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Derren Brown Trick or treat

oglommi

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Aug 17, 2005
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Just finished watching a couple of episodes of his new series. Trick or treat and it was really cool.

BTw i managed to stumble upon a site where I could download the first episode.

http://www.armasonry.com/ftp2/

Anybody know where I can get the rest of the episodes? It's really hard to find somewhere I can download them.
 
Episode 1:

Part 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8514410268108682682&hl=en

Part 2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2690498428217815668&hl=en

Part 3
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8153333362172746674&hl=en

Part 4
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3754751446693410401&hl=en


Episode 2:

Part 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7220543572224664380&hl=en

Part2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246856758146177769&hl=en

Part3
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2392496986371008841&hl=en

Part4
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7802939251008960931


Episode 3:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-39098269706933674&hl=en

Episode 4:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7697844717110640027&hl=en

Episode 5:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8547186036675411241&hl=en

Episode 6:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7502347096279948946&hl=en
 
Notice that the "trick/treat" card is just that - trick or treat depending on which way up it's held! There are probably many other such things to spot if one is observant.

Remember the Russian Roulette performance? Nothing was done to show that the final "firing" of the pistol wasn't just a sound effect.
 
skipjack said:
Notice that the "trick/treat" card is just that - trick or treat depending on which way up it's held! There are probably many other such things to spot if one is observant.
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Derren showed how it works in one of the episodes, so it wasn't meant to be a big secret.
 
Thanks for letting me know; I've seen only a very few trick or treat episodes. I did see the last, which started with Derren's standard introduction, in which he states that no actors or stooges are used in the programme.

So, Derren, what first attracted you to the idea of demonstrating your "hypnosis"/"arm-piercing" stunt on the modest, unassuming, multi-millionaire, Robbie Williams, rather than a randomly chosen member of the general public?

With all his experience of being tattooed, Robbie must have known perfectly well that he wasn't really pierced by Derren's needles, so in what way was he not acting as a stooge?
 
Derren has been using celebs in other episodes as well, I don't see much problem with that. Just because they are famous it doesn't mean they know what's going on.

Besides, the effect you mentioned can be done without stooges.
 
DJM said:
Derren has been using celebs in other episodes as well, I don't see much problem with that. Just because they are famous it doesn't mean they know what's going on.

Besides, the effect you mentioned can be done without stooges.
Click to expand...

Yup, seem to remember him doing almost the same thing with a medical student, piercing the skin from the back of his hand with a needle. Think it was in Mind Control rather than Trick of the Mind.
 
It may seem strange, but the "New Yorkers" seemed to have fake US accents.

Not sure, but if they were just English stooges, why not hire US actors to do the parts? Or maybe I am completely off.
 
Using celebrities is fine, but surely Robbie must have been given some idea of what would happen. Once he's been told "it's a piercing . . . illusion", agreeing to appear makes him a stooge, doesn't it?
 
You don't need to be Robbie Williams to know that most of what mentalists and magicians do is illusion, that's not what stooges are about.
 
In the Trick Of The Mind episode (which I incorrectly referred to as Trick Or Treat), Robbie Williams was performing, rather than just participating, in that he deliberately gave "helpful" answers, rather than "open" answers, and didn't let on that there was no real mystery for him, whereas there was for (some of) the viewers. I think that's what most people would take "stooge" to mean.

In the same episode, some people were filmed in London being asked for directions by Derren; Derren then slickly swapped places with an actor who continued the enquiries as though he'd been the original questioner. This first occurred at the start of the episode immediately after Derren had stated that at no point would any actors or stooges be used!
 
skipjack said:
In the same episode, some people were filmed in London being asked for directions by Derren; Derren then slickly swapped places with an actor who continued the enquiries as though he'd been the original questioner. This first occurred at the start of the episode immediately after Derren had stated that at no point would any actors or stooges be used!
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No, what is meant by that is that the people responding to the trick are not actors. Not the people performing the trick.

Quite why anyone would interpret it any other way, I don't know :rolleyes:
 
tkingdoll said:
No, what is meant by that is that the people responding to the trick are not actors. Not the people performing the trick.

Quite why anyone would interpret it any other way, I don't know :rolleyes:
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Exactly.

But how DOES he do some of those tricks? I particularly like the paper into money trick and the dog track betting thing. Are they stooges? Has he given them hyptnotic suggestions BEFORE they filmed?

And, I don't think it's "giving away secrets" to speculate here...
 
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Calcas said:
Exactly.

But how DOES he do some of those tricks? I particularly like the paper into money trick and the dog track betting thing. Are they stooges? Has he given them hyptnotic suggestions BEFORE they filmed?

And, I don't think it's "giving away secrets" to speculate here...
Click to expand...

Hypnotic suggestions don't come into it. Neither does 'manipulation by psychological means', e.g. keyword hints.

Magic methods are very mundane, sadly. There's nothing less exciting than hidden cameras, microphones, simple swapping of props, etc. Furthermore, nothing in TVland is honest, so there's no point in speculating. Think of the dullest, dirtiest method imaginable. That's probably the right one.
 
A lot of the things that Derren does is Dual Reality, and it's not something you need stooges for. I'm pretty sure that's what he did with the paper into money effect.

It's a clever technic that can give amazing results if done the right way.
 
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DJM said:
A lot of the things that Derren does is Dual Reality, and it's not something you need stooges for. I'm pretty sure that's what he did with the paper into money effect.

It's a clever technic that can give amazing results if done the right way.
Click to expand...

So what is "dual reality?"

Can you link me somewhere without giving out anything specific?
 
Basically it's when the mentalist tricks both the spectator and the audience at the same time, but in a different way.

About the first scene of the money effect, and this is only a speculation so don't see it as some exposure, maybe that white paper that Derren gives the person at the store is actually an envolope with the money inside. What the audience at home sees is a blank paper, but that person see the money that he deserves.

That's dual reality.
 
tkingdoll said:
No, what is meant by that is that the people responding to the trick are not actors. Not the people performing the trick.

Quite why anyone would interpret it any other way, I don't know :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's obviously what Derren should have meant, but it's not what he stated. If "obvious" exceptions are allowed, arguably stooges are also allowed, at least if they are obvious ones (such as Robbie Williams).
 
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