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==Election 2004==
==Election 2004==
==="This Land"===
==="This Land"===
For the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 presidential election]], JibJab created a Flash movie entitled ''This Land'', which featured [[George W. Bush]] and [[John Kerry]] singing a [[parody]] of [[Woody Guthrie]]'s song "[[This Land Is Your Land]]."
Luv Ya [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 presidential election]], JibJab created a Flash movie entitled ''This Land'', which featured [[George W. Bush]] and [[John Kerry]] singing a [[parody]] of [[Woody Guthrie]]'s song "[[This Land Is Your Land]]."


This animation was an instant success, and the site was listed number one on ''[[Alexa Internet|Alexa]]'''s "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent (including [[Antarctica]]) as well as the [[International Space Station]].<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=369362&page=1 ABC News (December 31, 2004)]</ref> The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on [[AtomFilms]], where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2004-07-27-jibjab_x.htm USA Today (July 24, 2004)]</ref>
This animation was an instant success, and the site was listed number one on ''[[Alexa Internet|Alexa]]'''s "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent (including [[Antarctica]]) as well as the [[International Space Station]].<ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=369362&page=1 ABC News (December 31, 2004)]</ref> The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on [[AtomFilms]], where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2004-07-27-jibjab_x.htm USA Today (July 24, 2004)]</ref>

Revision as of 17:12, 28 December 2011

JibJab Media Inc.
File:JibJab Logo - Wikipedia.png
File:Jibjabscreen.png
Main Page as of 8 November 2011
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Humor
Available inEnglish
Founded1999
Headquarters,
U.S.
Key peopleEvan Spiridellis, Founder
Gregg Spridellis, Founder & CEO
Employees35
URLJibJab.com
RegistrationOptional
Launched1999
Current statusActive
Evan & Greg Spiridellis at Entertainment Gathering 2010

JibJab is a digital entertainment studio based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, it was noticed during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land is Your Land" became a hit. The company creates, produces and distributes original content. It has three main sections on the website - 1.) eCards 2.) 'Everyday Fun Sendables' such as funny videos and 3.) Originals including "This Land", "Time for Some Campaign'," "Big Box Mart" and more.

Before all this happened, JibJab produced commercials and shorts for clients like Sony, Noggin, and Disney.

Election 2004

"This Land"

Luv Ya 2004 presidential election, JibJab created a Flash movie entitled This Land, which featured George W. Bush and John Kerry singing a parody of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land."

This animation was an instant success, and the site was listed number one on Alexa's "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent (including Antarctica) as well as the International Space Station.[1] The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on AtomFilms, where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.[2]

After being linked to on thousands of websites, the song was featured several times in the printed media and on television, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News and ABC World News Tonight. On July 26, 2004, the creators appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In December 2004 the brothers were named People of the Year by Peter Jennings.[3]

The Richmond Organization, a music publisher that owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune through its Ludlow Music Unit, threatened legal action.[4] JibJab responded with a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming the song was protected under a fair use exemption for parodies. JibJab and Ludlow Music reached a settlement after JibJab's attorneys unearthed evidence that the song had passed into the public domain in 1973. The terms of the settlement allowed for the continued distribution of This Land.[5] Jim Meskimen voiced almost all the characters.

E-Cards

In 2007, JibJab made an option to put photographs of people's faces in some animated JibJab videos, and the option to send them to other people as e-cards or "sendables".[6] This option is included in a video site "Elf Yourself" by OfficeMax,[7] where an uploaded photo is put onto a singing/dancing elf. JibJab has let people "star" in many movies, such as renditions of Star Wars in honor of the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back[8] and Mad Men.[9]

Year in Review

JibJab is arguably most famous for its "Year in Review" videos, which are released usually sometime in December.

"2-0-5" - 2005 Year In Review

2-0-5 is the year in review video for the year 2005, it reflects the songs Auld Lang Syne and Turkey in the Straw. 2-0-5 is sung in the perspective of George W. Bush and reflecting on the years downpoints such as Avian Flu, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, piracy in Somalia, stem cells, Scooter Libby, Tom DeLay, and his own steadily dropping approval rating.

Nuckin' Futs! - The JibJab Year In Review 2006

This Year in Review portrays a Christmas concert with the kids singing about the past year. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Britney Spears, the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein, the Dick Cheney hunting incident, 2006 Thai coup d'état, Mel Gibson's DUI incident, Fidel Castro's health crisis, Ariel Sharon's stroke, Google buying YouTube, Paris Hilton, Kim Jong-il, Kenneth Lay, Escherichia coli in food, Israel, Hezbollah, and Iran's nuclear program. It is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells, and states at the end that the way that things are going, armageddon won't be long.

