ISIS Video of 21 Egyptian Christians Being Beheaded in Libya Manipulated to Show 7-Foot Tall Jihadists, 'Blood Sea'
The video of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians being beheaded by members of the Islamic State in Libya a week ago appears to have been manipulated, according to experts, who say ISIS have modified the video to show their people - clad in all black in the video - as what appears to be more than 7-feet tall.
"The Islamic State's manipulation of their high-production videos has become commonplace," Veryan Khan, editorial director of Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, told Fox News.
She said the murders likely took place in a studio. The uploaded video showed a caption that placed the location on the "coast of Wilayat Tarabulus by the Mediterranean Sea."
Khan said "Jihad Joseph," the speaker in the video, looks larger than the sea in both the close-up and wide-shot frames, which could mean that he was filmed inside a studio and the sea was just added in the background.
The ISIS members also appeared to be more than 7 feet tall, towering over their captives.
Hollywood film director Mary Lambert told Fox News that the video was clearly manipulated. "The shot that seems really tampered with is the one with the really tall Jihadists and the dwarf Christians," she said. "The close-ups of jihadists on the beach are most likely green screen."
Fox News noted other anomalies in the video. "The sound of the ocean is likely a well-known audio track. Even more bizarre, the stream of blood in the ocean at the end of the video, and during the beheading of the final victim, is most likely not real," the report said.
Khan also confirmed the sea turning red supposedly because of the victims' blood was definitely fake. Lambert said it was made with special effects.
"I think that in the opening shot all the figures might be animated. They never had more than six men on the beach," said Lambert.
Khan said the perspective of the shoreline is also an indication that the video was faked.
"What is supposed to be the seashore is, in reality, a bay as determined by the tide, rocks, and wave action. Looking at the two big sets of footprints in the sand shown at a 90-degree angle, neither set of footprints can be the hostages or the hostage takers. Had this been a seaside shot, the sand would have been much softer and the victims' footprints would have sunk much deeper into the sand," she said.
When the final victim was beheaded, according to Khan, "not only did it lack the correct blood pulsation for decapitation, but seems to have had the blood 'faked' with cornstarch."
Khan explained that the video appeared to have been manipulated in order for ISIS to evade being located.
"Islamic State has been revolutionary in using the green screen technique, most likely to limit exposure to drones [and] satellite [locating of] their operations," she said. "The producer probably required that only the cameraman and his assistant be present for the outdoor frames. Later, in post-production, the editors dropped in the executions."
