Studying David Blaine Video

[docsamson]

Hi all,

I'm new here and in no way a magician. I've always considered myself a skeptic especially after reading Mr. Randi's Flim-Flam. But I've had a lot of time on my hands lately and I've been studying David Blaine's special that aired on the Discovery channel last year. I have a really decent copy that I made and I've convinced that he's really performing a real levitation in front of the cameras. I work in the film industry and I can't say that I can't be fooled especially by really good video editing but I don't see any jump cuts or any tomfoolery. No jumping in and out of worm-holes. Blaine's floating in front of three women right out in the open, during the day and floats at least a good 6 inches off of the ground. There is no support and I can't see how he has any time to cheat this. I went back and studied the other people that he performs this trick for and they seem to have the same reaction - an almost scared and disbelieving look on their eyes. And the other tricks, like the mind reading and biting a quarter in half and blowing it back together, the card tricks especially the Froot Loops part seem quite impossible without any video editing voodoo.

I know that these tricks can be bought online, like on eBay, and I'm not looking to steal anyone's secrets but to this layman, these magic "tricks" really seem to be impossible and when I point this out to my friends as we watch the video together, they're speechless.

Just wondered what the pros thought.

Bradley

[Reb]

:roll:
Do a search fo "Balducci levitation"

Reb

[rustypouch]

Without telling any goodies here, I can say that all his tricks except the final one, nad perhaps some of the mind reading, are legit.

The final levetation is the result of clever editing.

As for the others, I can perform many of them, including the ones you mentioned.

Just lots of pratice and a little pixie dust.

[docsamson]

I'm sorry guys. I'm watching the tape now and there is no way that this is being faked. Either Blaine is lying to the public when he's doing this tricks and doing some very, very good video editing and hiring very, very good actors to fool the audience or he's performing real magic. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that he can be cheating this in real life. While clever slight of hand is definately being performed as well, he's either a bald face lier or the magicians are. HE IS FLOATING IN FRONT OF THOSE PEOPLE. He is not standing on his tiptoes. I can see his complete shadow on the ground beneath him.

I'm not going to beat this over the head of anyone here but I will keep investigating this. Just like it takes a magician instead of a scientist to prove the lies of someone like Uri Geller, it might just take a normal person like me to prove that real "magik" exists.

You guys can't fool me, I'm sorry.

Maybe you magicians shouldn't have allowed David Blaine to perform real "street magic". I believe that your lies are now exposed. I believe that magicians really sit around the Magic Castle trying to find ways to come up with ideas to "explain" how these "tricks" are possible.

Good luck, the only other explaination that I would even come close to believing is video editing and like I said, I know video editing because of my formal training and I can spot video voodoo.

Let's see what you magicians think of this post. You've been exposed as complete liers no matter what.

[Voob]

Yep, David Blaine is a real wizard doing magik.

Good luck, the only other explaination that I would even come close to believing is video editing and like I said, I know video editing because of my formal training and I can spot video voodoo.

Let's see what you magicians think of this post. You've been exposed as complete liers no matter what.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You're so much smarter than the rest of us!

[RSLancastr]

Originally posted by docsamson
Let's see what you magicians think of this post. You've been exposed as complete liers no matter what. There are trolls even in magic forums?

Learn something new every day.

[rustypouch]

Lets say you do some tricks for some people, and have it filmed.

You show the trick that does not required any props, and it is very impressive.

Then you show a similar trick, but this time with a huge aparatus, telling the audience this is how the stage magicians do it.

They are not impressed by the second trick.

But they second trick is much more impressive, and with camera angles the aparatus is well hidden on film.

Now in the editing room, you show yourself doing the second trick, but the audience reacting to the first...

[docsamson]

Well,

All I can say is you guys and gals aren't watching the same tape that I am. Sure there are cuts back and forth between Blaine and his audience on quite of few of his tricks but he does floats right in the middle of a Houston road at the very beginning of the tape. No cuts. You see him float, see his shadow on the ground underneath him and get the guy's reaction all in one shot. And doing this good of video editing on video tape, not film, is pretty darn hard to fake. If you can fake this on video tape, not this new 24p that Lucas used on Clone Wars but on beta masters, I'd love to see it and then maybe I'd believe you.

[rustypouch]

The one he does at the very begining is simple to perform, different from the one at the end, and he does not get very high off the ground.

