I tried a search on this but couldn't find anything. Do you remember a special awhile back where Copperfeild cut himself in half with a laser and then walked around carrying the other half of his body. Reading some posts about David Blaine this got me to thinking if it was camera trickery as it did look a little phony. Any thoughts?

No, it isn't camera trickery and is one of my favorite effects. I believe it was created by Steve Fearson and it can be done in normal stage settings.

Lee

It is an illusion by Steve Fearson, called "Splitting Image" or "Laser"
It's a real trick. No camera trickery.
The angles aren't great.
There is no way to get it because Copperfield purchased the rights to this illusion forever.
However if you want to do a less expensive version of then effect, you can try "Division" by me. (Vincenzo Ravina). It's availible from hocus-pocus, magicsmith and finer magic dealers everywhere.
http://hocus-pocus.com/magicshop/product......tem=3554

-Vincenzo

Yeah, that illusion looked really cool on TV and just as cool, if not cooler, in David's live stage show.

He protected the secret to it very carefully - only a select few of the crew knew precisely how it worked. Unfortunately he no longer performs it in his show and has not done so for some time now.

Something that is along the same genre, though not exactly the same illusion, is the often praised "Bisection" illusion by Andrew Mayne. Here we have the same idea of being cut in half, with the upper half of the body vanishing completely.

- Jack

I've seen David do this illusion five times live, and each time was equally amazing. If you know the secret, then you know it is difficult to perform, but David pulls it off like a true artist. He has taken it out of the show for now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him bring it back in a future tour. Since he has the only rights to it, we can only hope he'll bring it back.

You can go to http://www.davidcopperfield.com. Enter the site and click on the "tour" section. There is a picture of David doing this illusion.

Yah, it would be kind of a waste of he didn't.


Lee

Maybe we could have a party between us magicians, get him drunk, tell him we're doing a signed card routine, and have him sign the rights out to everyone present.

Have we seen the same effect ,,Laser". On television in the Tornado of Fire Special, great effect, great,great effect!!! But live? I saw Copperfield here in Germany and I was sitting in the first row, almost next to his parents. And I saw almost nothing of the effect, the lighting was dark and after he completed himself again,he was running or better some of his stagehands carried the Pants away...

Anyway Copperfield is god! No doubt!

Hey!!
I made something similar to this Illusion here in Germany. It is different from the one David Copperfield does, not to say it is better!Now im trying to find out if i can perform it without getting problems with Copperfield.
Patrick Thomas

I have seen David do this live and wasn't all that impressed. The angles on it are really bad. It might have also been the lighting. I could see exactly what he was doing and I was about half way back and a little off center. I am sure the folks up fron and on either side of the stage had a better look. The rest of the show was great.

I wonder if that's why David took it out of the show. Perhaps he is working on making it better.

I have seen it both live and on TV regardless of the dark stage I loved this illusion.

It seams to go over really well. I would love to see David put it back into the show after some minor changes to it.

REALLY COOL EFFECT!

Mike

We often times criticize David Blaine for his "Higher then Balducci" camera-tricked levitation. I don't know the exact workings of Laser, but did see it live from the Orchestra pit and saw ... well, too much.

Having said that, I think this is one of the best illusions to hit the main-stream in years, and Copperfield is a true artist (Steve Fearson being a visionary).

Which brings me back to camera tricks, on Copperfield's "Tornado of Fire" illusion he does this trick OUTDOORS, or rather, is bouncing around in the position (holding his legs) outside. This seems to only be done by a camera trick, any thoughts?

MagiCat

@MagiCat:

These bouncing moves are not camera tricks. You can do them in the splittet position. The only used "trickery" is, that you only have a look from the very best viewing angles. But who would not use that possibility ?

Oliver

Is the picture on the site fake? In the special and in life I don't recall him leaning that far from his body. Just wondering.

It's "touched up" a little I think, magictim.
Well...

Does anybody have a demo of the "division" trick?

To my knowledge it has not been released on any DVD or video that can be purchased. However, David does perform the Laser Illusion on his last TV special Tornado Of Fire. You might be able to find someone who taped it.

Mike

Go to http://www.themagicofdc.com/. In the multimedia section you will find a lot of videos.

The laser, is a very good but trick, have some angle problems, but once you know the secret it´s easy to perform, unfortunately david have the rights to perfom that illusion, but I´m building the laser at home, and it´s very nice, but I will not perfom that in public


luis