Anyone else enjoying Derren's version of The Walking Dead?
Probably would have been semi watchable if not for the fact the guy who is supposed to be 'suggestable' is blatantly acting..and quite badly too
Quote from: Beeks on 27 October, 2012, 03:01:41 PM
Probably would have been semi watchable if not for the fact the guy who is supposed to be 'suggestable' is blatantly acting..and quite badly too
I don't even know where to begin with that. You're wrong, though.
Quote from: Beeks on 27 October, 2012, 03:01:41 PM
Probably would have been semi watchable if not for the fact the guy who is supposed to be 'suggestable' is blatantly acting..and quite badly too
Explain?
Quote from: Beeks on 27 October, 2012, 03:01:41 PM
Probably would have been semi watchable if not for the fact the guy who is supposed to be 'suggestable' is blatantly acting..and quite badly too
As mentioned in the TV thread, some of the acting by the 'cast' could have been stronger.
Don't think Stephen was acting though mate- if anything he would've played up more to the cameras if he was in on it, instead of looking like a lobotomised potato for the duration of Day 1 (which to me is the most realistic reaction any normal person would have in that situation).
In defense of the actors - There seems to be quite a lot of necessary ad-libbing going on. They've got to listen to suggestions Brown's making and reply and react to the non-scripted befuddled bloke. I think they're doing reasonably well, considering.
Quote from: M.I.K. on 27 October, 2012, 05:47:05 PM
In defense of the actors - There seems to be quite a lot of necessary ad-libbing going on. They've got to listen to suggestions Brown's making and reply and react to the non-scripted befuddled bloke. I think they're doing reasonably well, considering.
Fair point.
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 27 October, 2012, 03:31:26 PM
Quote from: Beeks on 27 October, 2012, 03:01:41 PM
Probably would have been semi watchable if not for the fact the guy who is supposed to be 'suggestable' is blatantly acting..and quite badly too
I don't even know where to begin with that. You're wrong, though.
So you thought he was natural? He reminded me of a soap actor..I was completely unconvinced from the moment he opened his mouth..even my Mrs commented on it
Pure bullsh*t
There's always the possibility that the gentle whispering Derren Broon was doing in his somnambulant stooge's ear included an instruction to just fucking go along with it, alright? Anyone I've spoken to who's been dragged up on stage by a hypnotist says they didn't so much believe that they were a chicken or that the bald guy they were sitting beside was actually Marilyn Monroe, as much as it seemed like it would be a good idea to play along with the suggestion that this was so.
It must have been a deliberate decision to echo the narrative beats and production design of 28 Days Later so closely: the hospital garb he wakes up wearing, the TV broadcast, the 9/11-style missing person posters, "the infected". I suppose fits the subject's preconceptions, and makes it easier for Don Ofthedead to know how he's supposed to act/react too. I'm enjoying it anyway.
I love most of Derren Brown's stuff but do not like it when he does these Beadles About type things. I prefer it when he is doing amazing things himself.
Quote from: WhizzBang on 27 October, 2012, 08:47:07 PM
I love most of Derren Brown's stuff but do not like it when he does these Beadles About type things. I prefer it when he is doing amazing things himself.
i know what you mean - I was watching this thinking that either:
a) the guy's playing along and pretending not to notice that people are obviously acting OR
b) this is an unjustifiably horrible thing to do to somebody.
It CAN'T be as real as it seems, or its like TV rape - how could you consent in advance to this level of horror? And if you haven't, you could easily sue for PTSD.
I think there's gotta be some level of willing collusion going on.
My favourite DB stunt was persuading dog-track bookies that he'd won on a losing ticket. Now THAT's a useful skill!
I don't think this is what it seems on the face of it. I reckon it's all a trick on the viewer or something.
Quote from: JamesC on 28 October, 2012, 08:36:32 AM
I don't think this is what it seems on the face of it. I reckon it's all a trick on the viewer or something.
Broon's trotted out that line about his skillset being a combination of
"magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship" many times. The misdirection's aimed as much at the viewer as it is toward the participants, but as a viewer - just as in the case of the hypnotised subject I mentioned above- it just seems like more fun to play along and see where this is headed.
