Supercut

About

Supercut videos (a.k.a pop culture megamixes) are video montages made of overused movie or TV platitudes. Very often, they are meant to highlight how certain hackneyed lines have lost all meaning due to their continuous employment by lazy screenwriters.

Origin

The term “supercut” was coined by blogger Andy Baio on April 11th 2008. In the original post^[1], Baio described a supercut as:

(A) genre of video meme, where some obsessive-compulsive superfan collects every phrase/action/cliche from an episode (or entire series) of their favorite show/film/game into a single massive video montage.

In the blog post, Baio cites a YouTube video titled “Previously on Lost : What?” as an example of a Supercut, which was uploaded on April 3rd, 2008:

The first viral supercut video to deal specifically with clichés was compiled by Rich Juzwiak^[2], an entertainment blogger who goes by the YouTube handle Richfofo on July 2nd, 2008. The video, titled “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”, is a 3 minute 20 second video of reality TV contestants exclaiming how they’re “not here to make friend”, they’re “here to win”. It was a hit across the internet, and has spawned several sequels.

Spread

On December 13th, 2009, You Tube user dunk3d posted the earliest known Movie Cliché Supercut, showing a montage of people looking at an image on a computer screen and mindlessly saying “enhance” – a highly inaccurate depiction of what computer imaging software is capable of, which had infuriated nerds for years.

This was followed by the “We’ve Got Company” montage by Guy Bauer on April 10th 2010.

Relaunch of Supercut.org

On November 1st, 2011, Andy Baio announced the relaunch of the website Supercut.org^[5] in an article on Wired.^[3] After teaming up with digital artist Michael Bell-Smith, Baio remade Supercut.org into a supercut video database with several different categories where users could upload their own videos. In the article, Baio shared statistics revealing that the majority of the videos use footage from films and that 5% of supercuts have over 300 edits.

Script Clichés

“It’s Gonna Blow!”

Uploaded by YouTuber Jesperc20 on May 4th, 2010:

“Get Out of There!”

Uploaded by YouTuber hh1edits on May 4th, 2010:

“I Could Tell You But I’d Have To Kill You”

Uploaded by YouTuber Bartoscar on August 6th 2010:

“You Look Like Shit”

Uploaded by The Hufftington Post on November 12th, 2010:

“Not In Kansas Anymore”

Uploaded by YouTuber Richfofo on December 15th, 2010:

“He Didn’t Make It”

Uploaded by The Huffington Post on December 16th, 2010:

“It’s Show Time!”

Uploaded by YouTuber hh1edits on January 26th, 2011:

Production Cliché

Not all Movie Cliché Supercuts focus on quotes. Some, such as “Mirror Scare” (posted on February 7th 2010 by Richfofo) deal with the familiar visual clichés in horror films.

Mirror Scare Scenes

Action Movie Clichés

Similarly, this video of action movie clichés, posted to Vimeo by Jacob Bricca on May 29th 2010, highlights how many action films are made up of the same visual components.

Spit-Take Clichés

Even comedies are guilty of resorting to familiar visual territory, as this “Spit-Take Supercut”, posted to The Huffington Post on January 21st 2011, shows.

Movie Titles Said in Movies

On March 17th, 2011, YouTuber Honsco uploaded a Supercut mashup “Movie Titles in Movies,” a montage of eighty memorable scenes wherein each character quotes the title of the film.

Wilhelm Scream

On June 17th, 2006, YouTuber christofduke posted a video compilation of movie scenes that sample the “Wilhelm scream,” a popular stock sound effect often heard in TV shows and George Lucas films. The video was originally put together by Pablo Hidalgo:

Actor-Specific Clichés

Arnold Schwarzenegger Screaming

Although not clichés, per se, some supercuts focus on familiar themes in one actors repertoire, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger Screaming by FilmDrunk.Com.

Natalie Portman Crying

Osama vs. Obama Supercut

On May 9th, 2011, online media company GotchaMedia published a compilation of over 20 news reports in which the announcer accidentally mispronounced “Osama” bin Laden as President “Obama.”

Further Examples

Other examples which fall into this category:

• Nicholas Cage Loosing His Shit by hh1edits
• Shia La Beouf Saying “No No No No” by SkyWalkerPotter21
• Kristen Stewart Biting Her Lower Lip by RuudVanNistelroy1
• Sam Rockwell Dancing by Aeide13

• This interview with Rich Juzwiak (maker of “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”) on This American Life.

External References

^[1] Andy Baio – Fanboy Supercuts Obsessive Video Montage

^[2] Typepad – Rich Juzwiak

^[3] Wired – The Video Remix Supercut Comes of Age

^[4] The Verge – Supercut.org relaunched to keep up with the meme’s growing popularity

^[5] Supercut.org – Home of the Obsessive Video Montage