Captain Disillusion

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.

The "Captain Disillusion" YouTube Channel has approximately 2.41 million subscribers and 230 million views (as of May 2023).[10][11] On the channel he debunks—amongst other things—viral and paranormal "hoax" videos, doing so humorously, and with a heavy focus on visual effects.[12] He edits his videos using various software programs beginning with Avid Media Composer followed by Adobe After Effects, Blender, and Da Vinci Resolve.[13]

In his videos, Melikdjanian wears a vintage 1980s tracksuit, with the bottom half of his face being covered in metallic paint.[4]

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?[14]

Firstly, the Captain addresses the audience. A typical introduction to his videos is "Greetings, children, Captain Disillusion here." Secondly, he goes on to show a popular video, usually a paranormal or viral video which is "too good to be true" (often starting with humorous topics to set a lighthearted mood, and then using his wristband—a gift from James Randi—to lead him to talk about the real topic). Thirdly, he reviews the footage, utilizing his expertise in digital editing, to break down the video and show how the result was accomplished. He also likes to recreate effects from the videos he debunks, often incorporating this into episodes.[15]

He ends each video by saying he has to go, usually to assist with something mundane happening elsewhere in the world. He then says his motto: "Love with your heart. Use your head for everything else."[4] His videos often conclude with a humorous ending sequence, which occasionally relates with the preceding video.

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.[16]

Melikdjanian's work has gained recognition from The Huffington Post,[17] Kotaku,[18] Russian TV International, Phil Plait,[19] the James Randi Educational Foundation,[20] Fortean Times,[21] Home Media Magazine,[7] and Sun Sentinel,[22] among others. He has also received thanks from people for debunking videos they had shared.[15]

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.[23] 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.[14] And in a following 2011 interview, he describes that his work as Captain Disillusion is done "in the maximum fun way possible".[24] 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."[25]

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."[26]

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