How Easy is it To Fake UFO Footage?

Well, it really depends on your set of skills....

As technology continues to advance, faked footage continues to flood the internet.
Not to mention the many computer design students, that use UFOs for school projects. It's actually perfect for them, because it gives you a change to blend real footage, with CGI.

Im sure almost everyone on this site saw the recent "District 9" and also "Avatar". While your home PC may not have that kind of capabilities yet, many high powered PC's can run something almost comparable.


So how can we tell the difference? Without being video engineers?


You cant. Sorry.

I have lost my fascination with UFO footage and pictures in the recent years, because of this. I am a novice to photoshop, and it's ilk. However, I know how to blur and shadow my pictures. I can crop, and I can add to the image.
I have learned how to crop pictures of me and my exes, because I thought I looked good in the photo, and no one is the wiser.

So you see, it's actually easier than you think. I dont want anyone flaming the thread, saying that any of these are REAL. They are not.

Lets look at some of the fake footage out there:

Front yard attack!!!



Ithe video doesnt show, click here.

This one is silly, but you can see my point. It's pretty easy to edit stuff into your video. If you look at it frame by frame, it's pretty obvious that it's just a gray blur.



WTC UFO

Click here if the Vid doesnt work


I remember seeing this, in an edited form. The edit was the video WITHOUT the "SCi fi Channel" bookends at the beginning and the end. Of course, I freaked out. But it turns out it was a fake, and made for a commercial spot.



UFO caught on the news!

Click if the Vid doesnt work.

Also good work. They seem to appear out of nowhere!!!

Well, they do.


How has the accessibility of technology effected your opinions of UFO footage?

What do you say, fellow ATS'ers? How do you feel?

It's pretty much killed my interest in the subject...

I'm glad you brought this up, most video doesn't prove anything anymore.

reply to post by Signals


Same here, Signals.

It makes you question every single video you see.

Do you still enjoy older footage that is yet to be debunked?

reply to post by InertiaZero


Hi,

Think the ability to use technology to create UFO videos/photos has a totally negative effect;

a) Because it wastes so much time of both the 'believers' and the 'debunkers'
b) It tends to turn people into to a skeptics - I now condider every new video/photo to be a hoax. This may mean a valid video is dismissed
c) Demeans people who are interested in UFO's especially when the MSM publish poor examples as hoaxes.

And unfortunatel, as computers become more powerful and software more functional, it is only going to get worse.

Peace!

reply to post by The Wave


I view newer videos the same way. HOAX

That is, when I actually view them.

It makes you miss the old days.

I could fake UFOs all day and night- and I even 'discovered' a new method of faking them that I am sure someone hit on during either hoaxing or discovering a hoax. First, tho- I have to MAKE it, and do all the post stuff first. Actually.... first, small nap.

reply to post by wylekat


Neat-o!

I think you should share this with the group.

It will only prove my point further.

Originally posted by InertiaZero
reply to post by Signals

 

Same here, Signals.

It makes you question every single video you see.

Do you still enjoy older footage that is yet to be debunked?

Maybe so, but there's so little out there. Old pictures are interesting. Most will bring up "UFOs in ancient art, cave drawings", etc...but I believe most of that is misunderstood.

There are tons of these videos coming out now. They're all CGI, and they're all cleverly done by some very talented freelancers who are looking for work. The entire "drone" case in 2007, imo, was an attempt at a portfolio builder. Imagine, being an editor, or animation artist who had that whole thing on your resume to show to prospective employer. That could land you any great jobs in the field of graphic design, CGI artistry, etc. If I were an animator, since UFO's are a field that I love, I'd definitely make UFO videos all day and all night. It's art imitating life, and UFO reports from the 50s, 60s, etc., up until the YouTube era. Some videos are done better than others, but it's pretty good for a trained eye to be able to tell CGI from reality.

www.youtube.com...

The above video was done by a few 5 year olds with an LED ring light, a window, and too much time on their hands. If they can make something like that...the sky is the limit for professional artists.

reply to post by Signals



I still enjoy older "still shots" as well. But then I have to wonder if they are photoshopped if it is one I am not familiar with. It's so frustrating!!

