Gummibär
German multilingual character From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gummibär (pronounced [ˈɡʊmibɛːɐ̯] ⓘ; German for "gummy bear") or Gummy Bear is a German animated multilingual character and Eurodance virtual musician created in 2006 by the Serbian-born music composer Christian Philipp Schneider to accompany a novelty dance song starring the character titled "I'm a Gummy Bear", which would become a worldwide hit being strongly associated with the character. The English video for the song and its Spanish adaptation have accumulated over 3.2 billion and 1.2 billion views on the YouTube platform respectively.
Gummibär | |
|---|---|
Modern appearance of Gummibär. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Gummy Bear |
| Origin | Germany |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Gummybear International |
| Website | thegummybear |
 | |
Gummibär is characterized in Gummibär-related media as a joyful, easygoing and energetic gummy bear who is passionate about singing and dancing, this being his main focus. He acts as a virtual musician who has performed a series of songs and animated music videos. He is occasionally shown to be accompanied by supporting characters, such as Kala, a blue serval cat who is a master of martial arts, and Harry, a green male chamaleon who studies science. However, Gummibär has been typically shown to be performing alone.
The Gummibär character has spawned a remarkable online presence on the Internet and consequently, a number of albums have been released to capitalize on the popularity, starting off with I Am Your Gummy Bear, which introduced a series of cover songs performed by the character along with new compositions that were exclusive to the album, being officially released on 2007. Subsequently, the second mainstream album La La Love to Dance was released in 2010, becoming one of the other most streamed albums from the artist. The company Gummybear International, Inc., who has obtained the rights of the character, exploited the Gummibär brand to release a large amount of products featuring its characters, including a market for merchandising, an animated web series titled Gummibär & Friends: The Gummy Bear Show, and two full-length films; The Yummy Gummy Search For Santa, and the upcoming Gummibär & Friends: Operation Cotton Candy scheduled for a theatrical release on 2026.
History
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Perspective
In late 2005, Serbian-born music composer Christian Philipp Schneider found himself attending a restaurant located in Germany. While the cook was delayed, Christian ordered a couple of beers, as he was willing to eat the special plates that the cook could offer him. He later encountered with a female bartender, who she would involve him in a whimsical conversation. At first, the bartender referred to him as her gummy bear. Taken aback, Christian initially responded with disbelief, uttering: "No, what?". However, in the very next moment, he playfully retorted "I am your gummy bear". This simple interaction would spark a brilliant idea in Christian's mind, and he promptly recorded himself humming a melody in his vintage Walkman.[1][2]
On September 13, 2005, the melody was adopted with its German title "Ich Bin Dein Gummibär", and was announced on a German publication known as Titelschutz Anzeiger.[3] During the same year, Christian started to develop the concept of the song based on the recording he previously made, including the lyrics and sound recordings.[4] His son, German DJ-producer Christian André Schneider, took over the job as the singing voice of the character Gummibär, and produced the music that his father composed.[5]
Animated video
In the beginning of 2006, Danish director and creator Pete Dodd was comissioned by Christian to come up with a design for a character that could resemble of a gummy bear candy, in order to be used for a 30-second CGI-animated pop promo music video in which he would star as the singer. The definitive design of the character became an half-naked, overweight animated gummy bear with a half-chewed right ear that only wears an orange underwear and white sport sneakers. Dodd was also comissioned to direct, design and animate the video that would involve the character humorously sing and dance along to the song. The 30-second animated video ended up being produced through the animation studio Wil Film ApS in Copenhagen for Ministry of Sound GmbH in Berlin, using the 3D computer graphics software Softimage XSI.[6][5]
The production of the 30-second animated video was completed in the middle of 2006, and was initially uploaded to the YouTube platform on July 14, 2006 under the channel berlin0708, featuring a German adaptation of the song which would work as the original language that was first introduced.[7] The video immediately recieved attention through filesharing and word of mouth, which benefited the song to sign a wide number of partnerships with ringtone companies to commercialize the video through ringtones for mobile phones, including Jamba!, who proposed to include it in their ringtone series incorporating animated singing characters. Eventually, more languages relating to the song were later adapted and uploaded to the YouTube platform, some of these first languages being English, Hungarian, and French.[8][9][10]
Name origins and appearance
The name "Gummibär" is taken from a German brand of bear-shaped gummy candies from Haribo introduced in 1920.[11] The highly-stylized, green-coloured, blue-eyed gelatinous bear character (with belly button) wears orange Y-front briefs and white sneakers.
Popularity
Gummibär's popularity as a phenomenon is very similar to that of fellow European music phenomenon Crazy Frog, characterised by repetition of lyrics and singing of catchy melodies. Variants of the character's music have been released in various languages internationally.[12]
DVD
Gummibär: I Am Gummy Bear - The Gummibär Video Collection was released on 28 April 2009 in the US. The DVD contains a video collection of "I'm a Gummy Bear" in nine different languages, as well as some of the character's other releases.[13] They promote their merch by putting it in their videos at the start of the music videos.
Other media
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Film
The Yummy Gummy Search For Santa
Gummibär: The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa was released in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2012,[14] and in the US on 6 November 2012 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.[15] It is Gummibär's first feature-length film. It was directed by Bernie Denk and Jurgen Korduletsch, and written by Robert David Stevenson and Leo St. Pierre. Aside from the titular character, it stars Harry, a male chameleon, Vampiro, a Dracula-esque vampire bat, and Kala, a female cat, as they embark on a search for Santa Claus, who is reported missing on Christmas Eve.[15] The film aired in the US on 1 December of the same year on The CW's Vortexx Saturday morning cartoon block, which billed the airing as a "world premiere".[16][17]
Gummibär & Friends: Operation Cotton Candy
Gummibär & Friends: Operation Cotton Candy is scheduled to be theatrically released in 2026 From Toonz Media Group, Gummybear International, And Telegael and Space Age Films. [18][19] It Will Be Directed by Peter Dodd, written by Dan Berlinka and produced by P. Jayakumar & Paul Cummins.
Web series
In 2016, a YouTube animated web series titled Gummibär and Friends was released online on the official Gummibär YouTube channel, consisting of one season of 39 episodes.[20] Those international versions were released on a channel titled "Gummy Bear Show International" beginning on 1 April, 2020.[21]
Discography
- I Am Your Gummy Bear (2007)
- La La Love to Dance (2010)
- Christmas Jollies (2010)
- Party Pop (2015)
- The Gummy Bear Album (2019)
- Gummy Bear Album 2020 (2020)
- Holiday Fun Time (2021)
References
External links
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