Sunday, November 18, 2012
Epic lightning battle powered by old school Tesla coils
DVICE: Special effects in movies have allowed us to see X-Men emit lasers from their eyes and Iron Man shoot repulsor blasts from his hands, but nothing beats seeing that kind of magic in-person. So it was a special treat when at a recent event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, two men did battle shooting what appeared to be lighting bolts from their hands.
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There are many places that bring what we see in movies and read in books to life - Harry Potter World, Disneyland, and Universal Studios being just a few. But a disconnected performance on the street life this has its own special kind of magic. Instead of being immersed in a world full of make believe, where you know it isn't real but you're surrounded by the fantasy, it seems all the more real when you're surrounded by everyday people and places and seeing something completely out of this world. That seems like the best kind of magic of all. The New Zealand lighting designer who came up with this incredible idea deserves immense praise for accomplishing something so beautiful and majestic.
I feel like a small child, seeing some new toy I can't have. I want nothing more then to play with this. It looks like it works much like those little glass balls with tesla coils, where if you touch any part of the glass all the electricity focuses on that point but is otherwise uncontrolled. I hope this is the just the first step in this technology. The electricity seemed to just kind of flow from them, which is super cool, but it would be much cooler if you could control where it was coming from and where it was going. The part where they had the staffs came pretty close but there was still a lot of random output.
Maybe it's just cause I'm a boy but lightning has ALWAYS been cool. And ever since characters like Emperor Palpatine, Raiden from Mortal Kombat, and the SAME CHARACTER from Big Trouble in Little China [yeah, what?] I've wanted to be able to shoot lightning from my freakin' fingertips. That these guys have put together a show [albeit, a fairly simple and single-themed one] where two guys DO THAT is still pretty awesome. But the real story here, I think, is what might come next. More than just two guys [I'm going out on a limb and assuming these two are men...] shooting lightning at each other I wonder how modifications would be needed to use this in something with some more substance...
I've seen this video before and I find this type of art the most impressive and breathtaking. As Present mentioned, there is something about this type of art outside the world of themed environments. At Universal Studios and Disney Parks around the world, there are shows that so similar life like stunts and specatulars (i.e., Waterworld at Universal, Indiana Stunt Specatular at Walt Disney World Resort) however this brings a whole different factor to the world of this type of entertainment. I have always been a fan of everyday street art or events like flashmobs because of the intense reality they take on by being within the world we assume normal. I want more of this extreme street art to become more popular. Not only does it expose people to the world of performance and theater, it literally opens up a world of possibilities. I cannot wait for a day when a company opens that simply does things like this. I know of the company, Inprov Everywhere based in NY does things similair however they do not have the budget to make more extreme artistic choices. I want to be able to see things like this far more often.
It is really cool to see how people are bringing all of special effects that seem to be only possible in movies into a reality. Especially, as one of Marvel movie fan, I always enjoyed watching lasers emitted from heroes and now, watching this Youtube video with real people doing the same thing, I was very surprised and intringued. I was amazed by how much a person can develop technology through finding special, unique materials that fit such as Tesla coils which I have no idea what that is. I think it is just so cool how the lighting bolt is not just one line, but various lines with various thickness that makes it look more fierce and powerful. Also, I think the electrician Carlos Van Camp really put a lot of details and efforts by looking the speical suits that was specifically made for this lighting bolts. I wish that this awesome technique can be improved more safely, so it can be turned into a toy where it will bring a lot of fantasy-like, magical experience to many people.
Am I the only one who's first thought was the fight scene in Ghostbusters? Being able to see something like this live is pretty cool, since most effects like this are special effects or computer generated. I also find the suits these people wear very interesting. They were described as being "made of small connected metal links." So basically two people wearing chain mail play with electricity? Sounds pretty cool to me.
At this point we are so used to seeing special effects in movies that we don't think twice about it. Seeing a video of this live event is really cool, but I can only imagine how it must have been to see it live. It looks like a truly impressive spectacle. The technology is impressive especially considering how dangerous it was. I would have loved to see it live, or even better see kids watch it. It must have been very magical for children to see effects that they are used to in TV and movies in a live setting (although its a little scary). I'd be interested to see future applications of this technology that are perhaps a little more inventive and creative.
This was really quite amazing and I love that they call themselves "The Lords of Lighting!" I'm still not even sure how this is all done, but that protective suit is very impressive also. Well done Carlos Van Camp, that was truly entertaining. I wonder what the next step is. I also wonder what the process was for achieving the final product, if anyone was every injured or not. I would love to see this live though and Jess I thought of Dragon ballZ when I first saw it!!
I remember going to science museums and being able to touch a tesla coil and have my hair stand up. Turning the technology into a dueling battle show makes me wander where it will go next. Maybe a full blown theatrical performance? Talk about making sure every one has the safety suit on! I definitely agree with Jess, this is so Ghostbusters! The entire systems seems very complex to be scaled down any time soon, but if you combine all the movies with electricity shooting, someone is going to want this at a smaller scale to use.
This is pretty epic. As to how it's done, I feel like the suits involve the faraday effect, or something similar, to redirect the electricity around the person without killing them. I wonder if something like this would be a cheaper or easier way to do certain special effects, rather than through CGI. If nothing else, we now know what an actual battle between two people wielding lightning in their hands would look like.
This video is so fun to watch. Because I am not seeing it firsthand it is almost hard to believe that it is real and it even looks a bit fake at times. It is very entertaining that they call themselves Lords of Lighting. I wish that it had talked a bit more about the mechanics behind this performance. I am particularly interested about the suits that they wear and how they work.
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Watching this video really makes me want to do this! im fascinated by electricity and as a kid i always wanted to have super powers, which is what this video makes it seem like,real super powers. if they could make the suits that protect the people into real looking clothes you could use this technology in numerous ways to create numerous effects!
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