I have a new book out next year and thought that it would be fun to create a video to help promote it. The idea for it has been in my head for about 3 months and it took about a day to get right. So, here we go….
The new book is available to pre-order here.
Also, the Mail on Sunday asked me to come up with my top ten illusions. You can see the article here.
What did you think of the video? Like it? Hate it?
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September 28, 2010 at 5:34 am |
Lower left – you see a bit of the skull as it is dropped. Otherwise great!!
September 28, 2010 at 5:50 am |
Showed the video to my girlfriend. She was very impressed! Maybe you should create a whole DVD with stuff like that, but I´m pretty sure that many magicians would hate you for that
September 28, 2010 at 5:53 am |
BRILLIANT!
No I didn’t solve it – but I was very happy to watch part 2!
September 28, 2010 at 6:00 am |
@mikekpr
Well spotted mike – you are right. A shadow falls on the door.
To be fair I had to watch it a numbr of times in order to see the shadow (possibly because it’s on the RHS of the screen)
I think the point is, you’d have to be pretty good to see it on the first few viewings, and without having seen the solution.
September 28, 2010 at 6:13 am |
I thought the general principle of how it worked was obvious – I knew at a glance that it was a trick of perspective and that the skull was really behind you and that someone hidden near the floor must have moved it. However, I didn’t figure out all the details, partly because the twiddling of the stand was so well coordinated.
September 28, 2010 at 6:22 am
On second viewing, I noticed that Richard crosses in front of the skull (steps between the table and skull) for a second before he gets the cloth up. If you watch for it, you can see the edge of his leg intersect the skull in a way it shouldn’t if the skull’s supposed to be on the table. If only the cloth had gone up a mite faster.
September 28, 2010 at 6:51 am |
You might also want to use a les translucid piece of cloth since you can see throu this one as you step infront of the cranium.
September 28, 2010 at 7:55 am |
Oh god, I must be starting to think like you as I ‘guessed’ the solution. Off for a lie down!
September 28, 2010 at 8:14 am |
Hahaha…you swine!! Hmmm, sometimes the answer is right under our noses!!!
September 28, 2010 at 8:26 am |
When you step in front of the skull, it disappears, just before you cover it with the cloth, making it obvious that it is behind you.
September 28, 2010 at 8:47 am |
Richard it would be better if you have your pet gorilla be the one on the floor to move the skull …..I would say to use your monkey but it might be too stressed still from the last visit in the box…… :}
September 28, 2010 at 8:50 am |
I’ll be joining you at the – I’ve been thrown out of the Magic Circle club.
September 28, 2010 at 9:12 am
Ha! I remember that. OK, first round on me.
September 28, 2010 at 8:54 am |
I kind of guessed it – at least, that one with the differently-sized playing cards popped into my head straight away. So I call that a win
September 28, 2010 at 9:09 am |
I worked it out after a few replays when I took notice of the moving shadow on the wall.
September 28, 2010 at 9:13 am |
Thanks Mr. Wiseman, great video!
September 28, 2010 at 9:45 am |
Love it!
September 28, 2010 at 10:11 am |
You can actually see a bit of the skull under the table by Richards right knee at 0.22 in the video, but i sure as hell didn’t catch that on the first viewing. The solution btw is a different take since several lines are left out, like “even for a second”
September 28, 2010 at 10:42 am |
I watched the first part twice and guesse the trick! The skull doesn’t quite rotate in perfect sync with your fingers around the pedestal. Now I also notice a bit of white and a moving shadow behind you.
September 28, 2010 at 11:02 am |
Richard, how come “The best optical illusion I have seen all year” didn’t make the top ten? (http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/possibly-the-best-optical-ilusion-i-have-seen-all-year/)
For me it’s utterly amazing and easily beats the duck and table illusions which I find are a bit tame. Each to their own of course.
BTW, is illusion number 11 that the mail isn’t a real newspaper?
September 28, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Maybe because it’s the top ten favorite illusions ever, not just for the year.
September 28, 2010 at 11:16 am |
Awesome, as usual! Looking forward to the new book.
September 28, 2010 at 12:26 pm |
Even before you notice the skull drops, you may notice the skull was covered by Richard’s body (and left hand), not by the red cloth.
September 28, 2010 at 12:57 pm |
The first time I watched the video, it was obvious to me that Richard passed in front of the skull.
September 28, 2010 at 1:36 pm |
Get and wear a microphone when you do these things. Otherwise I liked it.
September 28, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Jees, could you be any ruder to someone who provides these blog post for your pleasure for free?
September 28, 2010 at 2:55 pm |
neat!
September 28, 2010 at 5:10 pm |
For some reason, when you deployed the cloth, I sort of sensed the skull was further back than it first appeared.
September 28, 2010 at 10:01 pm |
richard wiseman! you have made a DICK out of me again!
September 29, 2010 at 12:10 am |
[...] Can you solve the mystery of the skull? I have a new book out next year and thought that it would be fun to create a video to help promote it. The idea for [...] [...]
September 29, 2010 at 8:54 am |
First time, ” that’s a nice trick”
second play, I was focusing on the whole picture this time and saw moving shadow in the background and knew someone else removed the skull.
Read the comments about how the illusion is broken when you move across to hide it, may be covering it with the cloth first will do a more convincing trick?
September 30, 2010 at 4:07 am |
Perhaps a few pints helped me focus where I was not supposed to focus. The immediate giveaway for me was that you could still see the skull through the red fabric before you moved in front of the skull. I don’t believe it’s the door in the background reflecting through. The camera angle must be allowing for overlap of a rod that has a skull on it in the background and another rod in the foreground without a skull. Three things that quickly came to mind that I think could improve the illusion: 1) different lighting so the skull is less visible through the fabric, 2) thicker fabric…
3) better timing in video format with all other conditions constant.
September 30, 2010 at 4:10 am |
Thanks to those who pointed out the shadow. I did not immediately notice that. Better lighting could definitely make the illusion much better.
October 2, 2010 at 4:53 pm |
I don’t get the tabletop ‘illusion’. In what way are they supposed to be identical?
October 5, 2010 at 3:01 am |
It looks like you are walking in front of the skull, which would mean that it was located behind the “scene”, and, therefore, can be manipulated in any way while you are standing in front of it.
October 6, 2010 at 1:54 am |
oMG PMSL TOTTALY DID’nt C dAT GORRILA!!1!!!11
October 8, 2010 at 11:21 am |
Good illusion, knew it must be a trick somehow but wouldn’t have got it wiothout the reveal.
October 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm |
I sensed there was something odd on first viewing, had to watch it many more times before I saw it was because the cloth was slightly translucent.
February 10, 2011 at 8:29 pm |
Hmm, it’s quite interesting, but the socket kinda gives away the solution, at least for me, as soon as you “cover” the skull. That’s the part where my eye noticed that the skull is in the background.