Derren Brown subliminal video

theirishboater

hey,
i'm just after watchin derren brown's "how to control the nation" on channel four where he played a subliminal video that was meant to stick you to your seat. apart from having a heavy feeling in my arms and legs it had no effect on me. Did anyone else see the show? Did the video have any effect on them?

zuroph

well you got the heavy feeling in arms and legs at least, im sure any of the hypnotists here would have no problem expanding on that for you!

MooseJam

I watched it, no effect, though I wasnt watching on a big screen just a small telly

zuroph

havent seen it yet, its the bit before the video was the most important AFAIK.

fulhamfanincork

zuroph wrote: »

havent seen it yet, its the bit before the video was the most important AFAIK.

What is an Afaik?

Busi_Girl08

fulhamfanincork wrote: »

What is an Afaik?

As Far As I Know

fulhamfanincork

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

As Far As I Know

Thank you.

horgan_p

yes , i cought a very quick flash of what appeared to be an "olde style" illustration of someone tied to a chair - anyone else get this ?

Fuzzy Clam

It had nothing to do with subliminal messages or anything like that.

He got people to sit in a fixed position with the hands and arms in the same position for several minutes. The "trick" will work (for some) even without watching the video. It's to do with the muscles.

Jeez, as kids, we used to do similar tricks, even without having ever having heard of the word "subliminal".

How many of us have sometimes found it hard to get up out of the seat??

I'm losing my admiration for Darren fast if this is the best he can come up with these days.:mad:

Stryderman

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

It had nothing to do with subliminal messages or anything like that.

He got people to sit in a fixed position with the hands and arms in the same position for several minutes. The "trick" will work (for some) even without watching the video. It's to do with the muscles.

Jeez, as kids, we used to do similar tricks, even without having ever having heard of the word "subliminal".

How many of us have sometimes found it hard to get up out of the seat??

I'm losing my admiration for Darren fast if this is the best he can come up with these days.:mad:

I disagree! I've never been stuck to my seat after sitting down and remaining still for a few minutes the video had no effect on me but I've already heard of people who were stuck to their seats for several minutes

jd007

horgan_p wrote: »

yes , i cought a very quick flash of what appeared to be an "olde style" illustration of someone tied to a chair - anyone else get this ?

Yup I saw that aswell, i think thats key to the whole thing.

joes girls

I thought it and him was brill, just wants to talk about it all nite, never felt anything like that before, going mad to watch it again now!!!

KrazyKirby

jd007 wrote: »

Yup I saw that aswell, i think thats key to the whole thing.

Yah i saw that too! .. It flashed twice during it didn't it? Still ahd no affect on me tho .. ha

homah_7ft

I'd say someone will have sky+ it and bound to be on E4 soon I hope. I think it was an excellent show and he's on top form. Liked the show on it's own merits too.

Fuzzy Clam

Stryderman wrote: »

I've already heard of people who were stuck to their seats for several minutes

Of course you have:rolleyes:

argosy2006

i saw it and watched de video, and put hand on legs so on, and then after video i could not get up, i,m still in the chair,:D no really though it was hard to get up because u relax and become comfortable, then when he says get up , u dont want to,, i hesitated few times to get up, then i got up,,, its just been lazy that makes u not want to get up,, least thats now i felt,,, i mean thing about it u come home from work u sit down to relax, and we dont want to get up for anything,,so i can understand people not wanting to get up, rather than not been able,or thinking there not able,

D.Q

iv watched it a few times now... the ol sky+

first time i watched it, took ages to get up.

second time, took a little less time.

third time, i got a new chair, right up beside the telly, couldnt move my fingers even for about 3 minutes.

honestly, im a sceptic like, well impressed.

Fuzzy Clam

DieselQueen wrote: »

honestly, im a sceptic like, well impressed.

I'm impressed as well.

It's utterly remarkable how many people can be duped!

I'm in the wrong business.....