It's all about angles and Blaine hamming it up a bit, as if he's actually done something dangerous and taxing.

So what did you think about the arm twist?

[Earthborn]

I saw the trick performed and explained by The Masked Magician. Nothing miraculous about it. If it wasn't for the 'don't reveal secrets' rule (which I still think stinks!) I would have no problem telling exactly how it works.

With Rustypouch's explanation, the suggested websearch and your knowledge of working in the film industry, you should be able to figure it out yourself though.

If you really want to see something that can't possibly be faked, rent Dinotopia. :rolleyes:

[SteveW]

Originally posted by docsamson
Well,

All I can say is you guys and gals aren't watching the same tape that I am. Sure there are cuts back and forth between Blaine and his audience on quite of few of his tricks but he does floats right in the middle of a Houston road at the very beginning of the tape. No cuts. You see him float, see his shadow on the ground underneath him and get the guy's reaction all in one shot. And doing this good of video editing on video tape, not film, is pretty darn hard to fake. If you can fake this on video tape, not this new 24p that Lucas used on Clone Wars but on beta masters, I'd love to see it and then maybe I'd believe you.

Was this joker born stupid or does he practice at it?

I can't believe this thread is on here although it is very funny to find someone so completely fooled by a simple levitation.

[hal bidlack]

I think there is a wee little chance y'all are having your chain jerked here. ;)

[NoZed Avenger]

Ayep. (spits, the spittoon rings with a hit from 20 feet)

Sheriff's got tha right of it.

[RSLancastr]

Originally posted by NoZed Avenger
Ayep. (spits, the spittoon rings with a hit from 20 feet)

Sheriff's got tha right of it. Hey! I called "troll" several posts ago!

So, you believe it from the badge, but not from a... purple.. polar...

Never mind.

[T'ai Chi]

Can Blaine do the same levitation but standing on his hands instead of his feet?

;)

[Cain]

Christ, I'm so sick n' tired of this "Oh-I-can't-reveal-how-it's-done!" crap.

That incredibly silly rule does not apply here for a simple reason: this illusion's magic is created in the editing room.

Look, Blaine first performs the Balducci levitation (mentioned umpteen times already) and tapes spectator reaction.. (Use Google to see how this simple trick is performed.)

After astounding audiences Blaine brings out a crane to bs the same audience about how others might peform the trick with smoke and mirrors. Spectator reactions are then cut into this *different* effect to create a false impression.

This is neither sleight of hand nor misdirection. It's cheating. David Blaine is a cheater.

[NoZed Avenger]

Originally posted by RSLancastr
Hey! I called "troll" several posts ago!



Ayep.



So, you believe it from the badge, but not from a... purple.. polar...

Never mind.

Nope. Sorry, pard -- just came in late to tha party, an' replied ta tha last 'un. I reckon a polar bahrs' word is as good as any.

Mahpologies.

[spits -- 'clang']

NA

[homunculus]

The levitation is easy to do, and the editting in Street Magic is actually pretty clumsy.

What you're seeing is Blaine suspended on wires, cut in with genuine spectator reactions to an effect (the Balducci levitation, pamphlets are for sale all over the Net) which only looks good from one angle, and in the right kind of lighting.

You can actually see Blaine getting everyone huddled in together ("stand close together," - so nobody will see how it's done).

Watch the first levitation, outside the bar. Watch the guy's face on the far left. He isn't impressed at all. He even looks at his friends as if to say "What happenned? Why are you people freaking out? Did I miss something?"

Then the camera zooms in on the one or two people who were standing in the right place, who are freaking out.

If Blaine had just floated a full 6" off the ground, don't you think the guy on the left would have been just a little bit surprised?

Then there is one done for the young couple in the park. The guy is astonished. His girlfriend is remains unimpressed.

Why?

Anyways, you're only yanking our chain...

Paul.

[nwmadden]

Originally posted by Earthborn
I saw the trick performed and explained by The Masked Magician. Nothing miraculous about it. If it wasn't for the 'don't reveal secrets' rule (which I still think stinks!) I would have no problem telling exactly how it works.


I've seen this trick thoroughly explained and demonstrated too. It involves quite a few subterfuges and a lot of skill. I think anyone who is inclined to be anything less than wholely skeptical towards anything that appears in a DB video needs to examine whether they truely belong in our lovely skeptic of all skeptic communities or not. :rolleyes:

I think a marketing man as astute as Blaine would realize that the 10 billion the aerospace industry would give him for his *secret* of levitation might earn him a little more than dangling himself in an egg splattered plastic box wee-ing in a tube. :wink:

Neil

[Garrette]

I've seen this trick thoroughly explained and demonstrated too. It involves quite a few subterfuges and a lot of skill.

