# Faked Youtube videos that are convincingly real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283 "2016-09-18T17:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/1 "2016-09-18T17:51:38Z")
Personally I find it annoying how every video uploaded on youtube that seems the slightest bit unusual or outside someone’s experience and knowledge results in a chorus of ‘fake!’ I realise that this question is somewhat subjective but does anyone have any examples of videos that have been confirmed as faked that had you initially convinced they were real? I mean those where the footage itself has been changed and distorted rather than a video being passed off as something it isn’t but otherwise being untampered with. Basically for all the calls of ‘Fake!’ I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a convincingly faked video. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/2 "2016-09-18T18:54:21Z")
I’m aware of the fakes more often because I like to check skeptical sites on the web, so by the time I see the videos I had them spoiled… 🙂 But this one, (#5) about the bear chasing a snow boarder made me wonder, of course I found soon that it was fake, but the article points to many people that were fooled by that video. The article cited also has more examples that fooled hundreds, if not millions of viewers coming from the Australian production house The Woolshed Company. > **[This Production Company Spent Two Years Faking The Internet’s Most...](https://www.good.is/money/fake-viral-videos-news-youtube)** > > How many did you think were real? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/3 "2016-09-18T18:58:36Z")
In this day & age of easy video fakery, perhaps the default position should be “fake!” until proven otherwise. Sad, but true. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/4 "2016-09-18T18:59:05Z")
[Captain Disillusion](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEOXxzW2vU0P-0THehuIIeg) has a whole channel debunking various videos that use fakery and tricks. But he also has videos on his channel where he chides people for being too quick to cry ‘fake’. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/5 "2016-09-18T19:09:45Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > In this day & age of easy video fakery, perhaps the default position should be “fake!” until proven otherwise. Sad, but true. Is that really the case though? The videos linked to by GIGObuster were produced by a production company, a professional set-up, most people who upload videos to Youtube don’t have nearly the same resources to throw at it. Thanks GIGObuster and Mr. Miskatonic btw 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/6 "2016-09-18T20:57:05Z")
[This one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skP7GAHjY_w) fooled me at first. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/7 "2016-09-18T23:24:17Z")
[This video](https://youtu.be/GYW5G2kbrKk) depicting human-powered flight (with flapping wings) completely fooled me. I recall that Jamie from _Mythbusters_ also fell for it. It was later [exposed](http://www.livescience.com/19236-flying-bird-wings-hoax.html) as a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/8 "2016-09-18T23:31:05Z")
The [pizza guy hit by car](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrbEMBU_2wY) video went viral many years before YouTube existed. Turns out it’s actually part of an [Australian PSA commercial.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctkqd6hYMy8) There’s also [Nokia Cat,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_5cnZPyny8) which wasn’t even a real commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/9 "2016-09-19T16:02:18Z")
[This one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZbJivHTlxY) hasn’t been debunked (or gone viral), but I’d be interested to hear thoughts on it. When did they cut out? ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/10 "2016-09-21T03:38:18Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > [This one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZbJivHTlxY) hasn’t been debunked (or gone viral), but I’d be interested to hear thoughts on it. When did they cut out? Screen looks like it goes nearly all black for a fraction of a second around :59, which would be a natural spot to make an unnoticeable cut ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/11 "2016-09-21T12:00:44Z")
The [Escherian Stairwell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBY4HaAngaA) at Rochester Institute of Technology is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/12 "2016-09-21T17:08:40Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > [Captain Disillusion](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEOXxzW2vU0P-0THehuIIeg) has a whole channel debunking various videos that use fakery and tricks. But he also has videos on his channel where he chides people for being too quick to cry ‘fake’. :mad: Thanks for sending me down that hole. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/13 "2016-09-21T18:25:08Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The [Escherian Stairwell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBY4HaAngaA) at Rochester Institute of Technology is pretty good. That actually is done really well. I mean, at some point common sense should kick in, but I’m impressed with the quality of the acting. Most of these “reality” videos are overdone one way or another, either by being too “amateur shaky cam” with it or by overacting, or something else, but with this one, I could actually believe it if the fact that it’s completely impossible didn’t enter my head. 🙂 Apparently , [a good number of people took it for real](http://hazlitt.net/blog/secret-impossible-stairwell) and ended up pissed off. > [@](#): > > Over the summer, he was taken aback by the flood of pilgrims showing up demanding to see the stairwell. “One couple was really, really angry. She told us that during her trip with her boyfriend they were arguing in the car about who would do the stairwell first. And they were both kind of scared like, ‘No, you do it first, No, I don’t know if I want to do it first.’” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/14 "2016-09-21T18:37:42Z")
There’s a YouTuber named ThioJoe who specialises in fake howtos such as this one (how to charge your phone in 10 seconds: [How to Instantly Charge your Phone - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKa58yvAlfY) I guess they must be convincing, because reactions seem to consist of people either saying it didn’t work for them, or outraged denial that it can work (but the sort of outrage that often follows gullible initial belief) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/15 "2016-09-21T18:59:09Z")
The most recent one: [Hawk drops snake on family BBQ](https://youtu.be/RIG1JRNzYeI) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/faked-youtube-videos-that-are-convincingly-real/766283/16 "2016-09-21T19:43:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > :mad: Thanks for sending me down that hole. 😃