talkmagic.co.uk

I've sat and watched this about 20 times now and have come to the conclusion that Lance Burton is an idiot for doing this. Fair enough, the restraints may have been gimmicked but still, if you watch how close that rollercoater comes to his foot then you start to wonder how safe this really is. I was told by my physics teacher that once a rollercoaster is going, there are not breaks along the track so if he messed up, there's nothing to stop that rollercoaster from splattering him. What if his foot got caught in the tracks as he was leaping out of the way? That rollercoster was so close it could've easily ripped his foot off.

yes it really does seem like a very near miss.

I have a suspician though that it never really took place like that. There was an awful lot of cutting from the shot of him on the track (close up) and the rollercoaster train. My theory is that the "jump to freedom" was done entirely by a stunt man who waited until exactly the right moment before leaping to safety.

I could be wrong, Lance Burton is an acomplished magician - and I certainly mean no disrespect to the man who I have the upmost admiration for, but I just find it unlikely he would do this - whereas its exactly the sort of thing a stunt men do. It just seemed too well correographed as if from a James Bond movie.

If I am wrong I just hope he accepts my apology.

Either way - it was another very exciting piece of "escapology magic".

from one insider to another mistress by the way thanks for adding your age, i was asumeing you were trice that.

lance burton did the whole trick himself, he was already out well before the point of no return accept that his leg restraint snagged bycycle clip wise on his trousers, hence the comment that was very very stupid, you see he had left it a little late for comfort trusting his equipment.

i too have watch this time and time again, and to me it also looked a litttle suspect i.e the cutting of camaras etc. i had started to think it was done with camara tricks i.e he wasn't actually there when the roller caoster went by. But having read magicdiscoman's reply maybe this is not true, it all stinks though, just because he is putting he self in the line of death, one problem with the equipment and he's gone, i can not beleave he would have taken that risk.......just my thoughts though.

time actualy escaped 60 seconds to failsafe.
time sat up and move 30 seconds to failsafe.
hung up ontrousers 10 seconds.
20 seconds to get off track before failsafe, a long time in the escape game.
the camera angle and the editing made it appear closer than it looked, but in the escape game 10 seconds caught up is a life time.

he felt stupid because wardrobe had said he should have worn cycleshorts incase he snagged on the rail, he thought trousers looked better on camera, the moral of te story trust in your suport team.

also car has seperate brake mechanism in adition to standard dead switch, car could be stopped in under 10 seconds, he had 20 after freeing snag, editing is always done fore entertainment value, thats showbiz.

Thats interesting Magicdiscoman - but on the clip shown on TV - it really looked like the train whizzed by with 0.5 seconds to spare and not 20.

It certainly had me fooled anyway.

So if in 100 years time there's a password question that asks "who fooled Bananafish" - you will all know the answer was Lance Burton.

OK, here's my tuppence worth...

Camera angle - anyone notice the exaggerated perspective?. Lance may have looked to have had a lucky escape, but as a part of my A level photography coursework, I faked a photograph of a friend of mine about to be hit by a car travelling at speed - and I did this in 1 shot - no composition. The car was actually in a different focal plane, and due to careful setup, lens selection and exposure, the shot was practically flawless. Today, of course, it can be done by computer, but hey - remember the roots!

Also consider my own 'Camera Never Lies' effect in the routines section...

Not saying that this is how it's done - but artistically, that camera shot of the coaster looks wildly unnatural to me.

I think it's fair to say that whatever the methods used, It's very unlikely that his life was in any serious danger. Sure it looked very close, but surely that's what it's all about??

I'd have been stunned if 30 seconds before the roller coaster got there, he had already escaped and leapt off the track. I suppose I'd never have seen it as it wouldn't have made it to the show.

the whole point of escapology is to unfettered within seconds of being locked up, the rest is showmanship and timeing.

in case anyone missed my main point it was this:-

lance burton left himself plenty of time to exit from the trick but was snaggged by the already released leg shackle which caught on his trousers.

had he taken wardrobes advice and gone for cycle shorts the trick would have been just as impressive, but he need'nt had a mini heart attack into the bargin.

I saw the snag, but I read it as part of the showmanship, maybe I'm wrong maybe he really was snagged.

snagg was not intentional as i was saying.
for though's not in the know, it only helped to add to the suspence and drama as proved by this thread, we havent even gone off on a tangent yet.
by the way miss dark any ingling of going comercial in the future I'm thinking of starting a thread concerning the steps needed to go comercial??.

How do you know the snag was not intentional? I'm not challenging you, just curious.

i have this uncle see he was in the profession some time ago and knows a lot of the support people see.

also thier was an obscure program on video i wached detailing what whent wrong with several stunts, this stunt being performed before the litigation's to theme parks, i was at that time thinking of going itnto escapology and was having problems with my old style police handcuffs, screw key bolt type.

in it were some stunts that actualy whent wrong and some secrets so i don't think it was for general release, i decided to stick with kids much safer.

magicdiscoman wrote:I decided to stick with kids much safer.

Nah. I don't believe that for a second!