The Balducci levitation requires a little forethought, a good sense of timing, and a fair amount of balls--little else.

I taught my son to do it last year when he was nine. He fooled his mom, his brother, and my father.

[Brown]

It seems to me that Muhammad Ali demonstrated the "levitation" on "60 Minutes" about ten years ago... and the camera wasn't in quite the right place.

[Candace]

Ok, I've read about the Balducci levitation trick - and a very good trick it is, but still a trick. I accidentially did it myself reaching for a can on a top shelf at work two weeks ago, before I knew what the trick was, and scared the hoo-hah out of one of my waitresses, who glanced into the stockroom to see me 'flying'.

But how in the New Jersey does he do the thing with the arm?!?!

I know you can't just tell me, but what keywords can I search for? 'Messed up arm trick' doesn't find it, neither does 'creepiest thing you've ever seen anybody do with their arm'.

Thanks in advance!

[Garrette]

What ARM thing?

I don't remember this from Blaine, but it's been a long while.

Is it where the magician puts his palm flat on the table/ground, then twists his hand 360 degrees, plus? Even has the spectator help turn it?

This one's cool; great for Halloween parties.

Same as Balducci: forethought, timing, and balls. Oh, and a sport coat.

I like when it's done after having guests sign the "Safety Release Form" which then turns out to be a document surrendering their souls to the devil.

[shanek]

Originally posted by docsamson
Well,

All I can say is you guys and gals aren't watching the same tape that I am. Sure there are cuts back and forth between Blaine and his audience on quite of few of his tricks but he does floats right in the middle of a Houston road at the very beginning of the tape. No cuts. You see him float, see his shadow on the ground underneath him and get the guy's reaction all in one shot. And doing this good of video editing on video tape, not film, is pretty darn hard to fake. If you can fake this on video tape, not this new 24p that Lucas used on Clone Wars but on beta masters, I'd love to see it and then maybe I'd believe you.

I saw it. I even PVRed it and watched it again. The first time, in the road, he was doing the "genuine" levitation—where he only got a few inches off the ground for an instant. You see the shadow because it was on the other side of the foot that was holding him up. The others toward the end were definite edits.

[shanek]

Originally posted by rustypouch
So what did you think about the arm twist?

I can do that one. ;)

It's all about knowing human anatomy and what it can really do.

[Garrette]

Originally posted by Shanek:

It's all about knowing human anatomy and what it can really do.

Philistine. It's all about Transcendental Meditation and 15 years in a Tibetan Monastery. It requires both oneness and nirvana, and is best performed when outside the body. My video ($39.95 + S&H) entitled "Vibratory Energies and Using Them on Wall Street" teaches all about it.

Anatomy, indeed....... Sheesh.

[Dogwood]

You are both wrong. Blaine had his elbow surgically reoved in the Phillipines 10 years ago. The doctor is a brother of a friend of mine who is a psychic surgeon and I trust him implicitly.

[Blondin]

I've seen The Amazing Johnathan live and I know for a fact and nobody is going to convince me otherwise that he CAN push a pencil in his ear and pull it out his nose!

Try explaining that one...

:p

[billydkid]

Originally posted by docsamson
I'm sorry guys. I'm watching the tape now and there is no way that this is being faked. Either Blaine is lying to the public when he's doing this tricks and doing some very, very good video editing and hiring very, very good actors to fool the audience or he's performing real magic. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that he can be cheating this in real life. While clever slight of hand is definately being performed as well, he's either a bald face lier or the magicians are. HE IS FLOATING IN FRONT OF THOSE PEOPLE. He is not standing on his tiptoes. I can see his complete shadow on the ground beneath him.

I'm not going to beat this over the head of anyone here but I will keep investigating this. Just like it takes a magician instead of a scientist to prove the lies of someone like Uri Geller, it might just take a normal person like me to prove that real "magik" exists.

You guys can't fool me, I'm sorry.

Maybe you magicians shouldn't have allowed David Blaine to perform real "street magic". I believe that your lies are now exposed. I believe that magicians really sit around the Magic Castle trying to find ways to come up with ideas to "explain" how these "tricks" are possible.