TouchingVirus

I'd been watching the whole show, that flash image of somebody tied to a chair happened a few times, was funny to think that might have anything to do with this trick

I got a very very heavy feeling in my arms, but I wasn't in an armchair so that didn't matter. I put my hands on my thighs and tried to push up, got my arse maybe 1 inch from the chair, was utterly exhausted with my legs feeling like they'd done a workout. The harder I tried to get up, the more tired I got - Eventually I sat down for a minute or so, tried again and managed to get up. It didn't have any effect on my mam or sister though apart from the heavy limbs.

Stevecw

It did work on some people. For me, i just felt really heavy legged, and a weird sensation. It felt like i had ran miles...i got up but wasn't easy.
Another guy here, just got nothing at all from it.

But my other housemate did actually get stuck in chair, she really could not get up. I was amazed, and at 1st we thought she was messing, but she really couldn't. Arms worked, but legs just seemed to shut down...it was incredible to see, and a bit scary!

She was ok before he did blue screen thing...but for a good 2 or 3 mins she could not get out of chair!

We recorded it, and i want to give it a try again tomorrow, and hope it works on me this time. But the girl that it happened to, doesn't want to..it seems to have freaked her out a bit!

joes girls

But even if it was only a heavy feeeling they got, they still got something, have to say i got a great buzz out of it, thought it was brill and now cant wait for next friday:)

zuroph

fuzzy, it does work on lots of people, not for the reasons he said, or for yours. Its hypnosis, and a very simple demo of atrophy.

NaiveMelodies

I was stuck on the seat for a few minutes, was laughing deliriously as my arms just felt weightless and my knees were like jelly!

jd007

Do you need to watch the whole show for this to work or just the bit with the video?

Busi_Girl08

jd007 wrote: »

Do you need to watch the whole show for this to work or just the bit with the video?

I don't know about the whole show, but definitely watch the bit immediately before the video where Derren is talking to the camera, and focus on what he is saying.

I'm not sure, but I think that is essentially his "command", and the same after the video.

FrDougalMcguire

I tried it and became unable to get up from the chair. The harder i tried the harder it seemed to get up. By the time the people came on the phone calls no matter how hard i pushed with my arms I could not get up. while the messages came up saying we would soon be able to get up and congratulations etc it was like wasting energy trying, then as soon as the blue screen and tone came up I got up no problem! AMAZING!!:D

hoolio

Just going to start by saying i'm actually quite a big derren brown fan, and although i thought the lotto stunt was, well, a bit ****, he's still a great performer. So just my take on the entire thing:

It doesn't involve hypnosis. In fact you're not even allowed to broadcast hypnosis routines, or at least any part of the routine that might actually influence someone. Check the ofcom guidlines, it's hilarious, but true. Very old fashioned, especially considering that "hypnosis" in the sense theyre referring to, and in general imo, is a bit of a myth, and certainly cannot stick someone to a chair

That said the suggestion is there and the assosciation in peoples minds with a video like that is that hypnosis might be involved in the trick. It's a misdirection.

It doesn't involve subliminal messages. Again, these are not the powerful forces people imagine. The image of the man on the chair was meant to be seen, and meant to be seen consciously. This way, you think that you spotted something going on, and part of the trick, but you really only saw what he wanted you to see. Honestly they could have put it in for hundreths of a second, far too fast for anyone to notice, but chose to make it obvious. Why? Misdirection again.

