Alan Melikdjanian (2017)

Never. Not yet, anyway. I like to think most people who make stuff for public consumption understand that it may be praised, criticized or adopted into other derivative creative works. I try to be fair, good-humored and inventive about the way I present the subject in a video. It's as much an expression of admiration as it is a "debunk".

Most recently, that water slide clip where the guy zooms all the way to the edge of the pool and steps out. That looked so crazy, I studied it in every way I could think of and couldn't find anything substantially suspicious. Then someone posted a different video of a different person doing the exact same stunt from a slightly different angle. Now I kinda want to go to that resort in Jamaica and try it myself.... WAIT A MINUTE. I'VE BEEN PLAYED!

This is a great question and I really wish I could remember the answer because whenever I'm working on the effects, I'm thinking "this is the hardest thing I've ever had to devise and no one will even notice this part". At the moment, all I remember is in the most recent video, when I talk about the trick with the color-changing ukulele, I needed to actually change its color. But I couldn't do it via color-correction because the YouTube video was way too compressed to do it cleanly. So I ended up hand-rotoscoping the ukulele and EACH STRING throughout the shot. What am I doing with my life?

I literally just picked random items I had laying around. I got the silver makeup prior to that, not knowing how I would use it. I think I found it was too complicated to make all of me silver so just settled on the bottom half of face. I tries to make a perfect black separation line, but it came out messy, so I added some dripping streaks to hide it.

Not yet. GIVE THEM A CHANCE, MAN.

The earliest, awkwardest videos were shot in SD and exist in only slightly higher quality than what's on YouTube. I feel it wouldn't be much of an improvement to re-upload them. But a few years ago, I put them on a DVD that you can get on m'website... (not trying to push merch)

This makes me feel like I'm having to list thank-yous in an Oscar speech in 30 secs. I... er.. I mean, Vsause of course, I enjoy the various Brady Haran-produced science serieseseses. Skeptics' Guide are consistently great. George Hrab is not often active on YouTube but I listen to his podcast every week. I like Julia Galef's YouTube videos because they make me feel intellectually minuscule in 3-5 min chunks. There are quite a few others - I'll have to get back to this when I think of them!

Thank you!

• It really depends on the nature of the video. Sometimes it's nothing image-based, but more of a "is this physically possible" and then I go from there. Other times, I recognize the effect preset on the first viewing.

-I just took a stab at answering that somewhere above

-I'd love to work with James Randi again. I do not meet him often. Whenever I do, I always assume he won't remember me, but he raises his hand in a mock salute and says, "Captain."

-I'm afraid it's too vulgar for the Internet.

Thanks! I don't know the answer to this. I made up the format and the crazy look both to stand out on YouTube, but ALSO because it jolts me into being creative and interesting and feeling like I know what I'm doing. There are many YouTube channels (and YouTube EMPIRES) I like where charming people casually chat on camera about interesting stuff. And that's great! But I don't think I don't think I'm capable of doing that genre well myself. If anything, I'm more interested in taking the series in a more stylized direction of having other whimsical characters and space adventures. I might never make it into the top 10 most popular channels of all time, but I'll thoroughly enjoy myself.

I always liked filmmaking. In high school I was in a TV production class. In college I majored in film production. I made a few short films throughout that time and then went on to work in various freelance capacities - filming, editing, doing effects on - small and slightly less small. YouTube seemed like a fun way to be creative so I tried it. But I continued to work as a freelancer for years.

As far as I know, I made up the catchphrase. The script of the very first episode was originally a sarcastic blog post on MySpace and that's how I ended the post. It just kind of popped into my head.

I don't tackle world-changing issues so I kind of look at it more from a fun angle and don't get too hung up on "spreading the truth". I think of it more as puzzle solving and try to enjoy the process. I do recall getting very excited while working on the Miss Ping episode. I just had such fun details to explain!

Tsk tsk... This was pointedly addressed in two different videos... you must watch even more!