Yuh huh. I think calling 'actor', like what Mrs Mikey did, ruins the fun of it. I don't think he is acting tbh - no one likes to think they could be conned easily, but it's frightening how easily you can be. Plus they stated they screened for someone who'd be suggestible and as others have said, folk who have experienced hypnosis aren't totally subsumed but have been convinced the suggestion is real or worth participating in. A mate of mine descibed it as like watching yourself do something from behind your own eyes (he was told his cock had been stolen and he had to find the person who had it.)
No matter what, I really enjoyed it in all it's survival horror stylings! I did keep thinking 'why does he not lift a heavy/blunt object?' and 'you have picked up the Green Herb' and 'there's bound to be a shotgun in that cupboard.' Severe lack of typewriters too...
M.
Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 October, 2012, 01:21:49 AM
i know what you mean - I was watching this thinking that either:
a) the guy's playing along and pretending not to notice that people are obviously acting OR
b) this is an unjustifiably horrible thing to do to somebody.
My thoughts exactly
I haven't seen this but some of the guys at work were talking about it and to me it does seem very staged. If I was in that situation I would try and off a "Zombie" just to see what it feels like (come on how many of you would be the same). I am sure they would have a contigency plan to stop this happening but unpredictability is something no one can account for.
My plan for a Zombie Apocalypse is already thought out and ready to be implemented is the impossible should happen.
V
Would have been interesting if it was genuine, but the dupe twigged and faked a murder to turn the tables on the production team.
Quote from: vzzbux on 28 October, 2012, 03:07:29 PM
I haven't seen this but some of the guys at work were talking about it and to me it does seem very staged. If I was in that situation I would try and off a "Zombie" just to see what it feels like (come on how many of you would be the same). I am sure they would have a contigency plan to stop this happening but unpredictability is something no one can account for.
My plan for a Zombie Apocalypse is already thought out and ready to be implemented is the impossible should happen.
The element of hypnotic suggestion is the equivalent of
A Wizard Did It in this scenario,
vzzbux, which allows you to suspend disbelief and enjoy it as entertainment. If Broon can convince someone to
assassinate Stephen Fry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aSw_jrxufB8#t=38s) (worth watching in full), he can stop them swinging a two-by-four at some shuffling extra's head.
Obviously my co-workers and myself have given a great deal of thought to our own zombie survival plan; my workplace is out because it has plate glass windows. Our local Tescos is well stocked, has two storeys, and is fairly defendable; but everyone who's seen
Dawn of the Dead will be thinking the same thing. The local secondary school's on top of a steep hill, with good line of sight across the miles of farmers' fields which surround it, and probably wouldn't attract the same numbers of scavengers. It comes down to whether you're looking to find somewhere to sit out a finite emergency or start some kind of living off the land survivalist future.
Do any other readers have boring jobs they've tried to make bearable by discussing this kind of shite with their equally bored colleagues?
I caught the repeat today.
Considering he went to the audition earlier (although he was told he failed.), did he know it was for a Derren Brown show? I can't help thinking that if I had been to such an audition, and weird things started tot happen to me out of the blue, I'd be strongly suspicious it wasn't for real. Especially if I knew I'd been successfully hypnotised during the various exercises. (Then again, can a hypnotised subject be hypnotised to forget that?)
One thing though - if he's acting, he is very good. He genuinely looked traumatised when he woke up in the hospital bed.
I agree that the little girl's acting was a lot to be desired, but if you're that taken in by everything else, maybe your mind would make allowances for such things.
I didn't understand where the MASSIVE amount of swearing that you'd surely do was?
If I'd have woke up in that hospital, then walked through that awful scene, I'd have been effing & blinding all over the shop. Wouldn't you?
Probably not, no, but I'm generally very unsweary.
I cant believe ive missed this! I love DB and have a long held man crush on him, and im quite fond of zombies too. That's what spending your evenings reading old british comics and not waching tv does for you.