All that said i defintely believe the effect will have worked on quite a percentage of people. Here's my reasoning behind why:

-Derren brown is great at messing with peoples heads, altering their decisions, reading them, etc. Everyone knows this, lending the claim of the effect plausibility.
-Just in case you didn't know about him the video is played toward the end of an hour long show - the preceding 45ish minutes arent there to fill time or to entertain. They're there to sell browns skill, make you believe in his "power" and think "jesus, that guys decent at this mind ****ing business", and most importantly, that he's capable of pulling off the effect
-The suggestion of hypnosis/glaringly obvious subliminal images are there so that anyone who's done a bit of reading and fancies themselves as being able to see through things will go "ooooh look, subliminal imagery, i bet thats how he does it, i read it's very powerful in the readers digest once, and my aunts third cousin got hypnotised off the fags". This whole spiel again makes the viewer believe that theyre being condition/primed/whatever.
-brown says "watch this and you'll be stuck to the chair"
-viewer totally believes that brown can make them do more or less anything, and has been doing so
-thus, viewer feels stuck to the chair

You stick yourself to the chair, based on a belief in browns ability to stick you to the chair. It''s little different to a simple ouija board imo - you believe that the marker will move, so you make it move (apologies to any sad and sorry "grown ups" who still believe in the glorified child's toy that it is). You believe you're going to be stuck to a chair enough, and you'll stick yourself to it. Thats browns real genius in this piece, he does absolutely nothing, he makes you do it to yourself

oeb

hoolio wrote: »

All that said i defintely believe the effect will have worked on quite a percentage of people. Here's my reasoning behind why:

-Derren brown is great at messing with peoples heads, altering their decisions, reading them, etc. Everyone knows this, lending the claim of the effect plausibility.
-Just in case you didn't know about him the video is played toward the end of an hour long show - the preceding 45ish minutes arent there to fill time or to entertain. They're there to sell browns skill, make you believe in his "power" and think "jesus, that guys decent at this mind ****ing business", and most importantly, that he's capable of pulling off the effect
-The suggestion of hypnosis/glaringly obvious subliminal images are there so that anyone who's done a bit of reading and fancies themselves as being able to see through things will go "ooooh look, subliminal imagery, i bet thats how he does it, i read it's very powerful in the readers digest once, and my aunts third cousin got hypnotised off the fags". This whole spiel again makes the viewer believe that theyre being condition/primed/whatever.
-brown says "watch this and you'll be stuck to the chair"
-viewer totally believes that brown can make them do more or less anything, and has been doing so
-thus, viewer feels stuck to the chair

You stick yourself to the chair, based on a belief in browns ability to stick you to the chair. It''s little different to a simple ouija board imo - you believe that the marker will move, so you make it move (apologies to any sad and sorry "grown ups" who still believe in the glorified child's toy that it is). You believe you're going to be stuck to a chair enough, and you'll stick yourself to it. Thats browns real genius in this piece, he does absolutely nothing, he makes you do it to yourself

Good job. You just described hypnosis.

hoolio

oeb wrote: »

Good job. You just described hypnosis.

Good job. You just displayed an inability to understand a concept.

Add some content or spare me your "wit" please.

zuroph

He's not being witty, just very straight with you. what you've described is a form of hypnosis, or at the very least re-hypnosis. We refer to it as waking hypnosis, or permanosis. Basically, certain people will have been hypnotised before, or are in a much more suggestable position for hypnosis due to their beliefs in the power or in the power of the hypnotist. All it takes is a proven hypnotist to awaken this in someone and they can be "put under" without ever closing their eyes or "sleeping".
What Derren has done is counted on this phenomona in a large scale experiment, and its paid off. Granted some people will say it didnt work and everyone else must be lying, but there has been a massive number of people who it has worked for.

As an aside, the Ofcom rules arent the worst, you should look into the (thankfully never tested in court) 1952 hypnosis act in the UK.

oeb

hoolio wrote: »

Good job. You just displayed an inability to understand a concept.

Add some content or spare me your "wit" please.

What you described as 'not hypnosis' is as far as I am concerned, a pretty textbook breakdown of what hypnosis actually is.

I really don't understand this kind of reaction to Derren's stuff.
How is it any different to the amateur who says he's going to "read your mind and divine your card" or one you says he's going to "teleport a card from your hand to his" or one that says "he'll use magic powers to prevent the girl from dying as he saws her in half"?