I agree about the drawings as well. Like any art, those ancient drawings can be interpereted many ways.

Some see beauty in Lady Ga Ga's music.....So I guess anything can be interperated differently.

While it is easy as all get out to make convincing ufo hoaxes on video, no worries. Doesn't bother me a bit.

It is much harder to make a convincing UFO sighting in it's entirety (multiple witnesses, 911 calls, multiple cameras, etc.)

Like when you see the typical under 30 second video that give believers the chills, most of us can laugh it off just by using common sense. Lets see, UFO over city..check, overactive camera work...check, missing thousands of reports that would have come out of such a densely populated area......nope videos that are fake don't have that sort of back up, so no worries.

But yeah, for the majority that are interested in this subject they just consume thease things left and right, they don't use common sense when viewing videos. I mean, really, remember the haiti video, lol. Anyone with half a brain knew it was fake right from the get go, but fools defended that rubbish and even kept defending it after the "truth" was out, lol. Again, good and fun video, but not only could you tell it was cgi, but it lacked any back up information that such a video would have. Plain and simple.

CGI and photoshop will not be the death of this subject, but blind believers that have no common sense, reason or logic will be that I assure you.

reply to post by InertiaZero


I am no longer interested in watching videos of UFOs because it is impossible to determine what is a fake and what is not. I am however fortunate to have seen several UFO’s with my own eyes (and in company too at one point) so I am validated in knowing that I was not hallucinating and that there are very strange things flying around above us.

However It is so sad, such a great shame that certain so called “artists” feel such compulsions to infect the field of ufology with their poison but there is no way to stop them and no way to appeal to their better natures because to them what is of the utmost importance is not truth but rather, the kudos and ego massaging that comes from their peers as they damage this area of interest and research because such an artist cares not for truth and would rather have recognition for their creation instead – my assumption of course.

I would not envisage that they do this on purpose but perhaps I might have more respect for them if they actually did this with a mind set to damage. Instead with much annoyance they do not care what they trample because in the quest to realise much kudos and respect within their peer group or demographic they call into question any rare evidence and thus ruin what could be factual evidence with a relentless and growing infection of CGI that looks more realistic and undeterminable from the truth with every passing year.

No longer can we look at videos and wonder because at the back of the mind comes a nagging doubt that what is being watched could just be an expensive animation or render and in suspecting this we are in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

However in a way we could choose to see this CGI infection as providence as more and more I am resigned to watch the skies myself rather than log into YouTube and in doing so I have seen my own proof right there in front of my eyes and it was right up there with the mind blowing visions of seeing my daughters born (actually I helped my youngest enter the world but I digress).

There was a brilliantly done fake that turned me away from looking online for proof and it involved two UFO’s zooming down over a camera operator before zooming up into the sky over Hawaii I believe. The video did the rounds and then was eventually debunked due to the fact that the palm trees were all exactly the same. I had noticed this myself early but I had remained silent as I was at the time still a dedicated lurker and I knew that if I could see it then it would not be long before the fake was blown open.

I learned a valuable lesson that if video footage is posted then the chances are high that it is either a fake for fun or tomfoolery or it is a part of the prevalent campaign of disinformation that follows us like a yappy little dog.

Either way these people seem to have forced more and more of us out into the night skies and in doing so many more people are seeing these things more and more often with their own eyes.

Perhaps the disinformation specialists and the amateur fakers should be thanked for this change of behaviour among us UFO hunters? In trying to discredit by creating a flood of fakes they have in effect shot themselves in the foot because people are not stupid and if you disappoint them enough they will not just go back to sleep, they will stop surfing YouTube, grab a coat and a set of binoculars and head out into the night – I did.

See, no cause for concern, the disinformation machine by its very nature is a creature of reaction and it will always be one step behind those of us that know UFO’s are real and are not of human origin and one thing I do believe is we play the tune and they have to dance to it.

