if this is more suited for CS please move it.
so how does he do that levitation trick? it looks REALLY mechanical when he comes down, any ideas?
Wires. Clear or chroma-keyed, I’m not sure.
Not wires.
According to a lot of folks on these boards (and this has been discussed in depth) he’s using dodgy editing and a classic levitation trick that’s been around for a long long time…
Or, it’s possible he’s sold his soul for unearthly power.
The classic levitation trick you’re refering to is used by David Blaine. He “levitates” a few inches. He’s also the one that uses those editing techniques you’re talking about. Criss Angel is shown “levitating” almost 6 feet in the air.
I can never seem to levitate for more than a couple of hours at a time and I never get more than 8-10 feet off the ground. the problem is that the rope keeps irritating the skin on my throat.
Pracitce Makes Perfect,
Tootles
I thought it was illegal to discuss this.
Maybe for magicians.
Not for us laymen.
Later, I intend to eat non-kosher foods.
Hi Chris 1. It isn’t ‘illegal’ to ask about magic tricks here on the Dope, but it is a little bit futile. The reason is that the small number of people who really know how the tricks are done (like professional magicians) aren’t going to tell you, and those who are apparently willing to tell you don’t really know - they are just guessing and speculating and probably don’t know much more than you do.
I’m sorry if that sounds frustrating, but that’s the way it is with magic tricks. Magicians are trying to create an illusion of one kind or another that is mystifying but also entertaining (maybe not always successfully!), and if you know how the trick is done then this tends to spoil the fun and the wonder that a good mystery can create. If you really want to know the genuine answer (as opposed to some hopeful guesses and bits of not-so-well-informed speculation) then take up and interest in magic… and in the fullness of time you will know. But it will take time.
Anyway… you can believe me or not, but in the case of Mr Angel and his levitation, there are no camera tricks or clever editing tricks involved. He has performed the same levitation live on stage and even live on the street many, many times, in front of real, live audiences.
He’s standing on one foot. And some things are too lame to be kept secret.
For any given magic trick, there’s one person who knows how it’s done: The magician. Well, maybe also his assistants, stage hands, and what-not. So in the sense that this Criss Angel fellow (probably) isn’t a member of this message board, yes, it’s futile to ask. Anyone else, including other magicians, can only speculate on how it might have been done. And magicians, who are bound by a code of professional ethics not to tell, don’t necessarily have any more insight in their speculation than non-magicians. It’s quite possible that a non-magician might figure out how a trick could have been done, or even how it probably was done, and many of the people who post on this board are just the sort to do so. So in that sense, it’s not futile to ask how a trick was done.
This link shows him barefoot “levitating” at least 3 feet off the ground. Maybe he just has 3 foot long invisible toenails.
Something is either pushing him up or pulling him up. I’m betting on pulling since there’s no clear evidence of him being lifted. Wires can be made to be practically invisible, and since he is picking the spots he does this in, I’m sure that’s what he’s using.
If he could actually levitate, I’m sure many physics proffesors not to mention the Dept. of Defense, would be pretty interested. They’re not.
In both those photographs he seems to be simply balancing on a pole and being lifted by a hydraulic hoist concealed behind the wall/hedge. His rear heel is balanced on the pole, and the toes of that foot help to conceal the pole. The stance with the front foot held lower then the rear is further aiding concealment.
I’ve never seen footage of this guy’s street theatre, but for those who have, was the camera always positioned as in those two shots? ie was the camera always positioned so that you couldn’t quite see under the feet? And is he always standing in front of a wall or hedge or similar as in those two photographs? And for full marks was there always a convenient vertical join in any solid wall as in the first photo?
If so then I would bet large sums of money that he is standing with his heel on a pole. The act requires good balance, but it does’t seem terribly hard to explain.
As for the idea that you can’t get answers on this subject, that seems an odd response. We could say the same about many questions we get here. Questions concerning scientology for example, or the internal machinations of political parties or the actions of OJ Simpson. In all these cases only the ‘perpetrators’ know the truth. That doesn’t mean we can’t some up with a good explanation that is almost certainly correct. There have been many ‘magicians’ and special effects technicians who have explained how these tricks have been or can be done. There have been numerous TV shows devoted to exactly that.
And the use of a hydraulic hoist hidden behind a wall was one of the tricks that was demonstrated on those shows.
I think there might be more than one trick/method being employed in that video; in the scenes where he keeps his back to the camera - especially the first one in the café - it looks for all the world to me as if he is merely stepping up onto the item in front of him , the leg doing the stepping being obscured by his other remaining leg, plus a false one that is dangling in place. This would require some of the people present in the scene to be stooges.
Which Penn and Teller have demonstrated that even people off the street are MORE then happy to pretend like they dont know whats going on. If only to be on camera.
The show where I saw him levitate, it couldn’t have been done in any wire or pole way I can think of.
With one, he has someone hold his head and two hold his arms, then he has them lean him back to horizontal with his bent knees. This is done in a park, it looks like, I believe there is a van nearby, but there’s no obvious crane or anything. No trees, as I recall. Anyway, the volunteers let him go, and he rests for a bit with his feet on the ground, knees bent at 90 degrees, and the rest of his body flat. Slightly possible that his legs support him, or that he’s go a support in his pants, but there was no sign of it. There did seem to be something odd in the back of his shirt, near the waist, but that may have been just the microphone box thing that singers and broadcasters frequently wear. He lifts one leg to horizontal, aligned with his torso. I don’t recall if he lifted both. He did the same trick with a passerby, though, and she did lift both feet off the ground. I believe that the camera went all around. He borrowed a walking cane from a passerby and waved it under her, too.
The same show had him do this to another passerby in what looked like Times Square. Slightly different method but same result- woman floating.
I can’t figure it out.
Well, until we can explain how it happens, technically it’s Intelligent Design.
Are you talking about the one where he’s arched like a person doing a bridge but his hands are out to his side? And when the girl does it her feet are off the ground? If you notice, when the girl does it that her hair touches the ground.
I’m guessing they’re actually supported by a piece of metal that balances on one end of the ground. It looks amazing cause they don’t tip over but the way the weight is distributed is like one of those wine bottle stands like this or this. The support arch is flexible until it is in the inverted “U” shape kind of like some metal wristwatch bands. Flexible and floppy but a solid arch when pushed back on itself. So, while he can walk around with it flexed running from his shoe, up the back of his pant leg, and up his back to his neck (in the girls case into her hair), as soon as he arches back it will lock and he can balance on it.
very very convincing to see but as the name implies I am a bit critical of these things and of course there is always something plausable to help obscure things. but damn if its not hard as hell to detect. at least on edited for tv film, dont know what hes like live and up close.
Er, surely if you couldn’t even begin to imagine how, you would know that this was certainly not real levitation?
I take it back, of course. This is not the trick where he’s standing on one foot. In one I think he’s probably hanging on a hook.
I have seen many levitation tricks performed where the person is lying on a board, concealed by a dress or baggy, loose fitting clothing that hangs over the board.
The one I have seen uses a hula hoop that they move back and forth to make it appear there is nothing behind the person, when in fact the bars supporting them are shaped like
____
I____
____I
so the hoop can be moved back and forth. Anyway, I don’t think this helps explain the vertical levitation, but may help explain some of the horizontal.