Even a Behind-the-Scenes Look in to the Making of a Fake UFO Video Doesn't Convince Some 'Believers

Last month, filmmaker Aristomenis Tsirbas not only gave Wired behind-the-scenes insight into how he created a fake UFO video but also revealed that every single element in the footage was computer graphics imagery. But even with these revelations, Tsirbas has said, some UFO enthusiasts are still hanging onto it.

“The video is 100 percent CGI through and through,” Tsirbas, who created the video with his students at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, told Wired. “The electric towers [seen alongside the road] are 3D geometry and the sky is a 3D dome that has a texture map on it that’s a combination of painting, volumetric clouds and photogrammetry.”

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

"Some comments express what I can only describe as schadenfreude from people making sure ‘believers’ were fully aware that the video is in fact a hoax," Tsirbas, who has worked on films including "Titanic," recently told Wired. "But the most unusual comments come from a growing chorus of people who insist that the announcement of the hoax is actually part of an elaborate government plan to cover up the fact that the video is real. I even received a mildly threatening personal e-mail from one of these people."

Here are some such comments from the original video posted to YouTube:

Watch the video showing its CGI secrets (content warning: some strong language):

The point of the 100 percent fake UFO video, Tsirbas told Wired when he originally revealed his secret, was to prove how realistic CGI can look.

”Everybody assumes the background and car are real, and that the UFOs are probably fake, especially the over-the-top mothership at the end. The general reaction is disbelief, so I usually have to prove it by showing a wireframe of the entire shot to prove that nothing is real," Tsirbas said.

Take a look at the original video posted five months ago to see what you think of its graphics: