Hi John- Being a bit of an amateur magician myself I enjoyed watching these two clips, however, neither was especially hard to figure out. They are both variants of classic stage magic which employs a "false bottom". In the "lady & the tiger" bit you think that the bottom of the box is see-through when in actuality it is opaque and covered with angled mirrors. Since they point downward they show you the lights on the floor & you think that you are looking through the box. Once the curtain drops the lady scoots out of the back of the glass case. Probably by lifting the back wall a couple of inches. Then the bottom of the case is opened and the tiger leaps out. While everyone is ooing and aahing at the tiger the lady has plenty of time to come around from backstage to return the jacket.
The "flaming arrows" trick is similar. The bottom of the long platform of actually very deep although it is designed to look thin. Once the lady goes into the box she drops down into the bottom before the arrows shoot through the top box. After they are withdrawn she pops back up. Where did the other woman come from? Well, the apparatus is wide enough to hold two people. She was in the false bottom all along. Certainly catchy presentations, but really just variants on the old "sawing a lady in half" routine. This kind of magic really requires very little skill (as opposed to close up magic). You could probably learn to do either of these in a half an hour or less. I used to do a number of illusions in class when we were starting the perception chapter. Let me know if you're interested & I can send you some info on some really easy ones. -Don. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Serafin, John" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, August 29, 2010 3:26 pm Subject: [tips] magic/perception issue To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here. First of all, I admit to > being a > huge fan of magicians (illusionists, if you prefer that term). I > am not a > huge fan of the show, America's Got Talent. But.... > > That show has a couple of pretty good magicians this year. > Relationship to > psychology? This relates to perception. > > Watch this trick: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIXqO_jcVXA&p=D8D9DC4B4A148D20&playnext=1&ind > ex=10 > > Psychologists are generally pretty good at figuring out what's > going on. > I've got some thoughts about this one, but I'm curious whether > others have > ideas as well. > > Now, we're not on stage to watch this...but what do you think? > > And then there's this one: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiUDdRA-v2o > > Theoretically, all of this is being done on live TV. > > I think we need Randi to explain all of this. > > John > -- > John Serafin > Psychology Department > Saint Vincent College > Latrobe, PA 15650 > [email protected] > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98f18&n=T&l=tips&o=4493or > send a blank email to > leave-4493-13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > Don Allen Retired professor Langara College --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4495 or send a blank email to leave-4495-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
