Melikdjanian was born to Soviet-era circus performer parents, and is of Armenian and Russian descent.[3] 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.[4] In his youth, Melikdjanian spent most of his free time trying to copy the styles of Disney animators.[4]
Melikdjanian was the co-founder and creative director of FilmNet.com,[6] and was the co-founder and chief creative officer of Openfilm. 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."[4][7][8] Openfilm closed in August 2015.[9]
In his videos, Melikdjanian wears a vintage 1980s tracksuit, with the bottom half of his face being covered in metallic paint.[4] He uses a wristband gifted to him by James Randi.[15]
Melikdjanian described how he designed his superhero costume:
When it came time to visualize him I just thought what do I have at hand? What can grab people's attention? And really, because it's supposed to be a superhero, what haven't we seen before? What do I have at my disposal that I can actually pull off in terms of attire and make-up? And that's what I had. I got some of this chrome colored make-up at the local party store and I had all those clothes and I would've done my whole face but it's too much work. It works out in terms of illusion revealing reality, and... which one's the reality?[16]
He reviews videos which are "too good to be true," utilizing his expertise in digital editing to break down the video and show how the result was accomplished. He often recreates effects from the videos he debunks.[citation needed] His videos contain the motto "Love with your heart. Use your head for everything else."[4]
DVD
In 2011, Melikdjanian released a DVD of his Captain Disillusion series, entitled Captain Disillusion – Fame Curve Collection. It contains the first 16 episodes remastered with optional commentary and additional bonus features. He debuted it at TAM9, and later made it available for purchase online.[17]
Melikdjanian performing as Captain Disillusion's unpaid intern "Alan" at QED 2016
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.[24] 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.[16] And in a following 2011 interview, he describes that his work as Captain Disillusion is done "in the maximum fun way possible".[25] 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."[26]
In a 2017 interview with Richard Saunders from The Skeptic Zone, Melikdjanian described the video effects editing process, saying, "You know, the tools change but the methods really don't. It's all about making things look questionable and kinda crappy and low quality and then you can pretty much get away with anything." In replying to a follow-up question regarding believing what you see on the internet, he said, "When I started out, people just kinda believed everything. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, but these days, people are just really asking me 'is this fake?', 'is this fake?', 'is this fake?', and half the stuff they show me is just, you know, a juggler juggling a lot of balls. They can't conceive that that could be real. People just don't believe anything anymore. I guess that's good for me because I get to explain lots of stuff but I wish people could finally strike that balance where they're not too credulous but they also know not to just dismiss everything out of hand."[27]
Credits
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
Notes
2001
The Realm
Director, composer
Mentioned in his "Cup Levitation & Train Track Rescue | Quick D" video.
The Monster Man
Editor
Zelimo
Animator
Directed by Aleks Rosenberg, Won – WorldFest – Houston Gold Special Jury Award for Best Feature
