Koi UFO Video 076: Stuttgart UFO attacks truck and flies into tunnel (Petronas adverts)
[DEBUNKED] Koi UFO Video 076 appears to be a news report on the "PNC" television channel about a UFO lifting a truck off a road near Stuttgart, Germany. This footage is sometimes combined with a related video showing a "UFO" flying into a tunnel. Versions of the video are also online appearing to show the relevant footage on a Japanese television channel.
In fact, as discussed below, these "UFO" videos were produced by Malaysian production company Director's Think Tank as part of a science-fiction themed advertising campaign created by Leo Burnett for Petronas (a Malaysian energy company) and AMG Mercedes (which has its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany). This has kindly been confirmed to me by Watchmen Productions, a German company that had provided local film services in Stuttgart for the filming of the main commercials in the advertising campaign and "team members were asked to help out spontaneously as 'cameo' actors for a teaser video".
Sections below:
2. Stories and claims relating to this video
3. The real background to this video
4. Relevant online discussions
1. The relevant video
This video appears to be a news report on the "PNC" television channel about a UFO lifting a truck off a road near Stuttgart, Germany. This footage is sometimes combined with a related video showing a "UFO" flying into a tunnel. Versions of the video are also online appearing to show the relevant footage on a Japanese television channel.
Screen shots from the video are included below for ease of identification:
2. Stories and claims relating to this video
This video, and a related video of a UFO flying into a tunnel, are often accompanied by captions that suggest they show a strange incident somewhere in Stuttgart.
3. The realbackground to this video
These "UFO" videos were produced by Malaysian production company Director's Think Tank as part of a science-fiction themed advertising campaign for Petronas (a Malaysian energy company) and AMG Mercedes (which has its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany), created by Leo Burnett. This has kindly been confirmed to me by Watchmen Productions, a German company that had provided local film services in Stuttgart for the filming of the main commercials in the advertising campaign and "team members were asked to help out spontaneously as 'cameo' actors for a teaser video".
Determining the real nature of viral UFO videos is often fairly simple once you have found the earliest copy of the video online and looked at other videos uploaded by that user.
The video of the "UFO attack on a truck" was first uploaded by Petronas Motorsports on 7 February 2013 with the title "Mysterious light caught on camera". That video was accompanied by a caption which stated : "We stumbled upon a report of a strange incident somewhere in Stuttgart, which is coincidentally, where one of our partners is based... http://bit.ly/pn40. What on earth is going on?". (Petrona Motorsports partner in Stuttgart is Mercedes-AMG).
That first video appeared to show a truck being attacked and its contents stolen. It appeared to be a news report on the "PNC" television channel about a UFO lifting a truck off a road near Stuttgart, Germany. This video featured "Andy Muller" as a news anchor, "Christopher Zitterbart" as a reporter and "Dominik Adam-Nikel" as an eye-witness. These individuals are referred to further below.
A second video in the relevant series was uploaded by Petrona Motorsports on 12 February 2013, with the title "Beam of light lifts cargo truck". This showed the same "UFO attack on a truck" footage, but apparently on a Japanese newschannel. This video was accompanied by a caption which stated "It seems the incident in Stuttgart has also struck a chord with a Japanese station. http://bit.ly/pn40".
A third video in the relevant series was uploaded by Petronas Motorsports on 19 February 2013, with the title "Mysterious light in Hengstacker Tunnel" . The caption for the video stated "Look what we've found ; yet another video report on the mysterious light spotted somewhere in Stuttgart. And this time , it seems to pursuing something.. .http://bit.ly/pn40". This video appeared to be a further news report on the "PNC" television channel. The video appeared to show a UFO entering a tunnel near Stuttgart. "Andrea Krauss" stated in the video that a vehicle (which was believed to be the missing cargo from the previous UFO attack on a truck) had been pursued by a mysterious light into the Henstacker Tunnel.