Yes it's a more complex "explanation" and arguably more believable.
But remember that many of the more obviously nonsense explanations where once much more convincing.
In the 1800's, before the Masked Magician and Youtube where ruining everyone's fun, the only explanation for Sawing A Lady in Half was "magic".

What Derren Brown has done, has make magic seem like actual magic rather than a trick.
Probably the only one who has done so in the last few decades.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/100769/TV-fan-Derren-held-me-captive-for-12-hours/

DERREN HELD ME CAPTIVE FOR 12 HOURS

The evil bastard.

rich1874

I'd say the only people it worked on were the people who desperately wanted to believe that Derren Brown could stick them to their seats. It's a sub-conscious form of confirmation bias where a person will so desperately want something to be true that the brain will play a trick to accomodate their own bias. Hence i'd say some of Derren Brown's biggest fans experienced some rigid kind of sticking sensation because they deserately wanted to feel it, of course coupled with the physical explanation given earlier in the thread where sitting still(and purely concentratig on sitting still) will lead to mild fatigue in the limbs. Which is trick in itself, and perhaps the point of the experiment(the confirmation bias bit i mean).
And of course anyone skeptical about the experiment from the getgo wouldn't experience any kind of paralysis, maybe just the mild fatigue, purely physical.

rich1874

rich1874 wrote: »

I'd say the only people it worked on were the people who desperately wanted to believe that Derren Brown could stick them to their seats. It's a sub-conscious form of confirmation bias where a person will so desperately want something to be true that the brain will play a trick to accomodate their own bias. Hence i'd say some of Derren Brown's biggest fans experienced some rigid kind of sticking sensation because they deserately wanted to feel it, of course coupled with the physical explanation given earlier in the thread where sitting still(and purely concentratig on sitting still) will lead to mild fatigue in the limbs. Which is trick in itself, and perhaps the point of the experiment(the confirmation bias bit i mean).
And of course anyone skeptical about the experiment from the getgo wouldn't experience any kind of paralysis, maybe just the mild fatigue, purely physical.

And the girl just tucks herself into the top half of the box while the magician saws it in half.

rich1874

King Mob wrote: »

And the girl just tucks herself into the top half of the box while the magician saws it in half.

Em yeah, i guess so...
My comment wasn't a vent against your best mate Derren Brown, i'm just saying that that's a trick in itself, and it's his showmanship that makes it seem so real. He could sell sand to the Arabs that fella.

rich1874

rich1874 wrote: »

Em yeah, i guess so...
My comment wasn't a vent against your best mate Derren Brown, i'm just saying that that's a trick in itself, and it's his showmanship that makes it seem so real. He could sell sand to the Arabs that fella.

And the magician doesn't actually saw the lady in half.

I'm honestly not seeing the difference between that trick and what Derren Brown does.

rich1874

King Mob wrote: »

And the magician doesn't actually saw the lady in half.

I'm honestly not seeing the difference between that trick and what Derren Brown does.

well i've already pretty much agreed with you, I AM trying to say that's it's a trick. More complex, but a trick nonetheless, I can't see what you're arguing here.

Porkpie

IMO the more you convince yourself you'll be stuck the more likely it is you will be stuck. Didn't work for a skeptic like me, despite the fact that I often find it hard to get my lazy arse off the chair!

rich1874

rich1874 wrote: »

well i've already pretty much agreed with you, I AM trying to say that's it's a trick. More complex, but a trick nonetheless, I can't see what you're arguing here.

And no one is saying it's not a trick.

Sawing a lady in half is also a trick, but why not reveal that one too?

Derren is doing exactly what the two-bit magician sawing the lady does, giving a bull**** explanation to make the show more enjoyable.

rich1874

King Mob wrote: »

And no one is saying it's not a trick.

Sawing a lady in half is also a trick, but why not reveal that one too?

Derren is doing exactly what the two-bit magician sawing the lady does, giving a bull**** explanation to make the show more enjoyable.

Yes that's why I said he's a great salesman. Like any good magician.