This thread is the first ive heard of it, bar a glimpson fb the other day when an ex girlfriend used her status to call for db's arrest. I thought that was odd, but since we split up over a 2000ad cover that was 'demeaning to women', i thought it was just her being reassuringly mental again. I'll catch on dave, or buy the dvd!
Note: it was a babe race 2000 cover, and she refused to have it in the house. I refused to have an incomplete collection, and left.
SBT
It'll be on 4OD or it's repeated on E4 today
http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/sqp4z/derren-brown-apocalypse--26102012 (http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/sqp4z/derren-brown-apocalypse--26102012)
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 29 October, 2012, 07:54:21 AM
Note: it was a babe race 2000 cover, and she refused to have it in the house. I refused to have an incomplete collection, and left.
You chose Babe Race 2000 over your girlfriend? I think we've finally found "when fandom goes too far..."
No, i was completely right. Babe race 2km however bad it was, turned out to be a damn site more important in the long run than she did.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 29 October, 2012, 07:54:21 AM
Note: it was a babe race 2000 cover, and she refused to have it in the house. I refused to have an incomplete collection, and left.
Attention Tharg: for some reason this man doesn't have a KTT - this should be corrected. Right when so many of us were giving up thrillpower to pursue the opposite sex, SBT was (as is his wont) doing the exact opposite.
Ha! Id never thought of it that way- but yes, i never was interested in girls who wouldnt indulge the comics and horror stuff, and she's not the only one i chucked because of it. Mind you, it sometimes worked the other way- so id by no means say it was the perfect idea, and teenage me lost a lot of snot over one or two of them. Once i hit my twenties i knew what i wanted, and never once compromised. This led to my wife, after a number of good years testing the water. The one in question was a promising biker chick... and is still a mate even now- but tharg's delicious organ always tasted better and provided more thrills than she ever did.
SBT
It's as real as any other hypnosis show: If those people on stage genuinely thought some of those things were going on, they would head for the door with fright (I did actually see a show when someone stood up and left the room - he was actually going to the toilet, and came back to resume his hypnotic trance back in his seat). It seems to me, with the right people, it just makes them very good performers, exceptional even. the fact that no-one ever seems to giggle or give up makes it fascinating. I saw Svengali live and a guy sitting a few feet from me became posessed by the mechanical doll. It's something between real and acting.
I actually found the protagonist very convincing here, but yes, the audience is being misdirected also. Similarly, I found the plane landing episode rather scripted, in the sense that the 'victim' would have acted just the same in landing the plane, ie exactly as he was told, without being made to stroke a crocodile first. Similarly here, I sense the whole self-improvement theme is tagged on to make a practical joke seem like an social experiment. My personal favourite is still Seance, which naturally had a good point to make, and was hugely creepy and entertaining without any famcy editing tricks.
The episode which really made me wonder what the whole story is when someone was introduced to some escapology skills, then submitted to being put in a bag and dropped into a river. Whether it would succeed or not, exactly how does one get permission from the channel to do that on TV?
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 29 October, 2012, 12:34:06 PM
The one in question was a promising biker chick... and is still a mate even now- but tharg's delicious organ always tasted better and provided more thrills than she ever did.
¡Ay, caramba! That's one way to earn the KTT. I'll post that clip where Derren Broon talks about exactly what happens when folk are under hypnosis again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aSw_jrxufB8#t=38s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aSw_jrxufB8#t=38s)
Well, having just watched it, i'd say there was no 'obvious acting' or 'set-up' and the more outrageous criticisms- including those by my ex- predictably dont hold water. Brilliant, fabulously entertaining tv, which is all that matters. There would be very little point in 'faking' this- what would it acheive? We've all seen derren do amazing things before and there was no pressing need for him to 'end the world' for us to believe he's one of the seven wonders of the modern world. I dont care, to be honest, how he did it (other than, if by hypnosis, i want to be able to do it) i just appreciate a fantastic bit of telly that im happy to buy into for the duration.
I take it the next one is next, what- saturday or sunday? I'll be there.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing on 29 October, 2012, 10:27:03 PM
I take it the next one is next, what- saturday or sunday? I'll be there.
SBT
Fri night at 9pm- just before new 'Walking Dead'. Ahhh...Fridays.