In 2007

The tune "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel was used in this Year in Review. The theme is the 2007 Annual Humanity Report arriving and a group of angels do not want to anger God so they "sugar coat" it in a song. Topics such as global warming, Lindsay Lohan's cocaine bust, Alberto Gonzales, the war in Darfur, the Don Imus Rutgers University women's basketball team controversy, Blackwater USA, the Airbus A380, Facebook, the Wii, the Malibu forest fires, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and the iPhone were used in this Year in Review.

The JibJab Year In Review 2008

In this Year in Review Baby New Year is seen singing about the past years events to the next Baby New Year for 2009, telling him the year was bad. The song used in this is "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat". Some topics in this videos were the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the liquidity crisis of the American International Group, the Big Three (automobile manufacturers), David Duchovny going to rehab, Daniel Radcliffe performing in Equus, Miley Cyrus, Sarah Palin, the 2008 South Ossetia war, the United States presidential election, 2008, and Hurricane Ike. In the end of the video, the future Baby New Year leaves, making Baby New Year '08 stay to chronicle another year.

Never A Year Like 09

Sung to the tune of "The Entertainer", it chronicles the year's past events. Barack Obama, Afghan presidential election, 2009, 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, the Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy, the resignation of Sarah Palin, swine influenza, the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549, Octomom, the divorce of Jon and Kate Gosselin, Brett Favre, Joe Wilson yelling "You Lie!" during the Barack Obama speech to joint session of Congress, September 2009, Balloon Boy, Carrie Prejean, Sonia Sotomayor, Michael Jackson's death, and Tiger Woods are such topics. The animation style is notably different from past years.

So Long To Ya, 2010

The 2010 Year in Review aired on December 19, 2010 on CBS News Sunday Morning. It featured puppets of Obama and Biden singing about what happened in the year 2010; the song was set to the tune of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze".[10] The review focused mainly on Barack Obama, as well on other political events such as the Tea Party movement, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, in Iceland, the Greece's Debt Crisis, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Mosque at Ground Zero, WikiLeaks, the campaign finance reform in the United States, Charles B. Rangel, Stanley A. McChrystal, Hamid Karzai, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, and the United States elections, 2010. This video ends with a basketball being thrown at President Obama, knocking him through the first "0" of "2010" and Biden stating that it will need stitches.

2011, Buh-Bye!

On December 20, 2011 the 2011 Year in Review, titled "2011, Buh-Bye!" was released, and is available on YouTube and their website. [11] Sung to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", it covered several events including the claims of theft by Lindsay Lohan; charges of sexual assaults of Dominique Strauss-Kahn; presidential campaigns with the 9-9-9 plan; the revelation of Arnold Schwarzenegger having a love child; Standard & Poor lowering the United States score for the first time; the United States Senate debating over the taxes; Anthony Weiner having sent a picture to a woman on his penis via Twitter; United States debt-ceiling crisis; the rate of unemployment primarily in the United States; The Arab Spring with particular emphasis on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the Libyan Revolution; the removal of the don't ask, don't tell policy of the United States Armed Forces; the claims of homosexuality in Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie; the death of Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan; the 2011 London riots; the 2011 end times prediction by Harold Camping; the widespread 2012 phenomenon; the short-lived marriage by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries; the de facto bankruptcy of Netflix; Justin Bieber's new hairstyle; Friday by Rebecca Black; Occupy Wall Street; the deaths of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Taylor, Randy Savage and Amy Winehouse, and the trial and conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray were such topics.

The logo of JibJab depicts two men from the Victorian era, which was temporarily changed in So Long To Ya, 2010 to puppets.

JibJab Jr.

In August of 2011, JibJab entered the kids market with JibJab Jr. - a line of children's books for the iPad. The app allows parents to personalize the stories with a photo & name of their child. [12]

References

  1. ^ ABC News (December 31, 2004)
  2. ^ USA Today (July 24, 2004)
  3. ^ ABC News (December 31, 2004)
  4. ^ Wired News (August 8, 2004)[1] CNN Money (July 26, 2004) [2]
  5. ^ CNET News.com (August 25, 2004)
  6. ^ Mashable (August 9, 2007)
  7. ^ MarketingProfs (December 11, 2007)
  8. ^ The Washington Post (May 5, 2010)
  9. ^ The Hollywood Reporter (July 6, 2010)
  10. ^ "So Long To Ya, 2010". JibJab.com. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
  11. ^ http://blog.jibjab.com/2011/12/12/year-in-review-vocals-recorded/
  12. ^ USA Today (August 31, 2011)