I need some SD help here. Someone sent me this nifty little film clip that I’m trying to sort out. It is a shot of a guy carrying a pizzabox down the street with cheesy background music. Suddenly while crossing the street, he is hit by a car, bounces off the hood and windshield, and slides across the ground. There is an exciting scream of “Oh my God!” at the end, for dramatic effect.
Now being the skeptic I am, I find it hard to believe. For one, the camera is obviously following him for some reason. I tried viewing the film as slow as possible (in pause frames), but my viewer is low-fi and gets fuzzed out. It looks like he might not step entirely in front of the car, but it is difficult to tell. Also, at the end when the body slides across the ground, it moves oddly, like a dummy. But otherwise it is very convincing.
I tried snopes with no luck. They don’t appear to deal with film clips.
I’m curious if anyone else has seen this or can help answer “Is it real?”
I would post it, but know nothing about how to do that. I don’t have a web site. Anybody able to help with that so everyone can check it out? It’s an mpe file.
I saw that clip too, also at work. We did the same as you, tried to slow it down. Everything looked real to me and the others. All I can figure is that I don’t want it to be real, so I look for odd things in the clip.
As for the camera following him before the incident, that could be real. People tape others all the time.
I’m really curious about this clip myself, and eagerly await answers from anyone who might know the truth.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
The version of the clip I saw had a Cleo Award logo imposed on the left side, indicating to me that it was a commercial of some type.
When I viewed it frame by frame (as best I could), the frame between him un-hit and hit shows his upper torso undisturbed at about the same position as the front axel. This says to me that he was still standing out of the car’s path. A second clip of the car hitting a dummy is then started at that point.
The splicing was quite good except for that one frame. At normal speeds, you don’t see it at all.
The site I saw it at also had a shot of a train hitting a young woman. Not faked. It fortunately happened so fast that any gore wasn’t visible. But I don’t think she fared very well.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
Man, frame by frame it sure looks real to me. Even though I see the point about him being behind the car, it looks like the car misses his back leg and catches the forward one.
However, I agree that the shot is too perfectly orchestrated.
a) the camera follows him initially, with a close face shot.
b) it zooms out before the crash, to an angle that’s best to display the crash.
c) immediately upon impact, it pans to the right and perfectly follows the whole accident.
Sure seems well thought out. I’m betting fake. Or at least I hope so.
Remember the plot of the Michael Crichton film, “Rising Son” ??? It turned on the kind of computer-based video manipulation that may be stumping you now. I have NOT seen this clip, so I am just offering the thought that what you see is not what you think you see, even frame by frame.
This is a weird connect to the snuff films thread, though…
Cartooniverse
If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel.
If anyone follows Alphagene’s link, be careful which clips you run with the kids looking over your shoulder. Especially one titled “A pepsi and a Smile”, or something along those lines. Whew. :o
Peace,
mangeorge
