Waking Dead - Derren Brown

[MatJimMood]

This was on British TV a few weeks ago - some of you probably saw it.

Derren Brown is a well known entertainer who does all sorts of mind control experiments.

This one involved creating a computer game that put the player into a comatose state.

The game was a zombie shoot em up and was set up in a pub.

Some guy comes along, starts playing and becomes hypnotised.

He is then moved into a building down the road. The interior of this building has been exactly replicated in the game. So basically this guy suddenly finds himself in the game he is playing with a (fake) gun in his hand.

See what happens.

http://www.kontrabandcontent.co.uk/1...l_zombies1.wmv

I wonder if the kinds of techniques that he uses to hypnotise the player could be used in films to manipulate a audience. They probably are to some level but it would be interesting to see if they could be taken to these sorts of extremes.

[eddie123456789]

thanks for the link, I missed it when it was on the TV.

Its hard to seperate your perception of what is actually happening with Derren Brown, but if this is to be beleived, I think an important aspect might be that Derren is manipulating the game as it is played and hypnotising the lad - so customising the game to the player.
Hypnotism has many levels and Im certain that watching a film puts you into one of them.
Adverts and product placements, promotions...we are surrounded by images and logo's. That is just one form that film can affect our delicate and sophisticated brains, that are endlessly awash with floods of suggestion coming from all angles.

I suspect film is limited in what it can do to you, other than breifly make you feel good (or bad, or flinch, or cringe or...)

I *always* find watching David Cronenburgs and most David Lynch films an odd experience, but I dont know if thats the subject matter or the way its made/edited/shot....

Of all the films Ive ever seen only one of them made me physically run to the toilet and retch. (not A cronenburg film... actually a low budget and quite poor 'Shallow Grave' rip off I saw at a festival)

So thats one physical response from the flickering medium.
But only one.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 13, 2005 11:56 AM: Message edited by: eddie123456789 ]</font>

[richard.fisher]

I suspect that that was all staged.

If he had asked for a volunteer, and got consent, then he could pretty much have done what he liked, but I would imagine there are a whole heap of laws against kidnapping people and fucking with their minds.

Secondly - if that were not staged - he has the worst friends in the world. If I were in the pub, and was hypnotised, and a man dressed in black came to carry me away I would hope my friends would kill, orat the very least hideously mame the bastard.

[twister!]

My thought was that there was probably a sign on the door of the pub saying that Derren Brown was conducting an experiment of some kind inside and that you entered at your own risk etc etc

[MatJimMood]

Secondly - if that were not staged - he has the worst friends in the world.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, at first i thought that but then i realised that they were looking at the computer screen too. Odds are the same effects that hypnotised the player would have effected them but to a lesser extent. They did seem fairly confused and vacant.

I would be very surprised if it was completely staged seeing as Derren Brown uses a lot of his experiments to expose con artists and show how basic human nature can be manipulated.

[twister!]

I don't think it would have been staged at all other than possibly warning people before entering. That stunt is very simple compared to the usual things he does it's just on a much bigger scale.

[miker]

And Uri Geller bends spoons.

[TJ_the_director]

I'd suggest viewing Penn & Teller's cable series "Bull Shit" if one thinks hyponizing people can be done. [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]

[twister!]

DOUBLE POST

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 15, 2005 04:23 AM: Message edited by: Justin M. ]</font>

[twister!]

[quote]Originally posted by Justin M.:

Originally posted by TJ_the_director:
[qb]I'd suggest viewing Penn & Teller's cable series "Bull Shit" if one thinks hyponizing people can be done. [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]eek.gif[/img] [img]confused.gif[/img]

Penn & Teller may well do a trick involving hypnotism but how does that mean that hypnotism can not be done... It's been practised for a long long time and was one of Freud, Jung et als main tools... were they bullshitters?

It's probably not the best idea to get one's science lessons from a couple of comic magicians.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 15, 2005 04:23 AM: Message edited by: Justin M. ]</font>