Good luck, the only other explaination that I would even come close to believing is video editing and like I said, I know video editing because of my formal training and I can spot video voodoo.

Let's see what you magicians think of this post. You've been exposed as complete liers no matter what.

Don't be a dunce. Obviously, pathetically, they can fool you. "Real magic", please. Yes, you are so right, David Blaine can defy the laws of physics. Oh my god, the most signicant hystorical event since the dawn of time. And to think, we live during these times. Just imagine telling your grandkids that your remember when David Blaine altered the very course of science and our understanding of the universe.

[nwmadden]

Originally posted by billydkid


Don't be a dunce. Obviously, pathetically, they can fool you. "Real magic", please. Yes, you are so right, David Blaine can defy the laws of physics. Oh my god, the most signicant hystorical event since the dawn of time. And to think, we live during these times. Just imagine telling your grandkids that your remember when David Blaine altered the very course of science and our understanding of the universe.

Hehe. I totally agree.

My problem is containing my anger at people who believe in people like blaine, and other bunkem merchants. I seriously have to stop myself popping a blood vessel at these people. I'm sure it's not healthy for me.

I feel like saying that if you are going to believe something that blatently defies 400 years of science & logic, then please remove all the comforts and advancements in quality of life that that science have given you. Turn your PC off, sell every electrical device you have, remove all clothing with man made materials in it, go sit in a muddy field in the dark, to remove yourself from the information age; because your views about the world are not valid and not needed.

I need to be more tolerant I think. :) I forget that maybe not everyone has been surrounded by atheists since the age of 10 and studied Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Geology and Astronomy.

Neil

[homunculus]

The twisting arm thingie is available as New Wave Thaumatology (or something like that, I'm too lazy to do any research), among other pamphlets which are cheap and, again, available on the Net.

Paul.

[Kevin_Lowe]

I Googled for "arm twist trick", and I had enough clues to piece the secret together in a matter of minutes.

I will say no more.

[Candace]

Ok, I googled and found instructions and pictures! Now I know. (Though part of the setup hurts my arm as much as if I were twisting it 360.)
Thanks!

[heresiarch]

You skeptics can just explain away everything that doesn't fit into your pathetic materialistic worldview. But I saw David Blaine SWALLOW HIS OWN HEAD! Try to explain taht!

and I know it was real - I am very proficient at Microsoft Movie Maker and I can spot a fake a mile away.

[billydkid]

Originally posted by heresiarch
You skeptics can just explain away everything that doesn't fit into your pathetic materialistic worldview. But I saw David Blaine SWALLOW HIS OWN HEAD! Try to explain taht!

and I know it was real - I am very proficient at Microsoft Movie Maker and I can spot a fake a mile away.

Which one?

[Brown]

The first person I ever saw do the arm twisting trick was Harry Anderson on the "Tonight" show. At first, it freaked me out. Then I said to myself, "You know, I'll bet I can figure out how that was done!" And with about, oh, ten seconds of experimentation, I did.

[Cain]

The arm twist trick has never ever impressed me. I read about in a book before seeing a magician perform it, however. I just sort of stared blankly and said, "Oh, that sucks."

[Marvel Frozen]

Twisting your arm 360 degrees is easy. Try twisting your head around 360 degrees. Although, you might not want to try that trick, it could be hazardous to your health.

[RC]

I saw Blaine's show for the first time recently and for the life of me can't figure out how he does that card stuff.

And when he said "pick a two-digit number between 1 and 50, using two different odd numbers", I picked 37, and sure enough that's what Blaine called out and the participant in the show had picked it also! I realize there aren't that many to work with, 13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 35, 37, and 39, but I did get a chill up my arm.

He freaks me out.

[Brown]

Originally posted by RC
And when he said "pick a two-digit number between 1 and 50, using two different odd numbers", I picked 37, and sure enough that's what Blaine called out and the participant in the show had picked it also! I realize there aren't that many to work with, 13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 35, 37, and 39, but I did get a chill up my arm.
Well, you can do a variation of this trick with your friends. Ask a friend to think of a number between fifty and one hundred, with both digits being even, but the digits have to be different. Then guess 68. Martin Gardner published this "trick" in one of his columns long before Blaine was famous.

And at least one of Blaine's card tricks is lifted (with a clever lead-in) from one of Gardner's columns.