There is always a silver lining to every dark cloud

[edit on 8-2-2010 by SmokeJaguar67]

Double post, sorry I have no idea how that happened

[edit on 8-2-2010 by SmokeJaguar67]

I have to agree with Ignorethefacts on this one. People have been hoaxing ufo shots and videos for decades. It hasn't reduced my interest in the field at all.

While there is no doubt it's much easier to fake them now thanks to the progress made in digital videography, all that means is there is more of them.

One of my favorite aspects of ATS is how well our membership debunks these hoaxes.

The Haiti video being a case in point. While CNN was showing the video on their "Six O'Clock" news program, all a flutter and confused, we had several members who had already named the software suite it was created in (Maya I think it was).

Heck we even reached out to the artist who made it and he was floored that anyone took it as real, the palm tree(s) was/were a DEAD give away.

Springer...

reply to post by IgnoreTheFacts


I understand what youre saying.

But since we share a hobby/interest that rests in a section marked "speculation: absence of real proof", dont you think these videos discredit us even further?

I could tak a video from my sunroom, of a UFO, and post it. It would be debunked by many, and many would be blown away by my footage. You see, we work in a realm of speculation already.

We dont have tangible "real" and "fake" to work with. We have "fake", " might be something", "dust on the camera"...etc.

reply to post by Springer


I get what youre saying, Springer. I guess the true purpose of this thread is discussing my personal recent disenchantment with the subject.

So it's not the fact that there are more fakes, its the fact that they look more real, and are more convincing than say...throwing a frisbee covered in tinfoil over a lake.

Like, I used to browse all over the web for videos, and now I seem to use ATS exclusively. There are alot of technically informed people on ATS. I dont even check MUFON anymore. So much material makes it way here.

Now that I think of it...maybe that is your plan!

Kidding aside:

With UFOs being such a long-standing infatuation or mine, it sucks that we have been flooded with garbage....more garbage than before, and I imagine it will get worse.

What about younger people, say under the age of 18? They have grown up with this technology, which means they are more likley to say "Hey, all of these UFO videos are fake, Im not interested".

Maybe that is TPTB's plan...

I dunno. Just seems like another roadblock on the path to truth. I think that's what Im saying with this thread.

reply to post by Springer


The tree's were from Vue Infinite from E-on Software if I remember right. I believe it was the default palm that has been in Vue for the last three or four versions.

We have all seen examples in Pirates of the Caribbean and other movies like the latest Indiana Jones movie. The landscape in the background of scenes these days are often from software like this mixed with real footage.

Vue has recently made some leaps and the atmospheres and lighting are improved to the point before long, you won't even need to motion match with real footage. You will be able to fake the whole environment.

True photo-realism is just around the corner.

reply to post by InertiaZero


Most of the garbage lately seems to be people insisting blurred birds, bugs, balloons and every light in the night sky is a card carrying Alien in a UFO.

On the bright side, the more people involved, the better chance that someday the real deal will be recorded.

I do agree with you though. I spend far less time lately and often I open a thread, read the OP and move on.

reply to post by InertiaZero


I have to admit (in the interest of full disclosure) that one of my main reasons for investing in ATS way back when, and creating a media company "around ATS", was to have a single source that was FREE, required "grown up civility" and attracted critical thinkers, to hopefully be an offset or balance to all the "garbage" you lament.

The tag line for ATSnews, "If it isn't on ATS, it's probably not important" was one of my first vocalizations of what I hoped this site would become.

In other words, if it can't pass muster with the astute membership of ATS, it's probably not worthy of your time.

I know that sounds arrogant, but, when you think about it, if the big "WE" don't buy it then it's probably not worth buying.

With the millions of people that come to ATS each and every month, we are sure to get at the truth. It may take a while for us to get at the truth, but, this wondrous membership has yet to let me down.

Springer...

[edit on 2-8-2010 by Springer]

reply to post by InertiaZero


I agree and CGI hoaxes will only get better and better. Imagine the CGI people will be doing ten years from now - wow. Still, like Ignorethefacts said it takes more than good CGI to create a convincing hoax.

I saw District 9 (loved it!) and the CGI in that movie is the best I've seen so far, especially the mech suit.