The Art of the Fake Video

I started my blog by calling Bullshit on a fake marketing effort. (May 27, 1997) The blog post was called a diatribe by the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post and of course C|Net.  I thought it was ridiculous to fake a hacking to get publicity.

These days, fakery has become an art.  Create a fake video showing some amazing feat and it will go viral.  The awesomeness rubs off on the brand.  Some examples below.  I really WANTED them to be real, but unfortunately, they are not.  They are all advertisements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTl3U6aSd2w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnxIITeNftE

It makes me wonder about the future.  Will we be able to tell the difference between real and fake?  Will we care?  Conspiracy theorists say we faked the moon landing.  Maybe I have been too quick to dismiss them.  I can’t trust any video.  I can’t even trust photographs with the rampant Photoshop touch-ups.  I can only trust my own eyes and not even then.

What can we trust?  Do we already live in the Matrix?  Seeing and hearing exactly what our masters want us to experience?  OK, now I am just freaking myself out.


Comments

One response to “The Art of the Fake Video”

  1. Interesting thought.

    Though I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we’re approaching Matrix-levels of perception. The unique thing about the internet and social media is there is no One Architect. We all have the opportunity to put something out there.

    If anything, these impressive/landmark/fake videos are nothing but ripples that cause a temporary disturbance, easily forgotten when the next hyped-up thing comes along.

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