Derren Brown

[d000hg]

I think that's very unlikely - the camera was a hand held jobby, I think it would be quite difficult to match up the two halves of the picture without it looking obvious.

But was what made me wonder... why aren't they using a proper camera? I don't know about television, but couldn't you use a camera jump/shake to make a switch while the picture is blurred momentarily?

[tim123]

I said "I knew it was like that" before the event:


The trick is making people believe that the balls are picked correctly before the draw.

In that case the trick failed miserably.

No-one believes that.

tim

[tim123]

That's all part of the misdirection. That people think he's different and not doing simple tricks, and that somehow he wouldn't or wouldn't be allowed to just use simple TV camera trickery.

I don't think it matters whether he thinks he's allowed to or not.

What matters is that I don't think he's allowed to. IMHO if the trick is accomplished (which seems likely) by camera trickery then it isn't, what I believe, is an acceptable form of magic.

Entertainers are supposed to exhibit some skills that the average person doesn't have. Any fool can pay a few technicians to create camera trickery, it has no place in the magician's repertoire whatsoever.

tim

[The Lone Gunman]

It'll be pretty dull if it's camera trickery, plus a lot of people reckon he doesn't do his tricks/illusions like that.

It went out live so a studio switch is impossible and as somebody stated earlier, they would have had to pre record all possible outcomes to switch to a pre recorded section.

[bekarovka]

I remember seeing Paul daniels do a similar trick in his Bunko Booth back in the '80s. The man's clearly a rip off artist.

[bekarovka]

....and there's no eye candy to look at while he does his tricks. Debbie McGee, phwoaar!

[The Lone Gunman]

....and there's no eye candy to look at while he does his tricks. Debbie McGee, phwoaar!

belies the old wives saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks".

[gingerjedi]

I don't think it matters whether he thinks he's allowed to or not.

What matters is that I don't think he's allowed to. IMHO if the trick is accomplished (which seems likely) by camera trickery then it isn't, what I believe, is an acceptable form of magic.

Entertainers are supposed to exhibit some skills that the average person doesn't have. Any fool can pay a few technicians to create camera trickery, it has no place in the magician's repertoire whatsoever.

tim

As demonstrated here.

I don't think that is what happened though, if it turns out to be camera trickery then his reputation would be ruined.

It's funny how some people in this office are getting quite freaked out by this as they don't understand what he does, he's not claiming to be the 2nd coming he's just demonstrating how easily we're all manipulated. IMO it makes good sense to be cynical in this day and age, everyone is out to get you.

[Pondlife]

Won't all be revealed tonight on his show?

Or just more misdirection?

[realityhack]

I think that's very unlikely - the camera was a hand held jobby, I think it would be quite difficult to match up the two halves of the picture without it looking obvious.

It went out live so a studio switch is impossible and as somebody stated earlier, they would have had to pre record all possible outcomes to switch to a pre recorded section.

Not so.

Here's one way it could be done:
Live feed from static camera on a tripod with split screen. As he leaves the left-hand part of the screen, it's frozen. As the numbers are read out, an assistant replaces the balls with the correct numbered balls. Note the delay from the numbers on the TV to Derren writing them down. This gives the assistant a few more seconds to make sure the balls are placed correctly and leave the shot. The left split-screen is switched to live, and Derren enters it to show the finale.

This would explain the curious elevation of the ball on the left shortly after the last number is announced, the design of the stand so the balls will be in (almost) the same position, and the left-right placement of the balls vs Derren & TV.

The shaky camera work? Easy. The live feed is passed through a second image processor where an editor moves the screen within the screen jerkily to simulate handheld camera work. The actual 'shot' area is larger than that broadcast, and it's moved around frame-in-frame and broadcast from the second processor. This technique is common in filmmaking to simulate camera shake. This would explain the not-quite-so-random camera shake we see.