Home Forums Ganymede & Titan Forum Derren Brown – The Events

Viewing 50 posts - 1 through 50 (of 148 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #4532
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    Anyone else going to watch these?

    I’ve got to admit I’m quite a huge fan of Derren Brown. So I will.

    #103027
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Yeah. I have a habit of missing his stuff, but I always enjoy it when I do catch it. And this looks INTERESTING.

    Plus I may have possibly based a revamp of a famous Marvel character on him in a script I’m writing at the moment.

    #103028
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    Ditto. Seen him live several times and he never ceases to amaze.

    Apparently he’s predicting the lottery numbers on Wednesday night…(?!)

    #103030
    Jonathan Capps
    Keymaster

    NO! DO NOT IMAGINE THE EVENT HAPPENING AGAIN.

    #103036
    John Hoare
    Participant

    Can’t. Bloody. Wait.

    His shows are always excellently produced, as well.

    #103038
    redhead85
    Participant

    The advert reminds me of ‘Backwards’, especially with that angry cyclist…

    #103039
    Andrew
    Participant

    Yeah, I’m very keen to see this. Of all the show’s Brown’s done, only the Russian Roulette show ever disappointed me.

    #103041

    > only the Russian Roulette show ever disappointed me.

    Why? At the time I thought it was great, really gripping, even though in the back of your mind you know he’s in no danger. The build-up to it was a tad boring maybe, and the whole thing seems lame in retrospect (it’s a shame it was ruined later by the police having to confirm that no live rounds were used), but I could watch the ‘live’ scene again and again. Saying that, I can’t find it on youtube anymore, at least not the proper version that was on Ch4. What lunacy we have to endure.

    #103040
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    For the Russian Roulette, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. It was morbid curiosity that made me watch it, in honesty.

    #103043

    > It was morbid curiosity that made me watch it, in honesty.

    The way he made it look like he’d messed it up was the masterstroke. When he pointed it at the bag but it didn’t fire… anyone who wasn’t biting their nails or otherwise from that point on is a liar.

    #103044
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    This is what makes him great – he’s a damned good showman. He gets away with a lot because of the quite disarming (and non-cocky – he’s confident, but he’s not unbearably arrogant) way he comes across – he makes you feel like it’s all a big con that you’re actually in on, when in fact he’s conning you just as much, only in a different way.

    And yeah, you knew he wasn’t actually going to shoot himself on live TV, but that didn’t stop it being utterly, utterly compelling viewing.

    (actually, given that people knew it was on a time delay, what he REALLY should have done was have the screen suddenly go black with a “technical fault” the moment he was shown picking up the gun the last time. That would have shit people RIGHT up.)

    #103045
    Tanya Jones
    Participant

    I had to turn over when watching the Russian Roulette programme, but I’m a big wimp :)

    #103047
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    (what he REALLY should have done was have the screen suddenly go black with a ?technical fault? the moment he was shown picking up the gun the last time. That would have shit people RIGHT up.)

    Yes it bloody well would have!!!

    A voiceover alongside: “Due to unforeseen curcumstances, the rest of tonight’s planned show cannot be broadcast” would have topped that off. hehe.

    #103050

    Lol they would NEVER have done that. Imagine the complaints!! Nationwide panic as a million people think Derren has just killed himself. It would have been great but that’s the kind of thing that could have killed his TV career.

    #103051
    Andrew
    Participant

    Paul Daniels already did it in 1989.

    Big escape trick, Halloween night. Spiked cabinet thing (I think) crashed down on where he was, screams, lights down, and a voice asking the audience to please remain calm. Credits ran quickly over silence.

    It was only after Ghostwatch, which immediately followed it, that they cut back to the stage and showed Paul, absolutely fine, explaining that it was just a prank. If the population hadn’t gone nuts for the faux documentary, I’m sure the reaction would have been huge. But the tabs were too busy talking about ghostly possession and suicides caused by a piece of drama to notice.

    #103057

    > Nationwide panic as a million people think Derren has just killed himself.

    I know for a fact there’s no champagne.

    #103061
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Paul Daniels already did it in 1989.

    Big escape trick, Halloween night. Spiked cabinet thing (I think) crashed down on where he was, screams, lights down, and a voice asking the audience to please remain calm. Credits ran quickly over silence.

    It was only after Ghostwatch, which immediately followed it, that they cut back to the stage and showed Paul, absolutely fine, explaining that it was just a prank. If the population hadn?t gone nuts for the faux documentary, I?m sure the reaction would have been huge. But the tabs were too busy talking about ghostly possession and suicides caused by a piece of drama to notice.

    Bloody hell! So that and Ghostwatch were on the same night? That’s amazing.

    (although, wasn’t Ghostwatch ’92?)

    #103062
    Carlito
    Participant

    The Paul Daniels hoax was in 1987, some five years prior to Ghostwatch.

