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Charlie the Unicorn

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Charlie the Unicorn
Directed byJason Steele
Written byJason Steele
Produced byJason Steele
StarringJason Steele
Edited byJason Steele
Music byJason Steele
Production
company
FilmCow
Distributed byFilmCow
Release dates
November 26, 2005 (2005-11-26)
(Newgrounds)
April 30, 2006 (2006-04-30)
(YouTube; original)[1]
January 10, 2008 (2008-01-10)
(YouTube; official)[2]
Running time
3 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Charlie the Unicorn is a Flash animated short film and viral video directed, produced, animated, and written by Jason Steele of independent film company FilmCow. The film follows the life of Charlie, a lethargic unicorn, and two other unicorns who bring him on an allegedly magical adventure to the mythical "Candy Mountain". Although Charlie is eternally skeptical throughout the majority of the trip, he is nevertheless surprised when the mountain turns out to be real once they arrive. After a musical number from the mountain's marquee letters, he is forced to enter the Candy Mountain Candy Cave, where his kidney is stolen, much to his chagrin.

The film was envisioned by independent animator Jason Steele of production company FilmCow. Steele originally created the video as a flash animation test for his mother; the video was partially credited to her and was released by her under the username "TypeQueen" on Newgrounds, where it gained rapid popularity. The video was later uploaded onto YouTube by Geoff Swanson, where it gained rapid viewership and continued to increase in popularity.

The video was a viral hit, accumulating 50 million views and gaining worldwide praise. A merchandising line was later produced featuring the video's characters and famed quotations, as well as two sequels, Charlie the Unicorn 2 and Charlie the Unicorn 3, released in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and a parody series titled Charlie teh Unicron, created by Steele in 2010. All three videos in the series were released to DVD in 2009 under the title The FilmCow Master Collection.

Plot

In a quiet meadow, Charlie, a unicorn, is resting peacefully, before he is awakened by two unicorns, one pink and one blue, both with high-pitched, breathy voices, speaking almost in falsetto. After Charlie awakes from his slumber, the two unicorns inform him that they have found a map to the mythical Candy Mountain, and that he must come with them on their journey. Charlie fails to give in, and decides to go back to sleep; however, the blue unicorn begins to bounce on Charlie; both pester him with details of the mountain, causing him to give in to their demands. The trio begin their journey in a forest, where the two lead Charlie to a Liopleurodon; the two unicorns proceed in conversing with the Liopleuridon, who supposedly guides them on their quest with a simple "NNRROOOAHH!!". The trio then crosses a bridge, much to the delight of the pink and blue unicorns. When Charlie finally gets to Candy Mountain, the letter Y of CANDY sing a song prompting Charlie to go into the cave. The two other unicorns seem oblivious to the song. After the letters explode, Charlie reluctantly goes into the cave, where he is locked inside, knocked out, and gets his kidney stolen.

Characters

  • Jason Steele plays Charlie the Unicorn, a lethargic unicorn who is badgered by his two unicorn companions to travel with them to the mythical Candy Mountain.[3] He also speaks with a Mid-Atlantic accent. He acts cynical throughout the trip and fails to believe that such a place could exist.[4] After the group arrive at the mountain, much to Charlie's surprise, he is badgered via musical number by the two unicorns as well as the Candy Mountain marquee letters to enter the Candy Mountain Candy Cave. After giving in to their demands, he enters the cave, where he is knocked unconscious and has his kidney stolen.[3]
    • Steele also plays two unnamed[5] blue and pink unicorns who convince Charlie to travel with them to the mythical Candy Mountain.[4] Throughout the video, the two constantly lead him into several nonsensical situations, including receiving directions from a "magical" Liopleurodon and crossing a "magical bridge of hope and wonder".[6] By the end of the video, the trio reach Candy Mountain, where the two and the Candy Mountain marquee letters convince Charlie to enter the mountain cave; after entering the cave, the two unicorns knock Charlie unconscious and rob him of his kidney, much to his dismay.[3] Creator Jason Steele has revealed very little about the two in the following Charlie the Unicorn videos for humorous value, most notably their genders and names;[5] he claims to believe that his characters are "somewhat creepy"[7] and "more interesting"[8] when a small amount of information is revealed about them.
    • In his first musical role in the Charlie the Unicorn series, Steele performs the singing voice of the Letter "Y",[5] an anthropomorphic letter who resides alongside letters "C", "A", "N", and "D" on the Candy Mountain marquee. He performs the musical number "The Candy Mountain Cave"; the singer of the song was originally to be filled by the two unicorns; however, Steele was unable to use their voices to sing at a rapid pace, and resorted to using the Letter "Y" instead.[5]
  • An unspeaking Liopleurodon (Template:Pron-en in the video as opposed to Template:Pron-en)[5] character billed as the Magical Liopleurodon was also featured in the video.[6][9] The character communicates in his species' natural call, and is called upon by the blue and pink unicorns to guide them to Candy Mountain.[10]

