Derren Brown's Seance

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The human mind is attracted to large faces and eyes - just consider our attraction to baby animals! - and the first face we were drawn to was the colour (as instructed) one next to the one with big eyes and the largest face (bottom row). Of course not everyone looks there, but MOST do. Then, because of the way he's arranged the photos, he guides you to a pre-chosen face, i.e the face of the girl they;ve already filmed, blah blah. Once you get most of the group tochoose her, by arranging pictures and knowing that simple psychological fact, it's easy to keep planting suggestions in people's minds. So the girl wrote London; Derren said the word 'city' three times in the build up to that, what other British city has as strong association in our minds as London? Even the signs in London say 'City Of...'. Had you asked an American it would have been New York. (Plus it eliminates towns and villages straight off, subliminal placement.) So Derren, as we know, is all about suggestion. How the ball moved, who knows. Fishing wire, magnets maybe. But whatever, it's sure that Derren put together another entertaining hour of TV by showing how gullible people are.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 31 May 2004 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Very good. Excellent descriptions, good summary overall. Next time include more analysis, or find some points to criticise.
B+

― Mr Krankenhaus, Monday, 31 May 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

If i'd put pictures in would I have got an A*?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 31 May 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Possibly. If you'd shown some of the nubile young girls and boys.
Btw have that essay on "Popworld" on my desk by thursday.

― Mr Krankenhaus, Monday, 31 May 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Wasn't there a program once where they revealed how seances might have been faked? It could have been a Darren Brown thing as well.

It showed that there's usually some assistant hiding in a cupboard, and then when the room's all dark, he/she comes out and uses a stick to move objects around.

I don't know if that was how they did it tonight, cos I didn't watch the program.

― jellybean (jellybean), Monday, 31 May 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

it was obvious it was fake by what he said at the start of the show

― ??, Monday, 31 May 2004 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

It had an effect on me, namely the vision I kept getting of one of the participants having Meg Whites face.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 31 May 2004 22:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought it was a bit rubbish. He'd been hyping it up on TV adverts for days, and I really hoped it was going to be something quite spectacular. Instead it turned out to be as dull as one of those Uri Geller televised events where millions of people thought he'd mended their broken clocks. Not.

― C J (C J), Monday, 31 May 2004 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't South Park do this a lot better about two series ago?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 31 May 2004 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

i didn't even know this had been on. wouldn't have minded seeing it even if the guy does annoy the heck out of me.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 31 May 2004 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

for no reason at all here is a recent entry from my dream diary :

24.05.04
i'm at work, but for some reason we're doing a 12pm to 8am nightshift. there is some sort of emergency so we have to spill out onto the street, and tv crews start turning up to report on the situation.
derren brown starts doing a card trick to cheer people up with a deck featuring 50s film stars, which involves people choosing a card and placing a coin beside it in the deck, and then the cards around the coin changing. derren starts looking for the next person to pick a card and spots me. i tell him not to bother because i know how the trick is done. he persists and so i tell him that his palming is rubbish, and people could have noticed if they weren't so upset. he gets angry and sneeringly asks if i could do any better. i perform the same trick and then ask him to look at the two cards next to the coin, and the cards have pictures of derren on them.
he looks really freaked out.

― zappi (joni), Monday, 31 May 2004 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Why not have a seance? Why not go mad?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 31 May 2004 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

i want to know how to make people sleep in phoneboxes

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Get them REALLY pissed.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 07:50 (twenty-two years ago)

he does it quicker than that though. he can't have time to say more than two sentences to them before they slump to the ground and don't wake up again for half an hour. i can't begin to imagine what those two sentences are apart from 'there's 100 quid in it for you if you pretend to fall asleep' 8)

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

What's that ouija board technique called, the one where we're pushing the glass around without realising it, due to the puniness of our tiny brains? Was it "Idiomotor movement" or something? We had a great time with it last night - seems a spirit called NEGEG is living in our flat, and he likes to drink "HSIEBFO". Nice.

― Huey (Huey), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Notice that the Oujia board originally went to "C/D". ILX possesses the big screen.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't South Park do this a lot better about two series ago?

Haha, the Biggest Douchebag In The Universe Awards - classic!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 09:04 (twenty-two years ago)

the 'you will pick Jane" trick was totally transparent. sad to say I tracked all the possibilites and it was like "pick a number etc" the end was pre-determined. that he demo'd the basic technique he used throughout at the start meant that the participants were a variety of nutter. Remember he'd already selected them to filter out people who weren't going to get it, but were going to believe it etc. He knew them well enough to have already primed them to behave as they did.

I loved it, but was dismayed by the ppl leaving messages to say how frightened they were. I imagine that believer viewers will still believe it was all real, and choose to ignore the hasty reveal at the end.

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 09:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that make them gullible, or just desperate to believe in something extra-human?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

A bit of both, probably.

I was slightly intrigued by the fact that the girl chosen to be the 'medium' seemed to know that Jane used to have a cat called Harry and that her Dad was a builder. How did she know to say that? I didn't hear him mentioning anything which would have auto-suggested this to her.

Does Derren Brown hypnotise these people beforehand, do you think? Or doesn't he do hypnosis? (I may be thinking of Paul McKenna, actually)

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 10:55 (twenty-two years ago)

He doesn't do hypnosis

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

so what actually is this darren's brown sauce thing?