    #103063
    Andrew
    Participant

    Oops, yeah, 92 it was. But it was definitely the same yeah as Ghostwatch. At least…I’m was sure I watched them both the same damn night. Maybe it’s all melded together in my brain!

    #103064
    Carlito
    Participant

    Must be. Daniels considers Ghostwatch a rip-off of his stunt.

    #103065
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Maybe he can expect a call from Orson Welles’ lawyers, then.

    #103066
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Oh, and Carl’s right, Andrew – your brain’s playing tricks on you ;-)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicament_escape

    #103069
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    Is anyone else getting anxious about this?

    #103070
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    Not anxious, no. Excited. My guess is that Derren will be writing down numbers in an envelope and this will be opened and revealed to be the correct numbers.

    There’s no way he’ll vocally predict the numbers beforehand. Because, um, that’ll be impossible.

    I’d like Derren to predict when Emile Heskey will finally bury an easy chance.

    #103071
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    You don’t need Derren Brown for that. I predict never. NEVER.

    #103076
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    OK, so Derren Brown has just predicted 6 out of 6 balls for the National Lottery draw.

    What do we think?

    Every challenge I can think of is coming up blank…

    HOW THE FUCK???!?!!??!

    Edit: I’ve never actually found myself staring at a television screen with my mouth wide open in shock before. I didn’t think actually did that.

    #103075
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    DERREN BROWN WINS.

    #103077
    John Hoare
    Participant

    THAT IS HOW YOU MAKE TELEVISION, EVERYONE.

    #103079
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    Well, Derren was obviously talking out of his arse when he said they couldn’t show the predicted balls beforehand because of the agreement the BBC has with Camelot. And that’s the trick; how did they get the numbers on the balls afterwards.

    #103080
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    >THAT IS HOW YOU MAKE TELEVISION, EVERYONE.

    It’s astonishing how good he is at making gripping telly out of not very much. I think the massively sparse set was designed to trigger memories of the Russian roulette – at least, it did for me, and made it feel really tense, like something completely unexpected (and unrelated to the Lottery) was going to happen any minute.

    #103082
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    The secret’s out :

    #103083
    John Hoare
    Participant

    Well, Derren was obviously talking out of his arse when he said they couldn?t show the predicted balls beforehand because of the agreement the BBC has with Camelot. And that?s the trick; how did they get the numbers on the balls afterwards

    Indeed. But I have no ideas how.

    I thought it was slightly odd that the balls were slightly out-of-kilter when revealed, rather than dead straight…

    #103084
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    It’s got to be a trick relating to the “reveal” of the balls, yeah – because ideally, he’d have shown them beforehand.

    (I mean, how can Camelot claim that no-one’s allowed to show the numbers beforehand? You can’t copyright a set of numbers, for fuck’s sake)

    I just wonder how he’s going to spin an hour long show out of it. But still, this has done its job – EVERYONE’s going to be watching on Friday.

    #103085
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    Yeah, sorry if that came out as patronising and obvious but I’ve stumbled across a lot of threads that are claiming there was a time delay or that Derren has genuine psychic ability.

    Awesome pic, Seb.

    #103086
    John Hoare
    Participant

    Wondering if something can somehow paint the numbers on from the bottom, and then invisibly swivel them to be in the correct position…

    But… well, that stand looked pretty insubstantial to me.

    #103088
    Jonathan Capps
    Keymaster

    Yes, that was superb. The only think I can think of is split screen, but it’d have to be fucking clever considering the camera was moving about all over the place.

    #103089
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    The camera was visibly shifting all the time, first thing I noticed. Split screen would be really difficult, but to risk trying on the illusion of trying to track ANYTHING live. That would be incredibly fucking ballsy of them.

    #103091
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    To be fair, though, if they have done that with split screen in real-time, then that doesn’t make it any less fucking impressive.

    #103090

    Figured it out, I think, with the aid of other posters on DS. Personally I don’t think it ruins it knowing how it was done, especially with Derren, because how he pulls off illusions is fascinating enough in itself. It’s more interesting than him actually being able to predict the numbers, which we all know is impossible. Everyone on here surely appreciates a great piece of television.

    Split screen with a motion control camera and a greenscreen TV. The unnecessary cut to the long shot where he’s waving his arms, when it cuts back it’s NOT the handheld camera, it’s a motion control camera doing slight movements to stop it looking fixed. When he walked in with the hanheld camera that was pre-recorded. Derren is live only after he’s waved his arms. He’s looking at a greenscreen, not the draw, though he can obviously hear it or is being prompted in his ear. The left side of the screen (the ball stand) is a pre-record. When the draw is happening Derren stops speaking, not just for dramatic effect, but so they can lower the audio so we don’t hear the balls being swapped, and so the people doing the swapping can concentrate.

    If you watch it back, just as Derren says ’23’ when he’s listing off the numbers at the end you can see that’s the exact moment the wipe is done on the left side of the screen (the ball stand) from pre-record to live picture. Watch the far left hand ball (39) at that moment, it ‘moves’ ever so slightly upwards. They didn’t push the ball in far enough. Dwarf was doing stuff like this 20 years ago! The technology now can make it even less noticeable (and it would have been completely undetectable if they had only pushed the ball down further, amateurs!!).

