broadcast quality CGI - cost and manhours / min ?

hi -

it has come to my attention - that broadcast quality CGI and digital compsiting is appearing in about 05% of advertisments on UK [ my rough estimate ]

that does not sound much - but it is a huge number of minuites / week - and even chanel intros and invividual prog trailers that are only shown for a few days now feature high levels of CGI

given that a common rebutal to the notion that extra ordinary clips of cryptics , UFOs and paranormal incidents are CGI or digital composites is :

" it cannot be cgi , because it looks so real - a hoaxer could not produce it - it would take too long / cost too much "

i find myself wondering just how much it costs and how long it takes to produce a second of CGI footage that - when viewed on a 24" widescreen tv set - looks real

what is the budget for a 20 second clip promoting a chennel [ for brits reading this i am refering to the ch4 ads ]

i am talking about ads that look real - but you " know " that they are physically imposible

so if ad agencies are able to churn out so much digital footage - might the claims of people who believe that " it cannot be CGI , because CGI is too expensive / too time consuming " be fallacious ?

CGI used to be crap and horendously expensive [ tron the movie ? ] but that is no longer the case

so can we establish the 2007 cost / workload of a CGI clip / second ?

it might help several threads

The first CGI clips and movies probably used all in-house developing software. There are packages nowadays to create cgi movies - which have 3d modelling programs, shadowing/lighting, and everything needed for cgi. Hoaxers will have access to these programs but I think it'll depend on the dynamics of the clip to see if it's truly a fake. Yet even if it were real, professionals may be able to get so close to the real deal that everything could have a "cgi" label.

The price of CGI animation depends on what you have to do to get it. If you are trying to get something done privately, it would be horribly expensive. But advertising agencies are doing what they have always done, that being hiring people straight out of school to do the work. There are many programs teaching CGI animation and many students taking it. When they come out they need a job to pay off their student loans, so they take what they can get. This allows the ad agencies to get the newest and best technology and knowledge for rock bottom prices. So the cost to them is a computer, the proper programs and wages. With the price of known actors being so high, I expect that you will see more CGI commercials in the future.