My cousin sent me a video of himself flying a kite off a cruise ship balcony

Turns out it was a deepfake he made for a prank, the ship was docked the whole time in Miami. How do you even tell what's real anymore when someone can just whip up something that convincing on their laptop?

2 comments

2 Comments

sean85414h agoMost Upvoted

That bit about the ship being docked the whole time is what really gets me. He probably just used some green screen footage of the ocean and spliced it in behind him. The lighting and shadows are usually the biggest giveaway with these things, like if the sun is hitting the cabin wall a certain way but the "sky" behind him doesn't match. Weird how the videos themselves look totally smooth now too, no jittery edges or obvious cuts like you'd see a few years ago. I guess the real trick is just paying close attention to little details like wind direction, stuff that's hard to fake perfectly.

the_susan14h ago

Check the horizon line too, that's usually where people mess up. If the boat is supposedly moving, the waves should be shifting relative to the camera, not just looping the same 3 second clip over and over. Get a good look at how the water meets the glass or the railing, if the reflection looks off or there's a weird glow around his head, that's your tell. I've caught a few of these by pausing and looking for color banding in the sky, cheap green screens always leave a faint green halo.