How To Vanish A Book

[Toby]

Hey guys,

I have a weird request that I cannot refuse (for personal reasons). I am asked to be in a video, where a woman will be holding a book and it needs to vanish from her hands. The thing is, I don't have a pully or a topit or anything of that sort, and I cannot use one. So practically, what would be a good way to vanish a book from spectators hands with pretty much sleight of hand? The woman and the camera guy can be in on it, it is only supposed to look good in the video.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

What's the entire situation that this needs to pass for? This seems like an odd situation.

Will there be anyone other than the camera man and the woman? Any form of audience. Do you have to use only the camera man and the woman? Can you just use editing?

Off the top of my head, I would basically just frame the shot so the book can be dropped at the opportune moment.

 

[Toby]

What's the entire situation that this needs to pass for? This seems like an odd situation.

Will there be anyone other than the camera man and the woman? Any form of audience. Do you have to use only the camera man and the woman? Can you just use editing?

Off the top of my head, I would basically just frame the shot so the book can be dropped at the opportune moment.

It's a propaganda video, it will be aired on TV. Something about books being useless etc. I'm not really sure of the point. But yes, it's only me, the woman, and the camera guy. No one else, no audience, just for the video.
I was thinking about the same solution, just to drop the book at the right time, but she said it has to be "magic", not video editing or camera tricks.

 

[Simon_Magic]

Use camera tricks. It's the easiest way to do it. Just have the book there, stop record, take it away and start record again. That's the only way I can think of doing it.

Simon_Magic

 

[ZachMueller]

There a few ways I could think of, the first being vanishing the book from under a silk - not to tip the method, but similar to how dove cages are often vanished from beneath a silk. Might get you in the right direction.

Anyone else have any interesting techniques for book vanishing?

Also Simon_Magic, that sounds like a technique that may have passed in the George Melies days, but if they hired a magician, chances are they had already thought of video editing techniques. Just a thought

 

[Colin]

what kind of book is it? If it is one with a dust jacket you could remove the actual book from the jacket and put the jacket on an empty paper shell to give it the proper depth, this would allow you to drop the book into a bag that could then be crumpled up to prove it had vanished. similar to a vanishing ketchup or pop bottle idea.

same thing could be done with a soft-cover book it would just be more work to remove the pages (you would end up destroying the book as well)

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I was going to go with the route Colin is saying.

Make a 'shell' of the book and crumple that and toss it.

This video seems odd.

 

[slicksleights]

It's a propaganda video, it will be aired on TV. Something about books being useless etc.

Hope that doesn't include magic books?

 

[Deechristopher]

You could always wrap the book in newspaper and use the gimmickless 'bottle through table' style method, just crumpling up the book, rather than passing it through something.

 

[TylerRouss]

How big does the book have to be? If you really wanted to you could do sort of an over extended Tenkai Pinch Palm using your forearm as the rest of the cover. So long as you keep it horizontal it should be totally covered.

Or if you wanted to show clean hands, you could work with holding the book inbetween your chest and your forearm, tilting your body to the side, using the forearm as cover for the book. No clue how you'd get into that position though.

I would also recommend explaining to your "director" that the use of the framing of a camera as a means of vanishing objects is not a camera trick, as it is simply making use of visible space. The same thing can and is done in person, with all forms and variations of lapping. So just dropping the book is perfectly "magical" insomuch as it is valid as a magical technique.

Edit: I'm really trying to figure out what on earth kind of situation you have your hands on here, and I really can't lol. What a bizarre set of requirements.

 

[morrispooremagic]

Have you give black art any thought?

 

[Toby]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. Some excellent ideas. To be completely honest, I have no idea what this video is supposed to be about or why. And I don't really care. I got one task: "Vanish a book from the spectators hands". I don't think there is a requirement for the size or the type of the book, so I guess my hands are free there. I like the "shell" idea, or wrapping it in newspaper. Also black art sounds pretty good too, I just don't have much experience in it.

 

[anadai_magic]

So... I'm late... but either way.. it's fun to think about... What I would probably do is crush the book into paper... like, copy the book's dimensions into a piece of paper... do some arts and craft and make it 3D, get a colored copy of the front cover and put magnetic lining behind the cover, then put a magnet in a thumb tip, get the lady to hold onto the piece of paper (which looks like the book, don't forget to make the front facing side look like the book cover) and take the book cover and place it in front of the paper... now you can knock the front cover, get a silk, use the thumb tip magnet to ditch the cover, and ask the lady to apply pressure... then BOOM! MAGIC!