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It's interesting to me that they didn't use CGI. Maybe they were afraid people would notice? But tons of car ads are totally CGI. Back when I was at Dev Boot

It's interesting to me that they didn't use CGI. Maybe they were afraid people would notice? But tons of car ads are totally CGI. Back when I was at Dev Bootcamp, before that shut down, some car company came to shoot a car commercial in front of the building. People were expecting to see some cool cars and action on the scene, but I rightly predicted that there would be filming of backdrops, some green screens here or there, all done in a few hours, and no actual cars. Having looked at the video, I see no reason why they needed a real truck, even if they actually have a prototype. Are they just cheap as f*?

tlb 6y ago
Sure, but it's not in question whether or not BMW or Ford can make a working vehicle. Nikola's ad is an announcement that they can, and in that context it's misleading.
ma2rten 6y ago
I'm assuming it would have been a bigger scandal / might have been revealed earlier if they had used GGI. "Truck rolled downhill" is harder to proof than "Truck doesn't exist and was done using CGI".
lostgame 6y ago
>> But tons of car ads are totally CGI. As silly as this sounds, it very well may be a cost factor - I am desperately seeking the article but I have read that car commercials actually use a highly advanced form of CGI that is incredibly, jaw-droppingly expensive. I mean, we could assume they just wanted to be honest and show the real thing; but we obviously know they had no interest in being honest whatsoever and it was obviously designed to mislead.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  Car ads use CGI because they need to a lot of localisation and customisation for trim-level specific shots. Making a CGI car ad from scratch might cost $10m+, but you can now do a new shot or make small changes in a day for a few thousand dollars. If you need a one-off video, it’s cheaper to not use CGI.
inerte 6y ago
One day they will just film using something like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnBC5bwV5y0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnBC5bwV5y0 that's easily replaceable post-production with computer generated graphics.
valuearb 6y ago
We never said the truck wasn’t CGI! - Nikola CEO

tlb 6y ago

Sure, but it's not in question whether or not BMW or Ford can make a working vehicle. Nikola's ad is an announcement that they can, and in that context it's misleading.

ma2rten 6y ago

I'm assuming it would have been a bigger scandal / might have been revealed earlier if they had used GGI. "Truck rolled downhill" is harder to proof than "Truck doesn't exist and was done using CGI".

lostgame 6y ago

>> But tons of car ads are totally CGI. As silly as this sounds, it very well may be a cost factor - I am desperately seeking the article but I have read that car commercials actually use a highly advanced form of CGI that is incredibly, jaw-droppingly expensive. I mean, we could assume they just wanted to be honest and show the real thing; but we obviously know they had no interest in being honest whatsoever and it was obviously designed to mislead.

DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
Car ads use CGI because they need to a lot of localisation and customisation for trim-level specific shots. Making a CGI car ad from scratch might cost $10m+, but you can now do a new shot or make small changes in a day for a few thousand dollars. If you need a one-off video, it’s cheaper to not use CGI.

inerte 6y ago

One day they will just film using something like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnBC5bwV5y0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnBC5bwV5y0 that's easily replaceable post-production with computer generated graphics.

valuearb 6y ago

We never said the truck wasn’t CGI! - Nikola CEO