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Arkadia Special user Sweden, Sundsvall 866 Posts |
Here we go, after 35 escapes in 13 days. Here's one part of the show.
https://youtu.be/_xQCwLuoE14 Hope you enjoy. Best, Ark
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jay leslie V.I.P. Southern California 9498 Posts |
You should always have an assistant hold your head while being lifted, otherwise you can scrape it.
I wish there had been a penalty if you didn’t escape. If the rope is tied-off and a candle set under the rope ThaT could have been a penalty - had you not escaped. It would also have been acceptable to tie-off the rope and have the assistant leave the stage because I want to watch you escape not the assistant holding the rope. However, I really liked the way you did the sit-up at the end and released yourself which shows skill. If you were 20 meters in the air it is great to be lowered, holding on by one hand, and the other hand extended.
Jay Leslie
www.TheHouseOfEnchantment.com |
Arkadia Special user Sweden, Sundsvall 866 Posts |
Thanks for your input! I really appreciate that you took the time to watch and have opinions about my escape. Once again, thanks.
About my head scraping the floor. We tried a lot of different versions and I found that the one I liked the most was the one I do ion the video. It looks as iof my head scrapes the floor, but in truth it doesn’t. The first sit-up starts there. As soon as my legs are in the air I lift my body. I guess there’s a risk involved, but it is a risk I am ready to take for the aesthetic of the escape. My character in this show is a quite vain but bloodthirsty vampire, I can’t see him asking for help when it comes to being lowered to the floor. We discussed penalties a lot. I am not sure I like the general idea about a countdown and a rope going of or something similar. There’s practical as well as artistic reasons. First of - we did this escape 36 times in 13 days. If I was to make a secure system with, say a burning rope or a candle to the rope, I would need to construct 36 of the gimmicks.And if you have a rope with a candle - the rope has to go at the end. Otherwise it is kind of pointless. You could of course do it for real, but I am not that foolhardy. The second thing is whether my audience would believe the danger of the imposed penalty. I watched one of Sweden's biggest names doing a suspended straitjacket with the “Jaws of death”. I am pretty sure that no one in the audience were convinced. The apparatus is to magically propy in my eyes. I saw David Penn’s awesome upgrade on the Jaws of Death in a recent video. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FmEpUWw-I) That is a spectacular stage picture - and perhaps the pure awesomeness of the sparks and fire makes such an awe-impression that the escape will be an effect bigger than life. Still, I am not convinced that people buy it. But they will surely be entertained. When it comes to danger - I strongly believe people need to recognise and understand the danger. People understand fire. They understand water. And so on. I remember an interview with Derren Brown a couåple of years ago. He did an effect where he was to memorize a special route on the floor and then walk it blindfolded. To make it interesting he placed different animal traps and rat traps outside of the track he was to follow. He had David Blain as his consultant at this TV-series. David's input was that Derren should do something more dangerous. Say make the track on top of a tall building. Derren's response was: “The brits will never believe it.” I think there is wisdom there. Regarding my assistant on stage. We liked the picture with a zombie holding onto the rope. But once agin, this is just a little bit from en entire show. Our stage hands were all characters and me and the zombie Marcus did that trick together of sorts. I can understand the visuals of me alone on stage. that would be nice as well. It comes down to a matter of taste and we in the production liked this picture a lot. You’re absolutely right. It would look really cool being lowered with one hand waving to the audience. I like the idea! Once again, thanks for your input. My opinions are, well, just opinions. As right as anyone elses. /Ark
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jay leslie V.I.P. Southern California 9498 Posts |
As far as people believing you are or are not in danger.
How many movies have you seen where an actor was in an impossible situation and they get out. Everyone in the audience knows it's all acting BUT they are invested in the performance. If the performance is good they have a need to cheer- on the underdog. They have a need to live vicariously. If the performance is good they will Imagine themselves in your place and have a need for an emotional release. They have a need to believe but feel safe at the same time. Thousands of television shows and movies prove this to be true. The only performance you need to he true to is Greek Drama "Man verses Machine" This is what we are doing. We are representing the oppression people endure and that the human spirit can overcome it.
