Behind the Scenes Footage Shows How Much Manipulation Goes Into a Shampoo Ad

Special effects are used in just about every these days, even shampoo commercials.

When you take the time to look into how something is done or gets made, you can make some pretty startling revelations.

Sometimes, those discoveries are pleasant and interesting. Like when you discover that even though duck-billed platypuses are mammals, they lay eggs.

Other discoveries, while still interesting, are horrifying.

Like when you find out how imitation crab meat and other artificial fish products/meats are made. If you don't want to know the origins of the seafood salad at your local Chinese food buffet, just trust us and maybe skip the next sentence. 

(They grind up all the bits of fish no one wants — bones, scales, eyes — and then stretch it through a huge-taffy making machine and dye it white and red.)

Yummy.

While you don't want any modern technological magic, for the most part, involved in creating your food, you don't really mind directors who create magic on the silver screen. The more magical and awe-inspiring, the more you're sold on that fantasy.

It's why seeing behind-the-scenes footage can be so jarring, sometimes. Like this scene from Guardians of the Galaxy.

It's not just major Hollywood blockbusters and TV shows employing CGI and green-screens to construct fantasies for viewers. Commercials are also in on that action.

This Twitter user discovered the digital manipulation involved in advertising while doing some research on how to draw a classic shampoo commercial hair flip.

After @Okolnir looked up shampoo commercials online, they discovered how models get their hair to fall so luxuriously on camera. They're aided by a bunch of green men in bodysuits with green sticks moving their hair up and down while the camera rolls.

If you ever wondered how models get their hair flowing around like they're driving a cute little 1960's Alfa Romeo through the Italian countryside, all while standing completely still, just take a gander at these photos and have your curiosity satisfied.

All right, the green man with the stick behind this woman looks like he's about to wallop this model over the head and it's really freaking me out. I know I can't see his eyes but, come on, he's looking right at her, isn't he?

Obviously, the photos sparked the curiosity of everyone on Twitter who had tons of new questions after learning "the truth" of shampoo commercials. For instance, how much does being a green-screen ninja pay?

Then the real hard-hitting questions started rolling in. Chief among them is how commercials captured those locks flowing in the wind before the advent of green screen.

People started doing their research, but got side-tracked and ended up finding this commercial from the 1940s. I guess they just made cartoons about it (with bears, of course).

And then, of course, people had some hilarious jokes about the whole thing. Most of them focused on the fact that they wanted magical green ninjas following them wherever they went making their hair look utterly fabulous at every turn.

As crazy as it sounds, that'd be a total boss move. Imagine you've got a board meeting or presentation at work. You walk into the room, your hair starts whipping around magically on your own. (Let's pretend these green men are actually blending in with their surroundings). I'm sorry, but I'm listening to what that person has to say.

Heck, even if I could see the green screen men behind them the entire time, manipulating their locks with sticks, I'd probably give them even more credit. You don't want to mess with someone who's crazy enough to pull that off. That sends a clear message: BACK UP.

Also, I don't want those dudes with the sticks beating me with them. So there's always that.

It just goes to show that humans have an endless capacity for over-complicating the most seemingly mundane and simplistic phenomena. Whether it's shooting a shampoo commercial, or making low-priced crab meat.