Lasse Gjertsen (born 19 July 1984) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

, musician, and

videographer Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It used ...

.lassegg
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

He is best known for his short pieces "Hyperactive" and "Amateur", big hits in the early years of YouTube, which strung together short clips of video to create a unique form of video akin to

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animation. His "Hyperactive" video has over 8.9 million views and his "Amateur" video has over 16 million views.

Biography

Gjertsen was born in

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

, Norway. He studied animation at

Kent Institute of Art & Design The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Co ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and at

Volda University College Volda University College ( no, Høgskulen i Volda or HVO) is one of the no-tuition state institutions in the system of higher education in Norway. It is located in the town of Volda, Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. History HVO was established ...

in Norway. His time at Kent Institute ended with his teachers failing to appreciate his work, specifically ''Hyperactive''.

YouTube

Lasse originally submitted ''Hyperactive'' to YouTube after seeing a copy uploaded by another user with poor

sound quality Sound quality is typically an assessment of the accuracy, fidelity, or intelligibility of audio output from an electronic device. Quality can be measured objectively, such as when tools are used to gauge the accuracy with which the device re ...

. Over the next six months Lasse uploaded 16 more videos, many created during his animation course. He has had several videos featured on the YouTube front page, including ''Hyperactive'', ''What The Fuck?'', ''Amateur'', and ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti''. While ''Hyperactive'' has been the most popular, ''Amateur'' was featured in an article in the online edition of the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. Another video by Gjertsen has also been featured on

; "Hva faen, Speil?" in which he is looking into a mirror while some of the effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms become apparent through video and audio editing. Lasse Gjertsen's video ''Hyperactive'' was nominated in the category Most Creative video in YouTube's 2006 Video Awards. The video achieved third place. Hyperactive was copied by

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

in an advert for the show ''

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' (also known as ''Foster's Home'', or simply ''Foster's'' for short) is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios as ...

''. Lasse initially considered

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

but after talking to a lawyer decided it would be too arduous. It was also spoofed in an advertisement for the 3rd season of the FX TV show ''

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

''. Whether this was done with or without Gjertsen's permission is unclear. Lasse Gjertsen is also the creator of the soundtrack of the Chaplin Snakker videos on

. Chaplin Snakker is one of his electronic songs, in which the freedom- and awe-inspiring speech of

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

from his movie ''

The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the onl ...

'' (1940) is elevated by the use of music. Gjertsen also created a parody of Fireman Sam, dubbing his voice over Thief in Pontypandy.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Beyond YouTube

The YouTube success has resulted in offers from international companies like

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. However, Gjertsen publicly denounces the concept of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, considering it below prostitution, and has refused all such offers. In addition to his video work, Lasse has a self-produced album of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

music. In 2007 Lasse worked on a two-part

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

collaboration, named ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti'', with the Italian

Cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Giovanni Sollima Giovanni Sollima (born 24 October 1962 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy) is an Italian composer and cellist. He was born into a family of musicians and studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and composition with his father, Eliodoro Sollima, at the Con ...

. This was presented at the 8th International Fringe

Film Festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

in Marzamemi,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In the same year he directed the music video for the Swedish rapper

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

's song "Get Fizzy". From 2019, Gjertsen has been working with VFX and voice on the children's show "Minibarna" for the Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Together with colleagues he received the award "Gullruten" for best VFX in may 2021.

Software

Lasse has stated he uses the following software in the creation of his videos: *

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the indu ...

Adobe Premiere Pro Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based and non-linear video editing software application (NLE) developed by Adobe Inc. and published as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud licensing program. First launched in 2003, Adobe Premiere Pro is a succes ...

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After Eff ...

* Debugmode WinMorph *

FL Studio FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...

Music

Lasse uses FL Studio to create original compositions in his videos. Although he claims not to have much skill with instruments, he has sampled himself using Drums, Piano, Guitar,

Harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, and singing. The only videos without original compositions are the two music videos, ''Home Sweet Home'' by Norwegian

Rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Sirius, and ''Sogno ad Occhi Aperti'' by Italian Cellist Giovanni Sollima.

YouTube video chronology

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

References

External links

Lasse Gjertsen
on

Lasse Gjertsen
on Myspace
Lasse Gjertsen
Exclusive content created for E4 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gjertsen, Lasse Norwegian animated film directors Norwegian film directors Norwegian male comedians Internet memes 1984 births Living people Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Norwegian YouTubers People from Larvik