This video is supposed to show incredible things.
A massive whale leaps out of the water off the coast, wetting bystanders.
The stunning clip is seen by thousands of users on social media.
But is the video of the mighty marine mammal really real?
Fact check intro
The video of the whale jumping out of the water is a fake.
Apparently the green stripes were added to the image to better disguise this fact.
A second version of the clip, without the stripes, makes it clear that they are two composite videos.
What is probably not as obvious on a small smartphone display as it is on a large monitor: the clip has two horizons.
Furthermore, the colors of the videos do not match perfectly. The water in the whale clip looks blue – while in the fleeing observers’ video it is a shade of brown.
The clips were apparently put together with a smooth gradient or fade. This is a technique used in image and video editing to credibly fuse individual image components together.
If implemented poorly, as in this case, this technique can quickly catch the eye and reveal the manipulation of the material.
The case makes it clear how unclean counterfeiters sometimes work. Sometimes it is possible to unmask a fake simply because of its poor implementation.
How do we check videos for manipulation in the editorial office? It is important to look at the details. The individual frames of a video often reveal whether a video has been edited. We take a close look at each image and enlarge individual sections. Indications of a fake are, for example: lack of motion blur, unnatural shadows or editing errors. The general rule at stern is: Seriousness before speed. We always double-check facts and material thoroughly before publishing them. For this we work with the cross-editorial “Team Verification” together with RTL, NTV, RTL2, Radio NRW.