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Vegeta
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
238 Posts |
 Posted - 03/09/2007 : 09:07:43
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBQLq2VmZcA
What do you think?
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What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a pink shirt before?
"I was asked if I would do a similar sketch but focusing on the shortcomings of Islam rather than Christianity. I said, 'No, no I wouldn't. I may be an atheist but I'm not stupid.'" - Steward Lee |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 14:41:07 [Permalink]
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| A plexiglass catwalk with a refraction index close to water would be invisible under the surface. Ditching his shoes halfway out would enhance his ability to feel his way across. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 15:21:28 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Everyone in the pool is a confederate, and they all know where the gaps are in the catwalk?
Actually, from what I heard, yeah.
People who were there at the taping said that people in the pool were given instructions through a bullhorn to "act amazed" and had full knowledge of where the catwalk was. (I can't remember where I read this now, but somewhere on the internet if that helps.)
But really, it's not very hard to imagine. People like being "in on" tricks. It gave them all a chance to appear on TV. Who's going to try to spoil the trick when everyone else around you knows it's a trick as well? Plus, being television, you'd just be edited out of the final broadcast if you tried anything funny.
Magic acts on television aren't necessarily set up the same as they are in front of a live audience. The "magic" often only comes together after all the different shots have been edited together for home viewing.
P.S., the fence trick was awesome. I mean, I still think Angel is an effective television magician. He's a great entertainer.
He's also promotes skepticism in his own way! After a special Halloween episode, after all these crazy, mysterious, "unexplainable" events were filmed in a supposedly haunted house, Chris turned to the camera and asked, "So, now do you believe in ghosts?"
Then he followed it up with "I don't," and the episode ended there. 
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 03/09/2007 15:33:54 |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 15:35:21 [Permalink]
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| There are, of course, multiple angles shot here, and so many of the shots could have been done later. With the proper splicing it looks like it's all at once. The views from the top down make it clear that at least for those shots he's being held up or suspended and pretending that he's walking. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 16:51:45 [Permalink]
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I saw at least three kinds of shots being combined. The shots from a first-person viewpoint clearly show he was suspended at that time. His legs were making obvious "bicyclist" motions. Cune caught that. The views are most common are the log shots, consistent with the guy stepping from platform to platform. Mab's right about the refraction indexes. Some plastics can disappear in water. Then there are a few underwater shots, thrown in of his footseps while suspended.
The bystanders going along with the trick should not persuade anyone. Magicians get that kind of cooperation all the time. I was once persuaded to do the same for a magic act at a theme park. (While the magician was doing his warm-up act, it was easy for a pretty, scantilly-clad young female assistant to quietly accost me and convince the young lad I was to contribute a little white lie for the sake of entertainment. There was the bonus of being "in on the act." People will almost always help magic acts.)
A spectacular trick, if somewhat crudely performed and obvious.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 17:18:36 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner...
The bystanders going along with the trick should not persuade anyone. Magicians get that kind of cooperation all the time. I was once persuaded to do the same for a magic act at a theme park. (While the magician was doing his warm-up act, it was easy for a pretty, scantilly-clad young female assistant to quietly accost me and convince the young lad I was to contribute a little white lie for the sake of entertainment. There was the bonus of being "in on the act." People will almost always help magic acts.)
I've been a professional magician for nearly 40 years and will attest to the validity of 'Mooner's comment. Criss Angel is quite a television entertainer. A lot of slick editing is required to make his material look the way we see it from our couches at home. His live performances look much like those of any other competent stage magician.
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Vegeta
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
238 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 14:12:32 [Permalink]
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he actually reveals a lot of his tricks, there's some on youtube. his levitation act is revealed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrkiTO8dgCA
although this one obviously isn't done with fake trousers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_lu6LV5Je4
I want to think there's some clever trick here and not just planted actors and a crane. Because thats not a magic trick or even an illusion, thats just a movie |
What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a pink shirt before?
"I was asked if I would do a similar sketch but focusing on the shortcomings of Islam rather than Christianity. I said, 'No, no I wouldn't. I may be an atheist but I'm not stupid.'" - Steward Lee |
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cactusmush
New Member
21 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 18:21:06 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Vegeta
he actually reveals a lot of his tricks, there's some on youtube. his levitation act is revealed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrkiTO8dgCA
although this one obviously isn't done with fake trousers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_lu6LV5Je4
I want to think there's some clever trick here and not just planted actors and a crane. Because thats not a magic trick or even an illusion, thats just a movie
Actually the reaction of the farther away "by-standers", and especially the aggregate reaction of the crowd in the audio, is more consistent with them being entertained, rather than amazed. Most or all of pool deck by-standers are probably real by-standers but they are enjoying an act as an audience. They know there is a gag happening. There is a cut near the end where a couple of the bystanders on the pool deck are doubling over with laughter (their faces are not shown). There are probably a few choice audience plants (or co-opted and coached bystanders) closer to the action...they are the ones looking very amazed for the cameras. A more legit reaction to something not staged would see all bystanders amazed and some of them very agitated because they think they are seeing something truly supernatural. But this is Vegas and they would have possibly observed the pre-act set-up and they know they are being entertained.
I interpret the bicycle steps as necessary for the magician to aim his steps down onto a narrow platform or a series of pillars. I would suspect an arched ledge...permitting the underwater swimmer.
"Rita" in "Arrested Development" did the same thing on a wider platform in "Water Walker". And to quote "Gob" ...its "illusion". Exactly.
Removing the shoe is a part of the act to eliminate any notion that the physics of the act have something to do with his boots. It is an embellishment.
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 19:03:05 [Permalink]
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I saw that on TV yesterday. Pretty neat.
I wonder how Jesus did it? |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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cactusmush
New Member
21 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 20:59:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Siberia
I saw that on TV yesterday. Pretty neat.
I wonder how Jesus did it?
walked across a Las Vegas pool?? I think he demurred ....I heard he was in the casino over-turning a few Craps tables... |
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this guy is the new Jesus!
