# David Copperfield "Portal" illusion: thoughts on how it's done? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264 "2006-07-27T14:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/21 "2006-07-28T16:55:33Z")
Watching frame-by-frame as best as you can it’s also odd that the curtain thats covering them when they are on the elevated platform doesn’t just fall down on the platform. It sort of gets sucked backwards towards the base arm of the platform on the stage. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/22 "2006-07-28T17:04:56Z")
[QUOTE=FlyingCowOfDoom] . . . as well as the one where he “impregnates” a woman on stage. [/QUOTE] Used to be, they’d arrest you for that. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/23 "2006-07-28T17:14:22Z")
Way back when, when I was in college, I was a stagehand and I got to work a Copperfield show. Fascinating stuff: the local crew was divided in half and all of his effects came in two sections. While we were assembling one half, the other crew was preparing the second half. We never got to see the two pieces together until showtime, so we had no idea what the trick would be, so we couldn’t puzzle it out beforehand. Just in case, though, we all had to sign non-disclosure agreements before we were allowed to start work. So when the stunt went off, we were just as amazed as the audience a great deal of the time. That being said, our backstage vantage point did reveal a lot of the workings, but that didn’t matter: we were completely blown away by the engineering & general cleverness. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingCowOfDoom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyingcowofdoom/32/21776_2.png) [@FlyingCowOfDoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingCowOfDoom)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/24 "2006-07-28T17:27:57Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Used to be, they’d arrest you for that. [/QUOTE] Yeah, and he **should** have been arrested for that trick! –FCOD ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/25 "2006-07-28T19:00:47Z")
[QUOTE=snorlax] On a slight hijack, I haven’t seen or heard much of David Copperfield for some time; he seems to have adopted a more informal and jokey stage persona. I always remembered him as being really intense and serious, wearing glittery outfits, and spouting on about “the world of illuuuusion” with one eyebrow cocked. Or do I have him confused with Doug Henning? [/QUOTE] Yes, it’s nice to see he got rid of the mullet and all-black outfit. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/26 "2006-07-28T19:08:00Z")
Easy David Copperfield owns Schrodinger’s cat. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/27 "2006-07-28T19:26:54Z")
[QUOTE=DooWahDiddy] Okay, so we’ve got a pretty good idea about everything but the disappearance itself. Any idea how he did that (and the reappearance, for that matter)? [/QUOTE] Well, the reappearance is easy, because it happened on the pre-recorded footage. They could have just walked up to stand behind the curtain, and then had themselves digitally edited out – like how people are made invisible in movies such as Hollow Man or The Lord of the Rings. (They might need to be wearing a green suit for the greenscreen process, but that could be quickly stripped off behind the curtain.) There’s probably an even easier way, though. The on stage disappearance is trickier, because it happened in front of a real audience. (Given that Copperfield has done numerous disappearances in front of live audiences, there’s no reason to assume they were plants.) He probably had already made his exit before the curtain fell, but I’m not sure how it was hidden from view. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/28 "2006-07-28T20:41:44Z")
I have to admit, I’m also mystified by the disappearance from the metal platform, though it’s safe to assume that it’s just a dressed-up version of the standard stage disappearance magicians have used for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/29 "2006-07-28T22:23:37Z")
[QUOTE=tim314] Well, the reappearance is easy, because it happened on the pre-recorded footage. [/QUOTE] I was talking about his reappearance in front of the studio audience, not in “Hawaii”. It kind of looked like he just appeared from out of nowhere on the platform, but after re-watching it, the platform probably rose up from below and they just didn’t show it until he was all the way up. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/30 "2006-07-28T23:10:26Z")
Okay, I think I got a handle on the platform disappearance. The backward-yanking white cloth is the key. DC and BG secure themselves to the cloth (possibly once the curtain descends, they pull up a large white sack from small raised platform they’re on to cover themselves so no glimpse of colour from their clothing can be seen) and they get yanked along with the curtain, whose movement is covered by lots of flashes and smoke. The curtain, with DC and BG bundled inside, gets pulled the length of the platform and note the black surface is pretty smooth and the guy wires on on the sides, making the quick yank unobstructed. I figure DC’s “Close your eyes and imagine your perfect place” is live, as a signal to the stagehands that he and BG are ready for the yank, wearing the necessary harnesses or whatnot, but the fading “YAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!” is prerecorded (and actually sounds slightly different than his live dialogue, though that may be the quality of the video file) and likely is the signal from the stagehands back to DC and BG that the yank is imminent. Note the curtain gets pulled right off the stage, disappearing from view and presumably into a trapdoor where DC and BG hustle onto their greenscreen marks for the video portion. DC’s reappearance is comparatively banal. If you know where to look, you can spot his profile a few seconds before the spotlights hit him. Most likely, a somple platform raises him from the understage greenscreen studio. That’s my theory, at least. Still damned impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/31 "2006-07-28T23:23:12Z")
