Monday, October 08, 2012
Watch how Jim Henson made David Bowie spin crystal balls on the set of Labyrinth
io9.com: For the fantasy cult classic Labyrinth, David Bowie played Jareth, the codpiece-sporting Goblin King. And throughout the film, Jareth is constantly twirling crystal balls just to show off how flamboyantly magical he is.
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17 comments:
I'm always curious to see film tricks from this era. At this point, it's obvious that it is not Bowie's arm spinning the cristal balls, but I really hadn't questioned it before. For someone to see this for the first time today, there would be no doubt. It's less and less easy to accept "film magic." It's great to see some of the behind the scenes footage and see the man that was actually doing the spinning. It's great for him to get some recognition for his work, even though it is not current.
I am super pissed at David Bowie. When I was growing up I thought that it was so cool that he could do that ball spinning trick. I practice for an entire afternoon with three tennis balls. But that is all lies! He could not! There was someone else’s arm doing it? What? Are you going to tell me that Hoggle is not real either. This completely takes 3 years of my live away. I am shocked. Curse you Jim Henson. You made me believe. (wimper)
It is a little disappointing that David Bowie wasn't the one actually doing the juggling trick, although really it shouldn't be very surprising. It's more common than not that stunt people do tricks and action shots in movies, not the actual celebrities. It is pretty cool to see how they did it before all the technology that we have today. If someone were to do such a trick in a movie in production at this point it would most likely be computer generated.
The skill Michael Moschen, the juggler, has is quite impressive. The ability to manipulate the balls with such accuracy and smoothness is quite astounding. Then to be able to do those same techniques completely blind is also very very impressive. So they fooled us with some clever camera shots and Jim Henson's constant creativity.
Gahhhh! If only I could spend large amounts of time under David Bowie's arm pit in order to make him look cool! This is a hilarious video and a interesting look at effects that were done before CGI. I love when movies don't/ or can't (in this case) jump to completely animated effects because then the magic is so much more real. That is why I love the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" there are multiple effects that you see in that movie that were all done with camera and prop/set tricks.
IT'S THE ILLUSION OF MAGIC AND FILM-MAKING DALE!!! DON'T ATTEMPT TO TARNISH DAVID BOWIE'S REPUTATION OF AWESOME!!
I've always wondered how this was done. (Sorry Dale, as much as I love David Bowie I was 90% sure he wasn't actually able to do this). I've glad that there was a clip that shows how this effect was created. I really would like to see more videos on how Jim Henson created his special effects. I'm constantly amazed by that man.
I've always wondered how this was done. (Sorry Dale, as much as I love David Bowie I was 90% sure he wasn't actually able to do this). I've glad that there was a clip that shows how this effect was created. I really would like to see more videos on how Jim Henson created his special effects. I'm constantly amazed by that man.
This just goes to show that film actors can be made to look amazing, but not really be that good, according to my peers. Maybe there is more skill in live performance. Although that might have been stated, it is interesting to see how a stuntman essentially became part of another individual at the time of filming. Much patience would have been needed in all the parties involved. Its crazy to see how one skill could make a character so defined and be a part of another person. Also, the leg warmers, pretty leg warmer awesome.
Really? An article and video about balls and David Bowie wearing that costume and the title to the post is "Watch how Jim Henson made David Bowie spin crystal balls on the set of Labyrinth?"
I liked this article better on Topless Robot when it was called "The Incredible Secret of David Bowie's Balls."
Just sayin.
I'm with Dale!!! I love that movie, and I was a lot happier not knowing. That being said, I think it's an awesome special effect. I've never noticed it when watching the film (which I have seen far too many times), but now that I know how the trick was done, it's completely obvious. Given the number of times Jareth does the trick in the movie, I can't imagine how long it must have taken to film. It must have been great exposure for the juggler, though.
This is the coolest thing ever. I remember watching this movie as a child and being absolutely fascinated with the juggling, specifically. My mom remembers it fondly as the time in our lives in which I broke 6 eggs a week trying to copy David Bowie. Even to this day I am always excited to see crafty and clever tricks in our industry to fool the eye into believing something else. I worry that an extensive use of CGI in modern movies will be the cause of disappearance for skilled craftsman with the talent to manipulate the physical beings before your eyes.
I find it so cool that this is how those tricks were made. I love how filmmakers use their resources to achieve what they want in their films without taking away from the actor or the movie while enhancing their films to how they want it to look. I also like how they worked with the camera angles to achieve their goal of making it look as real as possible. What is great about this too is that it was made during a time where computer technology wasn't as enhanced as it is now so they had to use the right camera angles to film this trick instead of just making computer graphics of it. I love this and i think it is so interesting to see how these tricks were done in the movie.
Aside from Mr. Bowie's overstuffed hot-pants (always has been my favorite part of Labyrinth), the most entertaining aspect of this video are the simple cut-away tricks they employ to hide Mr. Magic. That Mr. Henson would be particularly adept at such techniques is unsurprising, having spent much his career with his own hand up a puppet. The whole practice brings into question for me how we treat illusion in our culture, and how we've gone so far in our production techniques to "hide the strings," computer generated environments in movies, I think, being the ultimate, and most inelegant, iteration. Seeing Mr. Magic so cleverly concealed as Mr. Bowie's right hand immediately conjures the practice of Bunraku in Japan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV938f46Wpg) where the master puppeteer, one of three, controls just the right arm and head of a puppet. Through decades of practice and tradition, Bunraku puppeteers capture an essence of human gesture in their puppets that makes one question the distinction life and imitation of life. And they do it all with no strings, and within full view of the audience. I'd like to see "Transformers: The Movie" upstage that.
It's an interesting point Tiff made about the audience being shocked or disappointed that it isn't actually David Bowie doing the spinning. Everyone knows that in film there are so few special effects actually done by the actors themselves. It's either stunt men, digital effects, or splicing in a very precise matter, so we shouldn't really be surprised. I appreciate the clean execution of the special effect, but it's refreshing when you hear about actors actually performing the stunts themselves. Hopefully, with the progression of technology, we won't completely loose the personal touch of actors performing such effects themselves.
its definitly interesting to revisit the old days of camera tricks and angles to pull off special effects. the crystal ball mainpulation is a classic illusion that i still struggle with and cant help but feel bad for michael to have to try and do it blind as he does. page does have a point though, there is an argument about whether or not stuntmen and actual stunts are going to be killed off by technology and digital effects which i feel strongly against
This is great, a perfect example of the behind-the-scenes strains and effort people put in for the sake of the final product. As technicians, we have to go through sometimes completely ridiculous tasks to create what many people call theatre, or movie, magic. I think any technician would agree with me. And, in my opinion, having a trick like this juggling hand that’s not actually David Bowie’s hand mystify you, then learning the trick later, that is more impressive than David Bowie actually juggling!! Now it isn't just a fun circus trick, it’s a much more thought-out action that was so well-executed that no one noticed it wasn’t his hand. This should excite people more than it disappoints them! But I can understand non-technicians and people uninvolved in the theatre and film scene to be upset.
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