talkmagic.co.uk

Hi, Can anybody point me in the right direction of buying/Learning the exploding bottle effect, where a spectator is holding a bottle and the bottom blows out or explodes. Ive come across the "Devils Cola Bottle" but it costs about £1000, which is way out my price range. I saw it performed last night on the BBC1 show the magicians, it looks a great effect and totally impromtpu, i may be wrong?

Thanks!

Some things are not anywhere near as impromptu as they would appear, hence the rather high price

Perhaps do yourself a big favour, ignore the TV magicians (aside from the entertainment they provide), and start small with the basics?

I'd go along with that. If you can't work out a method from watching it, then there's a good chance that what you're seeing is dependent on shooting the effect for television. It's rarely outright "cheating", camera effect stylee, but you may still not be seeing the whole picture.

It's not a practical effect anyway, you have to clean it up after the effect! If you want to do this kind of effect, try the exploding light bulb.

Our old pal Dynamo also did this in his recent TV series.

Mandrake wrote:Our old pal Dynamo also did this in his recent TV series.

...And one of our very own members has perhaps ended his magical career, with the self-same effect: ftopic41999.php

Forget the 'in vogue' TV stuff, unless you REALLY have the experience (and budget) for it!

I'd add the various exploding lightbulb effects to the list of things perhaps better not to do. Having said that, Pete Firman's performance on The Magicians' this week included not only the cola bottle but several large glass jugs all breaking in the spec's hands. Very risky unless you really know what you're doing.....

In the olden days the trick was to restore broken stuff back together magically, not just break it spectacularly.

V.E. Day wrote:In the olden days the trick was to restore broken stuff back together magically, not just break it spectacularly.

I don't know. William Tell had a great trick with a crossbow & an apple in the 15th century. In fact with a little re scripting it may be workable today with the exploding bottle.

"Don't try this at home."

V.E. Day wrote:In the olden days the trick was to restore broken stuff back together magically, not just break it spectacularly.

I couldn't agree more!

-Stacy