Incidental to this, if my theory is right, there’s no need for the mirror to have any special properties. It’s probably just a conventional convex mirror, as described. If DC and BG leave the platform bundled up in the cloth, the mirror isn’t going to reveal anything and on the off-chance a mistake is made and DC and/or BG is partly visible, the flashes and smoke will cover it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/32 "2006-07-28T23:30:15Z")
[QUOTE=Daithi Lacha] Way back when, when I was in college, I was a stagehand and I got to work a Copperfield show. Fascinating stuff: the local crew was divided in half and all of his effects came in two sections. While we were assembling one half, the other crew was preparing the second half. We never got to see the two pieces together until showtime, so we had no idea what the trick would be, so we couldn’t puzzle it out beforehand. Just in case, though, we all had to sign non-disclosure agreements before we were allowed to start work. So when the stunt went off, we were just as amazed as the audience a great deal of the time. That being said, our backstage vantage point did reveal a lot of the workings, but that didn’t matter: we were completely blown away by the engineering & general cleverness. [/QUOTE] Copperfield is a good showman and he’s a smart guy. Smart enough to use the best people in the business to help him design his presentations. Most large stage illusions are mechanical in nature (like the platform he and BG vanish from) and these are almost always designed by professionals that specialize in these sorts of things and are not performers. Most people aren’t aware that there are a few really clever guys out there that invent illusions but never perform them for audiences; they just sell them to guys like Copperfield. Performing magic is one art form. Inventing illusions is another. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/33 "2006-07-29T01:49:33Z")
For futher information to consider (as well as viewing pleasure) have a look at Copperfield’s [Thirteen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tte6yzmB_UU&NR) illusion from presumably the same show. In addition to more witty repartee (which may suggest audience plants, such as the flashlight moving up and down instead of side to side – you’ll see when you watch it) it features a similar disappearance with a (apparently) isolated platform and a quick curtain pull with pyro. I like the solution put forward by **Bryan Ekers** , but this time it’s with 13 supposedly random audience members. Probably too much to assume that they all have harnesses. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/34 "2006-07-29T02:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] I like the solution put forward by **Bryan Ekers** , but this time it’s with 13 supposedly random audience members. Probably too much to assume that they all have harnesses. Thoughts? [/QUOTE] Hmmmmm… I figure there’s at least one plant in the group simply because 13 random audience members can’t be relied on to move quickly from the disappearance to the reveal without a guide. Copperfield can order the music to be stopped when he sees one of his people holding a ball. Could the “flashlights” moving across the cloth be spotlights mounted on the ceiling, reflecting off the cloth? They seem to move beyond the corners. “Jason’s” hand could be a fake. I’ve looked for a small trapdoor in the platform (you’d only need one) but the video isn’t that sharp. Oh, well… ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/35 "2006-07-29T03:33:04Z")
It seems like they try not to show it, but it seems that when people are turning in their balls after being selected, some of them have a different, smaller ball. Not sure if that’s significant. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/36 "2006-07-29T05:12:58Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] It seems like they try not to show it, but it seems that when people are turning in their balls after being selected, some of them have a different, smaller ball. Not sure if that’s significant. [/QUOTE] Excellent point - the balls do vary quite a bit in size, which suggests plants in the audience hastily inflated small ones to ensure a place in the trick. There are so many rapid camera cuts in the early part of the recording that counting the number of balls DC puts in play is damn-near impossible. Plus the guy in the yellow jacket who comes up last with a popped balloon and who gets picked by DC as an observer just screams “plant”. ---
**Author:** ![Kappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/50afbb/32.png) [@Kappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kappa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/37 "2009-03-03T16:27:47Z")
I used to be a big fan of magic shows until I saw David Copperfield perform in Tokyo. The first “trick” of the night wasn’t actually a trick at all but simple maths. He had everyone choose a number from 1-10. I forget exactly what we were told to (multiply by x the subtract Y, etc.) but everyone came up with the same answer- wow, nice elementary math magic! We had a seat high on the balcony and from there we could see things that I’m sure weren’t meant to be seen. People would mysteriously disappear in a puff of smoke and suddenly, behind a low dark wall, you could see a piece of someone’s sleeve zipping along. They were clearly on a conveyor belt. It seemed obvious that other trick involved mirrors and twins. There were other things, too, that I’ve since forgotten. The magic of magic is lost to me now. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/38 "2009-03-03T16:30:01Z")
Zombie reported. ---
**Author:** ![Kappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/50afbb/32.png) [@Kappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kappa)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/39 "2009-03-03T19:12:10Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Zombie reported. Oops! Did I awaken the dead? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264/40 "2009-03-03T20:45:39Z")
> [@Kappa](#): > > Oops! Did I awaken the dead? :smack: Magic! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-copperfield-portal-illusion-thoughts-on-how-its-done/366264.md?page=3)