Disillusion" channel has approximately 2.52 million subscribers and 272 million views (). On the channel, he debunks viral and paranormal "hoax" videos, among others, with a heavy focus on visual effects. He edits his videos using software including Avid Media Composer, Adobe After Effects, Blender, and DaVinci Resolve.

In his videos, Melikdjanian wears a vintage 1980s tracksuit, with the bottom half of his face covered in metallic paint. He uses a wristband gifted to him by James Randi.

Melikdjanian described how he designed his superhero costume:

He reviews videos which are "too good to be true," using his expertise in digital editing to break down the video and show how the result was accomplished, sometimes recreating effects from the videos he debunks. His videos contain the motto "Love with your heart. Use your head for everything else."

Reception

Melikdjanian's work has gained recognition from ''The Huffington Post'', Kotaku, Russian TV International, Phil Plait, the James Randi Educational Foundation, ''Fortean Times'', ''Home Media Magazine'', and ''Sun Sentinel'', among others. He has received thanks from people for debunking videos they had shared.

Interviews

In 2008, during an interview for '' The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe'', Melikdjanian describes ''Captain Disillusion'' as a YouTube web series that tackles paranormal and illusion videos uploaded by others on YouTube. He started this effort as a blog entry on Myspace but later saw these items as ready made scripts for short videos. He notes that Penn & Teller were instrumental to his current interest and eventually found the skeptical movement involved in similar work. He finds that his followers like to learn about the illusions. It is not his intent to spoil legitimate entertainment or a current performer's work. His intent in showing how video illusions are created is to clear up misconceptions. Melikdjanian describes the basis for Openfilm briefly, saying it "was formed for film makers. The goal is to provide higher quality product and a group of serious content creators."

During an interview for ''The Skeptic Zone'', in 2010, Melikdjanian describes Captain Disillusion as a superhero. And in a following 2011 interview, he describes that his work as Captain Disillusion is done "in the maximum fun way possible". He describes his work with James Randi, Randi calling him to participate in The Amaz!ng Meeting and his video work with Randi in a later project. During an interview by Susan Gerbic for ''Skeptical Inquirer'', he states "I think it's best to focus on what you know—something you're already an expert on outside of skepticism—and explore the ways in which it's connected to skepticism. With ''Captain Disillusion'', I connected a random thing—visual effects—to skepticism in a way that people seem to find engaging. I'm sure that can be done with many other fields in different ways."

In a 2017 interview with Richard Saunders from ''The Skeptic Zone'', Melikdjanian described the video effects editing process, saying:

Credits

Filmography

Additional work

* ''Still Life'' (2009) (short), steadicam operator
* ''The Shift'' (2013) (thanks), starring Danny Glover

Television and web series

Awards

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Disillusion, Captain
1980 births
21st-century American composers
American amateur film directors
American male child actors
American people of Armenian descent
American people of Russian descent
American comedy YouTubers
Film people from Riga
Latvian emigrants to the United States
Living people
Shorty Award winners
American skeptics
Soviet emigrants to the United States
YouTube filmmakers