Effect: The magician raises his arms up by his sides
and slowly appears to rise a few inches off the ground for a little while
before returning to earth quickly.
Balducci Method: The
Balducci method involves positioning your audience about 8 to 10 feet away at a
45 degree angle .You need to keep your audience small so they are within this
field of sight.
This is a very restrictive angle trick and it
is essential that the angles are practiced, preferably with a friend or in
front of a mirror.
The Balducci levitation involves pretending
to float off the ground by going on to your tip toes on just one foot ( the one
furthest from their view ) while the nearest foot is raised a little off the
ground.
This looks fantastic as the foot on your tip
toe is hidden by your trousers, the nearest foot and the angle they are
watching at. You only rise a few inches off the ground but the impression is
fantastic. This trick is all in the presentation with you appearing to rise
slowly, wait for a second or two and then return to the ground quickly so as
the audience do not have time to figure the trick out.
The picture here shows the beginning on the
left and the climax of the trick on the right .
David Blaine Version : David
Blaine used various camera shots in his TV special with the audience reaction
being filmed close up and linked to other clips of him in mid air with some of
the angles showing the Balducci levitation .
The view that shows him rise a good few
inches in the air and does not show the audience, would possibly have been done
with a bar attached to a pivot like a seesaw.
The end of the pivot could have had a hook
which clipped onto a harness attached to his belt and a member of the crew
would have pushed down on the other side of the bar lifting David up in the
air. The camera angle would have hidden the props.
This film would have been mixed in with the
audience clips in the studios later.
