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Derren Brown: The Events

(September 2009)

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BA
bilky asko
rdobbie posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
I wonder whether the camera shake was artificial and there was some fancy vision mixing to freeze the balls and Derren on screen while the real ones were being changed


Yep, the camera shake was the key to the making the whole illusion work in the viewer's mind. The two halves of the screen were 'knitted together' (with a bit of gaussian blur) - the knit was just down the left hand side of the monitor (while someone obviously placed the correct balls in the holder), and it faded back into the full screen just before Brown walked over to it.

The camera shake was added post-production (I know it was live but you know what I mean) and served a dual purpose - it made it appear real, whilst also ironing out any tiny flaws in the fade in/out.


Have you seen this "join", or is it just a theory?
PC
Paul Clark
If it was either CG or was in any way edited / not real-time, then that would be rather cheap, and predictable given the balls stayed in shot throughout.

However, If this was genuinely done within the realms of reality, i-e no easy CG trickery, no sorts of editing involved, then I'm stumped as to when any sort of switch was made.

I (and I'm sure others too) kept an eye on the predicted lottery balls throughout, instead of watching the actual draw.
PT
Put The Telly On
rdobbie posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
I wonder whether the camera shake was artificial and there was some fancy vision mixing to freeze the balls and Derren on screen while the real ones were being changed


Yep, the camera shake was the key to the making the whole illusion work in the viewer's mind. The two halves of the screen were 'knitted together' (with a bit of gaussian blur) - the knit was just down the left hand side of the monitor (while someone obviously placed the correct balls in the holder), and it faded back into the full screen just before Brown walked over to it.

The camera shake was added post-production (I know it was live but you know what I mean) and served a dual purpose - it made it appear real, whilst also ironing out any tiny flaws in the fade in/out.


No camera trickery was involved at all I reckon and that would make his reputation go down the pan and for a poor show on Friday if that was the only case.
TC
TCOTV
Why did we only see one shot with the camra right at the back?
RD
rdobbie
bilky asko posted:
Have you seen this "join", or is it just a theory?


Just a theory. Obviously the whole thing was heavily rehearsed and the camera (plus all the lighting, etc) was firmly rooted to the spot, making the join imperceptible to the viewer.
JO
Jon
Maybe the balls looked like a few different numbers and depending on how he rotated them or something and we just assumed what we were seeing where those numbers.

The shot of the balls wasn't exactly clear.
DA
David
rdobbie posted:
Yep, the camera shake was the key to the making the whole illusion work in the viewer's mind. The two halves of the screen were 'knitted together' (with a bit of gaussian blur) - the knit was just down the left hand side of the monitor (while someone obviously placed the correct balls in the holder), and it faded back into the full screen just before Brown walked over to it.


I did notice (not on my first viewing admittedly) that Derren Brown paused before he walked over to the balls on the stand. Maybe we was waiting for someone to say 'All clear to confirm that the left side of the picture was live again. This theory really sounds possible but I keep going back to the fact that they have an hour long show to fill on Friday so if the answer is simply 'camera tricks' then its not going to make for a very interesting answer is it?

Has Friday's show already been finished and delivered to Channel 4 or is it being made Thursday/Friday?
JB
JasonB
What studio was he coming from, was it a channel 4 one?
BA
bilky asko
Tom9 posted:
Why did we only see one shot with the camra right at the back?


Nice observation.
TV
TV Monkey
nok32uk posted:
rdobbie posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
I wonder whether the camera shake was artificial and there was some fancy vision mixing to freeze the balls and Derren on screen while the real ones were being changed


Yep, the camera shake was the key to the making the whole illusion work in the viewer's mind. The two halves of the screen were 'knitted together' (with a bit of gaussian blur) - the knit was just down the left hand side of the monitor (while someone obviously placed the correct balls in the holder), and it faded back into the full screen just before Brown walked over to it.

The camera shake was added post-production (I know it was live but you know what I mean) and served a dual purpose - it made it appear real, whilst also ironing out any tiny flaws in the fade in/out.


No camera trickery was involved at all I reckon and that would make his reputation go down the pan and for a poor show on Friday if that was the only case.


Indeed, it'd be a pretty lame show on Friday if all he reveals is that half the screen was frozen...
IS
Inspector Sands
davidlees posted:

That's an interesting theory. Derren Brown wouldn't need to be still though. They could have used a locked off camera with only the left part of the picture being fake and the bit with Derren Brown and the TV really being live. I have watched it back a couple of times now and I kept having to tell myself to look at the balls in the studio rather than the TV. If someone had changed the balls just after the draw, there would have been a jump in the picture where they wouldn't put the balls back in the exact same way and as far as I could see, there wasn't a jump.


If the camera shot was locked off then there wouldn't be a jump in the picture, the distraction of the picture shaking would distract from any slight changes.

It is true that they wouldn't need to freeze Derren, however they wouldn't want him moving too much (in fact having watched my recording of it again he did move slightly)
PT
Put The Telly On
(it's a mind trick involving mathematics/probability or something, no camera trickery was involved. He does not DO the "magic"!)

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