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, i was thinking about that, too.
also, the guy behind the curtain that was 'restrained' screaming and throwing the paper around. they didn't show the footage from the camera above, as they did with the girl beforehand.

but yeah, very entertaining, i found.

x-post

and if he doesn't do hypnosis, what was the 'trance state' stuff?

the whole thing reminded me of the awesome Ghostwatch of ~ten years ago.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Well he doesn't generally do hypnosis tho I've no doubt he could do it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

was Ghostwatch where they'd visit old haunted places? I'm sure I saw a repeat of it recently.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

So when he put those two people behind the curtain at the beginning of the programme, and the tambourine/paperwork flew out, how did he get them immediately into that dozy trance-like state whereby they insisted they hadn't done it? Were these people just really eager to please?

x-post

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

he FORCED the choice of medium (that could have been just a conjuring card trick, or a card trick combined with prior suggestion) so he probably primed her with that subconscious knowledge in exactly the same way he got the girl to go into room 7.

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Gjostwatch was WAY more scary, but that's cos I thoguht that was real and I was a kid rather than a cynical old codger.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:04 (twenty-two years ago)

ghostwatch was the BBC thing with Craig Charles and Sarah Green (amongst others) - a one off faux-documentary in which they visited a so-called haunted house to investigate paranormal activity, provoking the ghost, nicknamed 'pipes' to go on a killing spree on BBC presenters. or something. everyone went mental, War of the Worlds radio-broadcast stylee because half the country shit themselves. it was never repeated for this reason, but is now available on DeeVeeDee.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I was so scared by that you cannot beleive. When Sarah Green went under the stairs, fucking hell...

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, i crapped my pants big-style. but i was only a nipper, so that's understandable. must.... order.... DVD....

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007JGG0/qid%3D1086091991/202-3786035-8809427

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

must.. get... credit/debit card...

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember one moment when they were in the bedroom and as they turned to leave the camera pan caught someone standing in the corner of the room. The cameraman gasped and turned back quick as fuck, and there was no one there. I'm actually almost crying as I type this, because the sensation of being terrified back then is so fucking vivid. I have NEVER EVER been so scared in all my life. It was fucking horrific.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:17 (twenty-two years ago)

like i said, the Awesome Ghostwatch.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/ghostwatch/ghostwatch.shtml

Fucking hell, just watched that. Going to think happy thoughts now.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:23 (twenty-two years ago)

i just watched it too. contemplating credit card fraud. hmmmm....

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought this was terrific television. Yes, we can all get part of how he did a lot of it, but by no means all of it, and although he's done the trick of getting someone to say what he wants (as in the channeling-Jane sequence here) several times, it still mystifies and impresses me hugely. The fact that he can be so up front about what he's doing, i.e. that it is all fakery and manipulation with no spiritual content, and still pull it off, is some feat, I think.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 11:41 (twenty-two years ago)

With a good deal of cynism and vodka, we decided to try this at home too. I was possessed by spirits to say the following:

"Tom! You're pushing it!"
"Fuck off, yes you are!"

Creepy.

What I really wanted to see was the reactions of the group when he bought real-life Jane back from the dead.

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

"She SURVIVED the suicide pact too?" and things like that I imagine

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"Wow, she hasn't aged at all since 1974."

The guy in the Libertines jacket was a bit of a twat, yes?

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

ooooooooooh yes. students eh? students of what?

oh it's easy to scoff. and that's what makes it fun.

I read in Metro this morning that mr B still thinks he comes over as that bit too much smug. i think a bit of smug is called for in this sort of act.

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, yuh huh. His smugness has gone exponential since first appearing on the small screen. It works though.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I was excited by the abnormal stupidity of the participants (2 out of 12 failed to follow simple instructions when looking at the pictures). I would like to know who was madly reciting the lord's prayer at one point. I'd guess it was the guy with the beard.

Derren Brown needs some new tricks. His ability to get some people to give predictable answers to questions can only impress so many times.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

ah come on the supermarket path trick i saw recently (and poss mentioned in another thread) was superbly well staged with just the right amount of time for an "oh my god, no it can't be!" realisation moment.

i too was struck by the 2 that couldn't follow those instructions. it might have ruined it if Mr B said "No, listen to the question, the words used in it"

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked the thing he done on his show last week, he got an undertaker to look at several photographs of different people and to split them into two piles - those he felt he 'liked' or felt a connection with, and those he didn't.

At the end Derren turned the photos over and the ones in the 'don't like' pile had DEAD written on the back of them. These were apparently friends or relatives of Derrens who had died previously.

Fuck Me.

― Rumpy Pumpkin (rumpypumpkin), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I've just realised what I find really creepy about Derren Brown. His voice sounds uncannily similar to Angus Deayton's.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

And his name is creepily like that of our own Donna Brown! I keep thinking this thread is called "Donna Brown's Suitcase"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

"Donna Brown's Suitcase" deserves a thread of its own, I feel.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

RJG spent quite a long time making the letters and sticking them to the table. It was quite touching. Our wine glass made a horrible noise when it moved across the table. It sounded kind of like a Fell Beast. I'm glad it didn't move when we sat around the table with our fingers on it. Later, when we'd turned the lights out I tried to make it move using the power of my mind but it didn't work.

― Madchen (Madchen), Tuesday, 1 June 2004 18:07 (twenty-two years ago)

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