Dareen Brown: Which do we belive?e

[PaulB]

People's reactions to Derren Brown are always highly illuminating and say a huge amount about them. I've made a bit of a study of Brown's career and most people's expectations end any hope of them seeing the reality even when it's highlighted. If you read his book, it's always obvious what he's doing but despite him explaining carefully what's happening, people don't want to believe the truth. It's as though they've invested so much in "magic" and "ESP" that even when reality is revealed, they won't accept it. More power to Brown's elbow and this man will, if he's not destroyed by the gullible outraged hordes baying for blood (see some of the scurillous garbage in the papers this week for proof of that one), go on to show us an enormous amount about primitive selves. Accept it for what it is and if you don't want your superstitions shipwrecked, don't watch him.

 

[Mr Pig]

Aye. I found the programme annoying, never actually going to reveal how he did it, I will be avoiding him in the future.

That's how I feel. I didn't buy his explanation at all, I think it was simple trick dressed up to look like a work of genius.

The David Blaine show was actually quite typical of the stuff he used to do in his early careerer, when he acted almost like a normal human being. I enjoy that straight forward conjuring much more than watching Brown twittering on for an hour.

I used to accept Brown's explanations, largely, but not any more. Last night I was wondering if the guy stamping on the cups was a stooge. Would you do that? Would you stamp on a cup if you knew there was a 50/50 chance you'd get a knife through your foot?

 

[Mr Pig]

With Brown's lotto 'trick' he was just a presenter. There was nothing at all impressive about it. Brown has blown it with this "just press pause" nonsense.

Totally agree. I think this might finish him.

 

[PaulB]

You're missing the point.

With Brown's lotto 'trick' he was just a presenter. It was down to someone else to do whatever simple trickery was actually used. There was nothing at all impressive about it.

Possibly, but let's agree to meet on here after his last programme in the series, shall we, and see which of us has "missed the point".

Not all has yet been revealed and the premature (where have I heard that word before? Was it last night sometime?) have yet to realise the half-time score isn't necessarily going to be the final score.

 

[badkitty]

He's a witch. Burn him.

 

[Rob S]

I used to accept Brown's explanations, largely, but not any more. Last night I was wondering if the guy stamping on the cups was a stooge. Would you do that? Would you stamp on a cup if you knew there was a 50/50 chance you'd get a knife through your foot?

I think a feeling that they wouldn't be allowed to let it happen for insurance/health & safety reasons would kick in as soon as he said what the challenge is. The mouse aspect was a good one though....still something amiss there too unless he'd stop him stamping on it if he'd pick that one....or he wasn't the only person to be filmed doing it.

 

[PaulB]

So a bloke did some camera trick and pretended he'd guessed the lotto numbers.

That's as deep as it gets. There's nothing clever about it, no suspense, and nothing to wait for.

And you know this how? Like I suggested, bide your time, say nowt, don't follow the crowd screaming "burn the witch" until the picture becomes clearer.

 

[swee'pea99]

He's a witch. Burn him.

At least one person knows what's what.

 

[Mr Pig]

So a bloke did some camera trick and pretended he'd guessed the lotto numbers. That's as deep as it gets.

I agree. The alternative is that he actually predicted the lottery numbers. I mean really, think about it.

 

[PaulB]

I mean really, think about it.

If only people actually would.

 

[badkitty]

It's a trick. He didn't really guess the numbers.

He's not a witch. Just some bloke who used to sound clever but has now found the pause button on his VCR and it's easier.

Unless you're suggesting that he does have some psychic power?

Erm.. not for a second!...I was just messing around. Didn't think anyone would take it seriously...

And it's been a while since we burned anyone for witchcraft..so why the hell not... That teach him to get everyone all excited for noting..

 

[Rob S]

If only the 39 ball hadn't raised then he would've got away with it....doesn't matter what the explantion of the method is whether it's maths that makes sense, maths that can work with jars of sweets and weight of cows but not numbers between 1-49, an accurate guess or rigging the lottery machine the proof is there for all to see....it was option 1, he faked the ticket.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Green-screen, so the left-hand side of the screen (with the balls visible) is projecting a static image with computer-induced shake to match the actual image on the right. As the numbers are read out on the show, someone puts the correct balls on the rack.

This is the reason it was done with a hand-held camera. Without the camera-shake, it would have been much more obvious how it was done, but the shake is intended to get us to dismiss that explanation.

Nicely done, though, aside from the badly-placed ball.

 

[Mr Pig]

This is the reason it was done with a hand-held camera. Without the camera-shake, it would have been much more obvious how it was done.

Makes sense. Just like his asking people to check his ears for earpieces in the later show. I wondered why they'd used a hand-held but you're right, to cover up the switch, or try to.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Yeah, it didn't make sense that Channel 4, who has SteadyCam, etc, would have a camera jiggling around like some 12yo kid with a cameraphone. There had to be a reason for that.

I'm not generally impressed with illusions performed with camera trickery, but because it was live, that particular one required some imagination.