Production

Independent animator Jason Steele initially conceived Charlie the Unicorn in 2005 as a flash animation test for his mother, who enjoyed unicorn-related conversation.[5] The video's plotline was initially conceived when Steele was running around his house, chanting "La la la!" repeatedly; he quickly envisioned the majority of the plotline shortly thereafter; according to the Steele, the video's conception happened "all at one; there was no editing."[5] The video is primarily structured around surrealist humor[10] and dark humor; Steele claims that the former was inspired by musician Logan Whitehurst, who frequently communicated with Steele via e-mail and composed the opening sequence for his early film Secret Agent Bob (2003);[11] he describes the latter as "contrast[ing] to how bright and cheerful" the video's atmosphere is.[12]

Steele drew Charlie the Unicorn using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash; it was animated in After Effects and edited in Final Cut Pro.[8] The video was recorded using Amadeus Pro, and composed via Logic Pro.[8] The video also contains a musical number titled "The Candy Mountain Cave", featured during the sequence where Charlie refuses to enter the Candy Mountain Candy Cave and soon becomes the victim of a musical number hosted primarily by the mountain's marquee letter "Y", who is backed by his partners "C", "A", "N", and "D"; although the blue and pink unicorns were originally chosen to sing the song, Steele was unable to use their voices to sing at a rapid pace, and resorted to using the Letter "Y" instead.[5]

Reception

"Charlie the Unicorn proves that something doesn't have to make any sense at all to earn a cultlike following. The animated adventure centers on a group of unicorns venturing to Candy Mountain — "the land of sweets and joy, and joyness" — through the guide of a liopleurodon. Created by animator Jason Steele, the pilot episode gained 46 million views, sparking a series of follow-up adventures."

Time magazine.[10]

Charlie the Unicorn has become increasingly popular since its inception. Following its posting on Newgrounds in 2005, Geoff Swanson of YouTube posted a copy of the video on the website in 2006, where it rapidly gained popularity.[5][13] It reached a total of approximately eight million views internetwide in 2007, including one million views on YouTube, four million on Newgrounds, eight million views on Google Videos, one hundred thousand on Grouper.com, forty-two thousand on StupidVideos, twenty thousand on Yikers, nine hundred thousand on MySpace, seventy thousand on the video's official website FilmCow, and fifteen thousand downloads on iTunes.[14] The video climbed to forty-six million views in March 2010[10] and is considered to be a major aspect of Internet culture.[15]

Online magazine Salon described the video as "The unlikely adventure of a crotchety unicorn" and stated "We often feel like Charlie the Unicorn. Annoying, brightly colored colleagues poke at us with their curly horns as we snooze at our desk, promising far-off, sugar-coated delights. Do we muster the energy to follow them, hoping some sweet payoff will break the unbearable bleakness of our daily existence? Can they be trusted?"[16] The series has also attracted a number of celebrities, including English television presenter Alex Zane, who has openly considered himself a fan of Charlie the Unicorn,[3] and entertainers Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn.[17] Brian Hamlin of The Hollywood Reporter considered the video to be "incredibly dumb and annoying" yet "really funny and weird too full of unicorn joyness and music."[18] In 2009, Time named Charlie the Unicorn number 49 in their list of "YouTube's 50 Best Videos", stating "Charlie the Unicorn proves that something doesn't have to make any sense at all to earn a cultlike following."[10]

The cast of Charlie the Unicorn also appeared on May 23, 2008, in the music video for Weezer's single "Pork and Beans". The music video was directed by Mathew Cullen of the video production company Motion Theory[19] and features many internet phenomena, including Charlie and the blue and pink unicorns.[20][21][22] The character of Charlie first appears in a sequence parodying the G.I. Joe public service announcements starring animated versions of the band as children, where the character Gung-Ho of the G.I. Joe franchise appears as their mentor and notably has a tattoo of Charlie on his chest.[20] All three unicorns appear at the end alongside the band and various other phenomena.[20] On November 22, 2008, as a feature of the YouTube Live streamed event, the cast of Charlie the Unicorn were featured in a short film directed by creator Jason Steele featuring YouTube Live colliding with real life, causing several various memes to come to life, namely Rick Astley making a comeback and the world's weather conditions being altered in favor of raining chocolate.[23] The short sequence was promoted with a forty-three-second video depicting Charlie and the two unicorns attempting to defuse a bomb before being attacked by a large group of seagulls; the short had no connection to the video it was promoting whatsoever other than advertising purposes.[24]