Jay Leslie
www.TheHouseOfEnchantment.com |
Arkadia Special user Sweden, Sundsvall 866 Posts |
I don’t say you’re wrong. But I do believe that there is a bunch of different ways of presenting escapes and making them interesting. Danger is on way of doing it. I find dramatic, but unrealistic dangers to be either tiresome or, at best, good looking. I am all for a beautiful stage picture, and for the audience to take part in a thrilling journey with the EA. Still, I think this journey can be performed and experienced in many different forms. The fact that I am fastened in a straitjacket and suspended up-side-down is gruesome enough for my part. I have performed escapes for quite some time, and have never applied danger to any of my performances. I still have gigs. Maybe I would be more successful adding danger - but I strongly believe otherwise.
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jay leslie V.I.P. Southern California 9498 Posts |
You are a thinking man because it takes you time to formulate your answers,,, that’s good. That means you shouldn’t hurt yourself by accident.
I agree that dramatic, but unrealistic danger does not sell the performance. My point is that you can watch most any TV show or movie and a person escaping some form of entrapment is not the story. The story is what they do after they escape. In the escape world the moment you get out is the end of the performance. The addition of “going after the bad guys” does not exist. We escape for the pure reason that the human spirit is stronger then any bond that another person may saddle us with. Half of our escapes are a puzzle. Most people know we will get out but the process fascinates them and I believe that a penalty does add tension. If you we’re locked in a wood garage with an axe you could eventually break out but to have a bomb in the corner that you can not subdue - that adds more interest because you have a set amount of time to break out. The addition of a penelty doubles the interest. Now they are double checking your progress against the clock and are more emotionally connected. It;s like watching a salmon swim upstream. That’s a battle by itself, now add a bear at the edge of the water that takes a snap at the salmon. The salmon still gets away but the audience has more empathy knowing the struggle is life and death. Good luck in your shows. if you’re selling tickets and paying the rent, that’s what counts the most. Jay
Jay Leslie
www.TheHouseOfEnchantment.com |
Cliffg37 Inner circle Long Beach, CA 2491 Posts |
Quote:
On Dec 14, 2016, jay leslie wrote: Hit the nail on the head Jay. As I learned a long time ago, a young man in handcuffs who is suddenly free is not entertaining. It is a novelty... It may get a smile or an ataboy depending on what the spectators think of you, but it doesn't sell tickets. I liked the escape as presented, bit what it did not show was how it got built up. Was there a story? Was there a series of escapes or effects that culminated in this. Personally I like to tell a story, and it seems my audiences like it too. That is how I play it. I remember years ago in his New York City illusion show, Criss Angel did bit where he was some kind of secret agent, a sci-fi hero or what ever. He gets hit over the head and chained up in a production number. This leads into metamorphosis. (He claimed to have broken the pendragon's speed record) The point is he gave the audience a story line to follow whether you liked the effect or not.
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Arkadia Special user Sweden, Sundsvall 866 Posts |
Once again, I agree about a danger that people believe in. A bear at the end of a stream is simple enough to understand, especially if you’re a salmon. A bomb… well the script writer would have to explain the device to the audience, that would take some script time. Even though a bomb is something we are familiar with, we have to believe in the bomb, just as we need to believe in the escape presented. That's is one reason why I don’t like “Jaws of Death” or contraptions that is supposed to cut a rope at a specific time.
This takes us back to my second post in this discussion. I did this escape about 36 times in 13 days. To design a danger that would be nice looking, realistic, understood, not to complicated to re-set (We had about 15 minutes between shows) and finally not to expensive - I found that I didn’t know how to do it. My opinion, that obviously clash with yours, whether danger is needed or not, made me go for this version instead. As Cliffg37 also states, story is sometimes stronger than the actual performance - and when both of them strengthen each other you have an act that touches the audience. In this case I believe we managed to pull that off.
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escapeguy Regular user 189 Posts |
Man, I kinda dug the video. I like the feel,,
MICHAEL GRIFFIN,
America's Escape Artist Visit: www.escapeguy.com Like: www.facebook.com/michaelgriffinescapes Follow: www.twitter.com/escapeguy |
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