Liu Qian - Arm through glass table - Better than Criss Angel? [VIDEO]

Originally posted by CX
That was cool.

The only thing that makes me wonder is the factthat he has to hide the hand going through the glass with his other hand as it "enters".

He does this when he pulls it out too. If it was that genuine, why not let us see everything?

Cool trick though.

CX.

Well, if he showed you "Everything" then you might find out that he really put his hand through the glass.

Too bad you're not supposed to know, dude..

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
It was a good trick, but unfortunately a few hiccups reveal a lot of how it works. The main mistake was between 6:15 and 6:23 where you can see the hand of the man who is sitting behind him move the glass of the table round quickly. At that time you can see where the movement of the glass slightly moves his hand and and the shadow of the hole pass under the hand too. Still, was a good illusion, but they should have maybe watched it over a bit more closely to iron out the hiccups

dude you just copied that from the youtube comment, which is over a month old...

reply to post by CHA0S


The hole his hand went through is under the teapot to his left, notice the positioning. Also notice that the glass panels to his left and right are slightly raised compared to the one in front of him. The piece of glass with the holes, rotates underneath these upper panels.

Of course they were all in on it, also notice how the camera shot moves down and then back up to complete the illusion.




[edit on 7-6-2010 by slane69]

First of all, this guy is Chinese, not Japanese. CCTV is China Central Television.

Second of all, this guy is a VERY good sleight of hand magician. I've seen some of the very best who have ever lived, live and in person, including Melbourne Christopher who was a friend of Houdini, and this guy is right up there.

I think I've figured out what he's doing with the hand through the table trick and it's likely the people at the table are in on that trick with him, because I doubt they would miss it being that close. The cameraman definitely is in on it, because the way the the camera moves helps him disguise the movements that make the trick possible.

You might want to stop reading if you don't want this trick spoiled (sometimes it's more fun to not know ) :






At about 4:40, notice the camera zooms in to a close-up of his hand holding the coins under the table.

4:45 - camera pulls back and his other hand is covering a spot on the table - by that point he has already slid the glass top of the table clock-wise (to his right) and his hand is covering the hole...we've been misdirected to the guy's hand under the table and the camera movement, while he's already sprung the trick and is now just nonchalantly covering the hole with his left hand. (I think the people at the table with him know he slid the glass top, I doubt they could have missed it. The ones in back may or may not know as it might be possible to conceal the moving pane of glass under the section of the table next to it, or it may even be the whole table.)

Notice his left hand doesn't move the whole time he's cleaning the glass top with the rag in his right hand. The right hand is in motion, but the real trick is happening, silently, motionlessly with the left - classic misdirection.

5:21 - the camera starts to crane down to level with the edge of the table, this helps him disguise the next movement...

5:23 - he starts moving his left hand towards the center of that section of the table but what he's really doing is moving the entire glass table-top section, still covering the hole with his hand.

5:30 - he now puts his right hand through the hole, covered by his left hand. The camera also safely cranes up a couple seconds later, now that he's finished moving the table-top.

6:04 - camera cranes back down to level with the table edge and stays there until...

6:20 - he lays his entire left arm down on the table top. This is when the hole is moving back, counter-clockwise, to a hidden position to his left. I think the table must have a motor and be automatic, because I can't detect any hand motion here moving the glass.

6:22 - the camera is already craning up again because the hole has been safely stowed and hidden.

6:24 - he moves his left hand from the glass for the first time since the 4:45 point, nearly a minute and a half, revealing a pristine glass top.


It's a great trick, very well done by this guy. He's first rate, for sure. I can almost always spot how magicians do these things because I grew up around magic and magicians my whole life. My dad did it as a hobby and he had some friends who were very, very good professional magicians.

reply to post by 2Faced


very nice, that could just about explain it.

The only part that gets me is the finish (unless the was a camera edit) is that the left hand and arm has not slid the whole back into place when his right hand is still visibly inside the whole. The left hand is removed, without any sliding, and the right drops the coins onto the table. A camera close up even shows smudges on the glass in the area of the hands.

Obviously there is some trickery and the camera shot level withe the table almost looks like there is no glass on the table and that the arm positions are just a pantomime of being on a glass surface. But the finish is the best part of the trick.

And yes, everyone at the table is a confidant (in on the trick).

reply to post by shagreen heart


I knew someone would notice. Non the less it was a good copy and paste.

reply to post by LifeInDeath


I don't know if it's that complicated...but that could potentially explain it as well I guess..

reply to post by Ahabstar


Yes, I agree with everything you said, the last bit has me stumped as well (though some sort of spring system as suggested by 2Faced may explain it)...and the people at the table surely have to be in on it...

[edit on 7/6/10 by CHA0S]

Originally posted by Ahabstar
The only part that gets me is the finish (unless the was a camera edit) is that the left hand and arm has not slid the whole back into place when his right hand is still visibly inside the whole. The left hand is removed, without any sliding, and the right drops the coins onto the table. A camera close up even shows smudges on the glass in the area of the hands.

No, it only looks like his hand is still in the table, that's him acting like he's still extricating it from the glass, but by then the hole has slid back into place. His acting like he's still pulling his hand out is him selling the illusion. The best magicians will play on these little movements and how we perceive them. It looks mundane and insignificant, but it is significant because we cue in on those subtle movements and think it means what it really doesn't.

Obviously there is some trickery and the camera shot level withe the table almost looks like there is no glass on the table and that the arm positions are just a pantomime of being on a glass surface. But the finish is the best part of the trick.

No, the glass is there, it's just sliding so that the hole that was concealed to the side is now concealed under his left hand. There is still a glass table top there, the pantomime and camera movements are to help him conceal the hole.

Originally posted by CHA0S
reply to post by LifeInDeath

I don't know if it's that complicated...but that could potentially explain it as well I guess.

It's not really that complicated of a trick, I just broke-down every movement of it in detail. Any good illusion like that has a lot of very precise choreography, usually all worked out down to the second or even the 10th of a second. It takes enormous skill, practice and dedication to do it that well.