I figured out a way to spot the real found footage from the fake stuff

I was going down a rabbit hole on a video from a guy exploring an old factory in Detroit. It looked real, but something felt off. I started checking the video file data using a free tool called MediaInfo. The original upload said it was from 2005, but the file's metadata showed it was made in 2022 with a modern camera codec. That was the giveaway. Now I always download a copy and check the data before I get too deep into a video. Has anyone else found a good trick to check if a video's date is real?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_lopez3d ago

Yeah, that's a solid method. I got burned on a "haunted" mining tunnel video last year. The guy swore it was from the 90s, but the metadata had GPS coordinates that placed the camera right in some dude's backyard in Arizona. The shadows in the video didn't even match the location or time of year the file data said it was recorded. Now I cross-check the sun position with the supposed date and location if the metadata has it. Saves a lot of time.

black.margaret3d ago

My buddy got tricked by a "cursed" doll video where the shadows proved it was filmed in July, not October like the uploader claimed.