A fourth video in the relevant series was uploaded by Petronas Motorsports on 25 February 2013, with the title "Mysterious light dashes through tunnel in Germany". The caption for this video stated "We found a German news report covering a mysterious light caught on camera in Stuttgart. This is the second time it's been spotted, through this time it seems to be pursuing something.. http://bit.ly/pn40". This video appeared to be a news report in German on the "9HPDM" television channel, with "Andrea Krauss" reporting in German and showing the footage of the mysterious light entering the Henstacker Tunnel.
Following the video with (fake) news reports, on 8 May 2013 Petronas Motorsports uploaded a fifth video. This one was entitled "Abduction". The caption for this video stated "After many reports of strange sightings in Stuttgart, we're now brought into the thick of the action. Watch as this car zips through the city to evade an ominous mother ship and its drones". This video has a more traditional glossy look of a commercial advertisement, with a large "UFO" and several small UFOs/drones chasing out of a car park and through a tunnel.
Screenshots from the "Abduction" video are included below:
A six, and final, video in this series (in a similar glossy style to the "Abduction" video referred to above) was uploaded by Petronas Motorsports on 19 May 2013. This one was entitled "The Ride". The caption for this video stated "A janitor, or so it seems, at a PETRONAS-AMG lab sneaks out for the ride of his life!". This video appears to show an alien (in human form) testing Petronas Syntium oil and driving a Mercedes AMG car, before concluding that "Their technology is more advanced than we imagined" and rapidly leaving the Earth in his flying saucer.
"The Ride" was shot entirely in Stuttgart (Germany) by film director Sling Ng (Director's Think Tank). The company behind the special effects in the "The Ride" and "The Abduction" videos ("Eyebelieve") has produced a video giving a behind-the-scenes look at some of the special effects used in the "The Ride" and "The Abduction":
Eyebelieve has also listed credits for the "The Abduction" and "The Ride" videos as including- VFX Director: Alvin Seah, VFX Producer: Mona Tan, VFX Technical: Zhi Zhang, Lead CG Artists: Poh Leong Koh and Jie Hui, Compositor: Jason Lee, Motion Graphics: Deo Mareza and Kit Khong, 3D Artists: Jia Zheng and Shirleen See, Concept Artist: Mabel Tho.
As mentioned above, the "UFO attacks truck" video featured his video featured "Christopher Zitterbart" as a reporter and "Dominik Adam-Nikel" as an eye-witness. The credits for the "The Abduction" and "The Ride" videos listed by "Eyebelieve" include a section entitled which begins "Service Production (Germany): watchmen productions / www.watchmen.de" and lists Christopher Zitterbart as "Producer" an Dominik Adam-Nikel as "Line Producer".
The www.watchmen.de websiteindicates that Watchmen Productions is "A BOUTIQUE PRODUCTION HOUSE AND FILM SERVICES COMPANY BASED IN BERLIN, GERMANY. ESTABLISHED IN 2004, WATCHMEN BOASTS A CORE TEAM OF INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WITH VAST PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE IN COMMERCIALS AND CORPORATE MEDIA, AS WELL AS IN DOCUMENTARY AND FEATURE FILMS".
The www.watchmen.de website includes the following on Christopher Zitterbart: "Christopher has over 15 years experience in production and has shot in more than 25 countries. He graduated in film production and has produced several shorts and documentaries. His first feature film premiered in competition at Berlinale 2014."
Both Watchmen Production and Eyebelieve have pages on Facebook giving more details of their activities.
I contacted Watchmen Production in October 2014 and one of its producers very kindly took the time to confirm to me that the UFO videos were produced by Malaysian production company Director's Think Tank as part of a science-fiction themed advertising campaign created by Leo Burnett for Petronas and AMG Mercedes. Watchmen Productions had provided local film services for the filming of "the main commercials" in Stuttgart and "team members were asked to help out spontaneously as 'cameo' actors for a teaser video". (The teaser videos were not written, produced, directed or made public by Watchmen Productions itself).
4. Relevant online discussions
Relevant discussions on the AboveTopSecret.com forum include the following:
2013 (February) discussion entitled "Ufo in Stuttgart Tunnel caught on Surveillance cams"