Merchandising lines produced by a partnership consisting of FilmCow and retailer CafePress as well as Hot Topic have been launched in response to the video's popularity; the merchandise features various quotes from the video and generally features the blue and pink unicorns, although Charlie appears occasionally, and is sold in several forms including t-shirts, pins, coffee mugs, and bandannas.[25][26] On March 1, 2009, creator Jason Steele released a video to accompany Hot Topic's Charlie the Unicorn merchandising line titled Charlie the Unicorn and the Tomb of Horrors; the video follows Charlie and the two unicorns scaling an ancient chamber inhabited by "The Weasel", a shamanist weasel who has attempted to call upon forces of evil that laid waste to the world ten thousand years prior.[27]

Episodes

Season 1

# Title Songs Prod. Code
1 Eat the Candy Eat and Crunch 101

References

  1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus
  2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY
  3. ^ a b c d Potton, Ed (2009-04-18). "Alex Zane on his favourite things". The Sunday Times. News International. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  4. ^ a b Batanchiev, Tula (2008-10-19). "Editor's Column: I'm a believer". The Heights. Boston College. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Steele, Jason. (2009). Commentary for Charlie the Unicorn, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  6. ^ a b Nilsson, Ryan (2009-09-07). "Bruins have fun on the run: Team focused on climbing mountain" (Registration required). Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  7. ^ Charlie the Unicorn Adult Swim Pitch, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. 2009. Kunaki.
  8. ^ a b c Steele, Jason. "FAQ - FilmCow :: Videos and Animations". FilmCow.com. FilmCow. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  9. ^ Armorer, Nakeisha (December 2007). "An online revolution". The Blue Print. 3 (2). Paul J. Hagerty High School: 12.
  10. ^ a b c d e Time Staff (2009-03-29). "Charlie the Unicorn - YouTube's 50 Best Videos". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  11. ^ Newitz, Annalee (2000-01-06). "Logan Whitehurst: The John Keats of Nerdcore". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  12. ^ Steele, Jason. (2009). Commentary for Charlie the Unicorn 2, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  13. ^ Parr, Ben (2009-05-25). "Top 20 YouTube and Video Memes of All Time". Mashable. Mashable.com. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  14. ^ Steele, Jason (2007-01-15). "Charlie the Unicorn: Nearly 8 million views internet-wide?". Spatula Madness Production Blog. FilmCow. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  15. ^ Virginian-Pilot Staff (2009-04-21). "Cultural touchstones courtesy of YouTube". The Virginian-Pilot. Landmark Media Enterprises. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  16. ^ K.J. (2006-05-23). "Charile the Unicorn: Candy Mountain". Salon. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  17. ^ Steele, Jason (2009-04-22). "Llamas with Hats on AOTS". The FilmCow Blog. FilmCow. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  18. ^ Hamlin, Brian (2009-11-15). "A cautionary tale of correspondents and unicorns" (Registration required). The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  19. ^ Anitai, Tamar (2008-05-30). "The Man Behind the Memes: An Exclusive Interview With Weezer 'Pork and Beans' Video Director Mathew Cullen". MTV Buzzworthy. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  20. ^ a b c Sarno, David (2008-05-30). "Mathew Cullen, director of Weezer's 'Pork and Beans,' shares some secrets". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  21. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (2008-05-24). "Weezer understands how to work YouTube: allude to these 24 viral videos". Valleywag. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  22. ^ Staff Writers (2008-05-28). "Spot the memes in Weezer's Pork and Beans". News Limited. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  23. ^ Steele, Jason. (2009). Commentary for YouTube Live "Charlie the Unicorn" Video, in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  24. ^ Steele, Jason. (2009). Commentary for YouTube Live "Charlie the Unicorn Promo", in The FilmCow Master Collection: 200 Years of Excellence [DVD]. Kunaki.
  25. ^ Youngstrom, Kimberly (2009-06-05). "Viral Video Phenomenon Charlie the Unicorn a Real-World T-Shirt Success - A CafePress Cultural BarometerTM Report". Business Wire. Reuters. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  26. ^ Steele, Jason (2008-03-27). "This post is for you. No, you. Yes... yoooouuuu". Spatula Madness Production Blog. FilmCow. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  27. ^ Steele, Jason (2009-03-01). "Charlie video now up on HotTopic.com". The FilmCow Blog. FilmCow. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
  28. ^ Video of Charlie on Jeopardy!
  29. ^ J! Archive

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