A video featuring a massive octopus crawling into a parking lot and wrecking a car's roof has been shared on social media platform with a false claim that the event took place in Qatar.
BOOM found that the footage does not show a real incident. The video was produced by a CGI artist who utilises software to craft animated visuals.
In the beginning of the viral 17-second clip, a huge octopus is spotted making its way into a parking lot with a few cars around. The octopus then climbs onto a white SUV and uses its long tentacles to crush its roof.
The video is being shared with a caption that states, "Believe it or not... In Qatar from the sea to the nearby car park."
Click here to view the post.
We also received the same video on our WhatsApp tipline number (7700906588) with a verification request.
Fact Check
BOOM noticed that the car's license plate in the video, which the octopus attacked, mentions "@ghost3dee" instead of a typical vehicle registration number format in Qatar.
Taking a cue, we ran a search on Instagram using the word "@ghost3dee" and found an Instagram profile of a CGI artist who creates similar videos using computer software.
The Instagram user named Alex Z describes himself as "CG Generalist" based on Qatar who makes "high effort attempts to visualize imagination".
In his bio section, he listed several animation tools like Houdini, Max, ZBrush, and Substance.
We also found the same video on the artist's profile when we searched for it. The video was uploaded on September 25, 2023, with a detailed description of its making.
Click here to view the post.
An excerpt from the post reads, "Although some parts of the sim were challenging, the most time was spent on the compositing stage. I lost faith in AE for the past few years and did most of the stuff in Nuke, which is major change in my personal pipeline. AE started to remind me of Max with countless bloated plugins upon plugins that make the software crash because of incompatibilites when used together."