Thanks! Film school was good for learning the teamwork aspect of making movies/videos. But I would say most of the skills I use for Captain Disillusion I learned subsequently over the years. I have worked as a freelance camera operator, editor and visual effects artist.

Thanks. I think it might just be my own stubborn unwillingness to change things :) I picked an outfit and a corner of a room and I kept filming it until the audience relented and started saying to themselves, "Ok, maybe there's something to this. Otherwise, this guy is just crazy."

Most of the time it's just me trying to get a cohesive sentence out over the course of 12 takes, so the atmosphere is pretty boring. But the times when I have guests is really fun. Paul Zaloom (Beakman) kept making us laugh throughout the day. Erica Linz, the Cirque acrobat actually demonstrated the stunt she refuses to do in the episode, as a bonus video for us. When I film with Lauren, who plays Holly, it's just a non-stop litany of bickering and making fun of each other's performance.

Yeah, sometimes. But it's usually easy enough just post a link to an existing video. What frustrates me sometimes is how the more detail I explain about something, the more things people point out that I didn't mention (even if it was a purposeful editorial choice). It's like, "the debunk of the gaps."

I spend an embarrassingly long amount of time just researching and writing the script of a video - sometimes nearly 2 weeks. Filming usually takes half a day, sometimes a full day, occasionally a couple of days. Editing, effects and sound design take every last second of whatever time remains in the month after all of the above.

OUTSIDERS! HISSSSSS! No, it's great, of course. I'm really happy about it and I hope it continues. It inspires me to make better stuff.

I enjoyed making-of programs and science shows like Beakman's World and Bill Nye the Science Guy as a kid. Later I enjoyed shows like Penn & Teller's Bullshit. I think I started looking up some of the people featured on that online, including James Randi. When I was figuring out what to do on YouTube, I thought a skeptical approach with a dash of sarcasm would be fun. Then one day James Randi CALLED ME ON THE PHONE and said he likes my videos.

Thank you and yes, I am interested in doing this very thing. I enjoy explaining stuff, but I also love telling stories. I feel like my content is 70% former, 30% latter. I'd like to bring it closer to 50/50.

Ha, I'm the type of person who doesn't like their own work after it's done. When I post a new video, I watch it over and over for a day. Then I avoid watching it ever again. Some of the very early videos kind of make me cringe. A few hold up pretty well. I suppose I'm most proud of the Beakman episode as a whole.

1. The nervousness was an act, but I am informed daily that I did it TOO well and for too long. In my next presentation, either I or Alan are going to impersonate the the Fonze.

2. I think RLM are brilliant and the original Mr. Plinkett Star Wars reviews changed the way long-form movie reviews are done online.

I think traditional television and the best of web series are converging somewhere in the middle to form the future of entertainment. And it's called Netflix.

When I make my videos, I tend to put them through a mental checklist, something like:

• Do I like this?
• Will an average YouTube viewer be able to tolerate this all the way to the end?
• Is this going to be in any way relevant a week/month/year from now?
• Does this meet TV broadcast technical standards?

And I do my best to check all the boxes.

Well, I do my best to constantly improve. If I appear consistent, then I am failing. You have depressed me :)

One day I remembered how cool the show was and was just browsing clips of it online. Then I found out that the actor, Paul Zaloom, still does appearances as the character in live shows for kids. I contacted him and after a while he got back to me, checked out my videos and agreed to do it. It took a few months after that to come up with the idea, write the script and arrange everything. It was quite and experience!

Thank you very much. Some of my videos end up being in slightly different categories from each other so it's hard to choose. In terms of just a technical breakdown of VFX, I kind of like 'Miss Ping Debunk' and 'Brusspup Outgeeked'. In terms of examining a product claim, I'm pretty proud of the 'Cicret Bracelet Debunk'. And as an overall edu-tainment achievement, I'm very happy that I was able to get away with making the 'Beakmallusion' episode.