    #103092
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    Figured it out, I think,

    Right so we have a motion control camera, after the long shot, which is simulating real movement, as the lottery numbers are being drawn, someone is already placing the balls in the stand, and while the number are being read out by Derren, this is giving the vision mixer time to blend the old stand to the new stand with the winning numbers.

    Can’t fault that theory. Everything pans out. Very clever stuff. The misdirection is watching Derren while he’s writing the numbers down, so as not to notice any movement, if there was any (which there was, unfortunately) on the stand.

    However, I still think that it wasn’t a greenscreen TV, as it’s an unnecessary part of the illusion, the stand is far enough away from the screen to need to do it. I’m deducing that the right hand side of the screen was completely as it was. The left hand side is how you said, PM.

    I’ve just realised I’ve taped this, so i’ll have no problem showing the family the process involved. Over and over and over again. Need to keep a hard copy somehow…

    #103093
    John Hoare
    Participant

    Yep, I can also see the left-most ball moving as well, at the moment Derren says “23” – I’ve gone back and rewatched my HD recording, and can see it clearly. It’s a split-screen with motion control.

    Agree with Danny that it isn’t a greenscreen on the telly, though. No need.

    FUCKING brilliant, though – a really brilliantly done live camera trick, and worthy of applause. But he can’t fill an hour show with it on Friday – not to the general public, at least!

    #103094
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    I could make a “How he did it video for Youtube” but It would take all night, and i really can’t be arsed…

    COuld someone do it though?

    #103095
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    It’s noticeable how he stumbles over reading out the numbers at the end, and has to check the last one – surely he’d know them off by heart?

    #103096
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    All the talk of a “year’s obsession with this”, it’s all timed down to the second with the motion control camera. the

    “we can’t show this for 30 seconds”

    “we can only show this for a few minutes”

    I’ll bet right down to the time that the lottery numbers are drawn.

    “a year obsession” working out the average time the balls are drawn?

    I don’t care that it was a trick. ALL of Derren Brown’s Stuff is done with careful planning, tons of research and meticulous care and attention made to everything down to ‘the reason why that light is over there’ details.

    He tweeted “Smug” shortly after the event, and after fooling the millions of people that he did it. I fucking well would be.

    It’s a damn shame that bloody ball moved. I doubt anyone would have worked it out otherwise, it’s seems to be the only way people has sussed it.

    It?s noticeable how he stumbles over reading out the numbers at the end, and has to check the last one – surely he?d know them off by heart?

    I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched it the second time round.

    #103097

    I’ve forgotten why I even thought the TV had to be greenscreened/superimposed. Derren doesn’t act like he’s actually watching the broadcast. He doesn’t react to the numbers appearing. Though there’s no way the Lottery audio we hear is from the speakers of the TV. We would also be able to hear the crew fumbling about with the balls (ooh er).

    This was so brilliantly put together, though I highly doubt he will ‘reveal’ the real explanation on Friday. If he starts going on about odds and patterns I’m gonna be pissed off!

    #103098
    Danny Stephenson
    Keymaster

    If he starts going on about odds and patterns I?m gonna be pissed off!

    I bet that’s EXACTLY what he’s going to do, go through the spiel of combinations, with some tricks and some stuff and then at the end just go:

    “Hold it hold it, OK i’ll tell you how I did it…”

    And show the real explanation right at the end.

    No harm, no foul, no cheating. Just good telly.

    Seriously though, if that ball hadn’t have moved… Although the motion control does stop temporarily as well. Maybe they would have got it from that anyway?

    Who knows.

    #103099
    Seb Patrick
    Keymaster

    Did anyone watch the thing that was on afterwards? Because on a few occasions there, he made up a fake explanation for how he did something, before then giving the (much more simple) real version. I’ll bet that’s what we get here.

    #103100
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    The only thing I’ll say about the split-screen (and it was what I was leaning to after waching it on time-shift), is that Derren does similar stuff in his live shows which clearly does not use this technique. Evening of Wonders (shown on E4 yesterday) concludes with a “prediction” of the night’s events being read from a scroll that has been locked in a box for the duration of the show. I’d be more inclined to believe the technique is similar.

    Also, it’s worth noting that Derren even lies about explanations, often throwing you off the real solution with misdirection. I’m not totally convinced we’ll get the full story tomorrow.

    Ah, what a legend.

    #103101
    Pete Part Three
    Participant

    (By the way, I reckon he did the EoW prediction with a trick table)

    #103102
    Andrew
    Participant

    > Must be. Daniels considers Ghostwatch a rip-off of his stunt.

    My rotting brain must have fused that information. Or something. Apologies for the uselessness.

Viewing 50 posts - 1 through 50 (of 148 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.