# How is this stunt done, if genuine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158 "2009-08-12T11:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/1 "2009-08-12T11:29:36Z")
[Cool stunt](http://www.mach-es-machbar.de/), but _incredibly_ risky. Fake? If not, how would one calculate the landing point so precisely? I would have to see 10 precisely weighed mannikins splash down in a row before I trusted my calculations. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/2 "2009-08-12T11:38:28Z")
It’s fake. It was done for a commercial somewhere. It was shown on my local news last night. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/3 "2009-08-12T11:42:28Z")
You can see he’s travelling too fast down the ramp than physics would expect. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/4 "2009-08-12T11:42:46Z")
I vote for fake. I think the real person bailed just after the camera cut away, then a mannequin is shown flying through the air and the real person climbs out of the pool after one of the dummies actually lands in it. The whole thing reminds me of the cartoon where Bugs Bunny is made to jump from a ridiculously high platform into a glass of water. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/5 "2009-08-12T11:44:03Z")
Fake. Part of a Microsoft ad campaign. [**The Megawoosh Waterslide Viral: How It Was Really Done**](http://newteevee.com/2009/08/11/the-megawoosh-waterslide-viral-how-it-was-really-done/) > [@](#): > > …Of course, that’s all bogus. Kammerl’s web site was registered in May by an employee of the German subsidiary of marketing giant MRM Worldwide. Chatter about this connection popped up online only a few days after the waterslide video started to become popular, and MRM Worldwide quickly decided to lift the curtain. Microsoft’s logo was added to Kammerl’s [Megawoosh.com](http://Megawoosh.com) web site late last week, and MRM Germany CEO Alexander Ewig finally fessed up to his company’s involvement in a press release emailed to us today, saying: “We developed Megaswoosh as a viral campaign for Microsoft Germany.”… ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/6 "2009-08-12T11:55:42Z")
Ah, shame - yes I did think his reaction, and that of the “congratulators”, looked a bit contrived. There just seemed to be too much that could go wrong here, though the crash test dummies and laptop made it more convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/7 "2009-08-12T12:27:30Z")
I can’t imagine anyone doing the stunt for real without a huge audience in front of whom to succeed or fail dramatically. Spectacular video but unfortunately seeing is no longer believing so even real stunts lose their panache anymore. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/8 "2009-08-12T14:41:52Z")
Another article how it was done is [here](http://www.salon.com/tech/giga_om/online_video/2009/08/11/the_megawoosh_waterslide_viral_how_it_was_really_done/). ---
**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:** [August 12, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/9 "2009-08-12T15:20:05Z")
The physics didn’t seem to match up either. For the energy gained from that short slide down the hill and the energy spent going up the ramp he just got wayyy too much distance. And what was with the token 2 buckets of water tossed on the slide at the last minute? Like that was going to help anything. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/10 "2009-08-12T15:23:14Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > And what was with the token 2 buckets of water tossed on the slide at the last minute? Like that was going to help anything. C’mon, that was oil, not water. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/11 "2009-08-12T16:44:23Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > Another article how it was done is [here](http://www.salon.com/tech/giga_om/online_video/2009/08/11/the_megawoosh_waterslide_viral_how_it_was_really_done/). The actual footage of him sluggishly getting only partway down the slide is kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/12 "2009-08-12T19:45:35Z")
It would be an easy stunt to do if you set the pool up as the apex of the flight. that way, if he missed he would gently land on his feet. This was a great video except for the speed coming off the ramp. If they slowed it down it would have looked better. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/13 "2009-08-12T20:11:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You can see he’s travelling too fast down the ramp than physics would expect. Yeah, I’m not one to cry fake at a lot of videos, but this one had the look and feeling of a viral campaign. The opening with the anemometer and gadgets on the table seemed a little theatrical to me, but, more importantly, the launch he got off that ramp looked completely overstated by an order of magnitude, and add to that that you are never shown the slide connecting to the ramp (it’s covered by a hill/depression, presumably to make it easier to edit). That, and it’s rather unlikely to get such a perfect slide down that kind of hilly slope. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/14 "2009-08-12T20:40:49Z")
And I would think that any living human, not protected by an awful lot of padding, going from that fast to motionless in what appears to be the space of maybe two feet, is probably going to end up pretty broken. ---
**Author:** ![Ragiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ragiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ragiel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/15 "2009-08-13T00:21:20Z")
It’s been a long time since my college German, but it looks as if the text reads, "Make this possible the same way he did, using Microsoft Office . . . " ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-this-stunt-done-if-genuine/506158/16 "2009-08-13T09:43:50Z")
> [@](#): > > "Make this possible the same way he did, using Microsoft Office . . . " Yes - by cobbling together something superficially impressive but actually deeply flawed to the point of actual dishonesty. I can see the parallel. Actually, at those speeds I think he’d just bounce off the surface tension and proceed to crash spectacularly. Also like Microsoft software.