Quacksilver.com!

Here's an interactive timeline (CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION) courtesy of Timetoast.com

 
My name is Alex. I have a brother named Andrew. We are twin brothers. We make movies.

Before we made movies we made comic books. “Clipboard Comics” was a running series published by “Playground Pond Inc.” from 2001 to 2004 (to learn more about our comics, click here). Eventually, we transferred our humorous endeavors onto video circa 2003. We continued to use the production title of “Playground Pond Inc.”

Our first movie was titled “A Special Day”. This was because ‘A Special Day’ was one of the only automatic titles on our camera that was not holiday specific. A Special Day was a compilation of short parodies of popular movies. We used our action figures and toys to portray the characters. We acted in several segments, some of which were based on our comics. After A Special Day we went on to start a ‘sequel’ type effort which would later be called “Gimme A Break!” (another auto-title on our camera). This consisted of all original characters and absolutely no plot. For a short while we considered this “A Special Day 2”, but after starting A Special Day 3, we realized that nowhere previously had we actually referred to Gimme A Break! it as part 2 (with the exception of verbal statements). So, in effect, our ‘Special Day’ Trilogy is made up of A Special Day, Gimme A Break!, and A Special Day 3. Great trilogies come in two's. 

In late 2003, a guy named Batman (seriously I'm not joking) sued us for the camera…it’s a long story.

In 2005, A Special Day 3 continued the tradition of compiled parodies. We acted more throughout, wearing stupid, usually poorly made, but ingenious costumes. Along with A Special Day 3 we made countless short films, like Kill the Monkeys and Pikachu Meets My Foot. We also attempted to create independent, stand-alone films, but because of our primitive editing techniques, they hardly ever worked out.

Also in 2005, we started making Audiotricks. “Audiotrick” is a name we gave to our special technique of dubbing our audio over real movies. It was sort of like MST3K, only we would record our own audio, replacing all the dialogue, music, and sound effects with our own inept noises. We made Audiotricks from 2005 until 2010, with several extended hiatuses. In 2006, we decided to try something new, so we changed our production name to “Mallard Brothers/Webbed Toe Productions”. We successfully made original, independent films. We made these films until 2007, when our camera stopped working (it was nine years old). We eventually got a new camera and made several more movies before that camera died. Then, we took advantage of our high school television station and made several movies using their cameras in 2008 and 2009, including the 45 minute Jay Today Halloween Spectacular Extravaganza of Doom.

In 2009, we moved to separate college campuses, and without video cameras, took up making Youtube videos. Most of these videos were produced with third-party content and were often Mash Ups (meaning they were montages, hyper-edits, and generally goofy wacky nonsense). It was a great way to practice editing techniques. Paralleling our slowdown in movies was the rise of Cellular Moshpit, our fake band, in 2008. We would take third-party instrumental music and produce lyrics and songs with them. Rock on.

In late 2009, Alex formed Quacksilver Productions in an effort to “exert creative control”, essentially so that he could make whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without the pressure of collaborating with Andrew (though he does so anyway). However, at this time our camera was still broken, and as a result the first several films made by Quacksilver were filmed either with the broken camera itself, or with the broken camera feeding directly into a DVD recorder, which served as a giant anchor. This is why Unknown (2009) is a grainy black and white film and why Sacked (2010) is filmed mostly against a solid background. In early 2010, I bought a cheap camera and made several “point-and-shoot” movies, like Sunshine (2010).

In 2010, we gave up making Audiotricks and took up riffing movies instead. Meanwhile, I was becoming frustrated with Youtube when I received a copyright violation notice regarding the video titled Godzilla Hot Spot Dance Party. So I decided to move all my content to Quacksilver. It was the second violation notice against my account, so without much choice I removed most of my videos in early 2011. My ongoing battle with Youtube had started with my first independent video (circa 2008). My first video was an animated music video set to Particle Man by They Might Be Giants. Despite the fact that countless others had the same song in use, my account was forced to remove the song several, if not dozens of times. So, in a sense, “Triangle Dude” has become a symbol for Quacksilver and my independence. In addition to the move, I began receiving small time recognition for my video 145 Reasons Why Spider-Man 3 Sucks (2010), which spawned the "Reasons Why" web series. I have since taken up animation and other video styles. In addition, I like to doodle, write, and even make the occasional bit of music.

So there you go, there’s the history of Quacksilver, the Mallard Brothers and a little slice of Alex’s life.

Thanks for the support,

--Alex

Below are the videos that are left on my old youtube channel, "Channel Dukklord"