talkmagic.co.uk

So for the first time I've managed to watch Ben Hanlin Trick on ITV2. One trick he perform was... Ben Hanlin got into a London black taxi and said to the driver take me to a London landmark. After telling the driver where to take him, he directly handed the driver a white envelope. Once arriving at the landmark on London's Embankment Ben Hanlin got out of the taxi and said "do you remember the white envelope i gave you at the start open it". So the taxi driver did and to his surprise it was the exact fair that he had to pay. Amazingly done

I really want to know how it was done. But I also know we aren't allowed to discuss the workings of a trick. If anyone knows how it was done please advise what DVD teaches you such performance. Or was it just a stooge?

I am watching it now on plus1... you are never going to be in the situation where you can do this routine.

What happened when the cameras stopped rolling? the chirpy cockney taxi driver is just awful at acting surprised, which strongly suggests that you didnt see everything that took place.

daleshrimpton wrote:I am watching it now on plus1... you are never going to be in the situation where you can do this routine.

What happened when the cameras stopped rolling? the chirpy cockney taxi driver is just awful at acting surprised, which strongly suggests that you didnt see everything that took place.

Why would you never be in situation where you can do such routine? Do you think the cockney taxi driver was a stooge/in on the trick? I think he cleanerly was.

Do you think the routine is possible or something similar? What's your opinion on the routine?

Buy 13 Steps

stooge? no I dont think he is a stooge. I do get frustrated when people say Oh he must be a stooge, when there are oh so many other things that can be done that do not require collusion. Just a little unseen work.

daleshrimpton wrote:stooge? no I dont think he is a stooge. I do get frustrated when people say Oh he must be a stooge, when there are oh so many other things that can be done that do not require collusion. Just a little unseen work.

I get where your coming from. As we all know most not all magic tv shows are very well edited and set up very well. The happy cockney taxi driver is clearly either a stooge or a very poor actor.

It's generally safe to assume that as the impossibility of an effect in a TV show increases, the likelihood that being part of a TV show is an element of the method also increases. There are exceptions, as ever, but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.

I had the fortune to speak to someone who worked on the production of a recent magic-based TV show (not Tricked) and it was really quite shocking how crude and "cheating" the methods can sometimes be. Without saying too much (not least because I don't know for sure!) the taxi driver not seeming very surprised may not be down to him being a stooge or actor in any conventional sense.

Mr_Grue wrote:It's generally safe to assume that as the impossibility of an effect in a TV show increases, the likelihood that being part of a TV show is an element of the method also increases. There are exceptions, as ever, but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.

I had the fortune to speak to someone who worked on the production of a recent magic-based TV show (not Tricked) and it was really quite shocking how crude and "cheating" the methods can sometimes be. Without saying too much (not least because I don't know for sure!) the taxi driver not seeming very surprised may not be down to him being a stooge or actor in any conventional sense.

I get where your coming from. There must be some sort of prior set-up to make it look like it was a trick?. I still truly believe that the taxi driver was a stooge or had prior knowledge to how the trick was done.

I'd just switch the envelopes

But really, if I was going to make a TV show I'd probably just have the whole thing acted

Lawrence wrote:I'd just switch the envelopes

But really, if I was going to make a TV show I'd probably just have the whole thing acted

And how would you switch the envelope? Ben asks the taxi driver to get the envelope which the taxi driver reaches into the cab to get. The whole time the driver is handling the envelope. So at what point would you switch?

I've still not seen this show, but reading 13 steps would give you at least 1 sure fire way to do the trick ... a little editing would help too, but its TV, so obviously there is editing ...

Derren Brown does a VERY similar thing in a market guessing how much change is in someones pocket I think on an old TV series

Aside from this one trick, how would you rate the show? As I said, I've not managed to see any of it yet, is it worth my sticking it on record?

Dan

Ryan.A wrote:

Lawrence wrote:I'd just switch the envelopes

But really, if I was going to make a TV show I'd probably just have the whole thing acted

And how would you switch the envelope? Ben asks the taxi driver to get the envelope which the taxi driver reaches into the cab to get. The whole time the driver is handling the envelope. So at what point would you switch?

when hes not looking.
eyes on the road and all that

Also when the cameras aren't on

Since when was it OK to start reverse engineering other people's effects on this forum?

Glad to see some people being helpful without being *too* helpful

T.

Timely words Ted, let's all do our guessing in private please.