Your TV ads - real, or CGI? [View All]

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(CGI means basically computer-generated image)

You see CGI in movies a lot - a copter flying over downtown L.A. - no such thing. Not to mention Spidey between buildings or whatever.

For static ad shoots, like a glass of vodka with ice, photographers have long used faux ice - acrylic really. Not so much because of melting, but real ice is seldom clear enough to photograph well. And, of course, melting.

For burgers and food, there'd be fake burgers and food - made of whatever - but it looks real! Yet it's not real as in edible, but it's still real as in you can take it home and it looks real until someone tries to eat it.

I wasn't aware they had taken CGI to the level of food commercials, though. Check this out:

http://vimeo.com/5614632

The wonkier you are, the more you'd probably appreciate it, but a lot of work went into this. And I was surprised - it looks like a real Big Mac, unlike those fake pictures with the oh-so-leafy lettuce you see in the store. This looks real, drabby, and crap lettuce falling out. Oddly enough, that's what makes it all the more real.