Boing Boing: The stunned crowd quickly forgets about the performance and watches the ascending actor in awe and horror. A crane malfunction caused this, which must have been quite terrifying for the actor. It looks as if he was never going to stop — or perhaps not until he reached the Artemis crew.
12 comments:
This is one of the most insane fails I’ve ever seen in my life oh my god, especially because it involves flying a PERSON. I didn’t even know flying people via crane in outdoor performances was an option. The video is integral for understanding the context of the article. Jesus is Risen to the most literal extreme. Flying for that long at that high of a height cannot have been good for the actor who played Jesus’s legs or blood circulation. Props to the actor for not massively freaking out and flailing all over the place, which is probably absolutely what I would have done. I need to wonder if this was an automation issue (unlikely because it was a CRANE), or human error. If it was human error, how??? Did the crane operator have an insane grudge? The performance didn’t seem to halt at all after Jesus was lifted into the sky like a true Son.
This is a pretty scary automation(?) failure. (Surely it must be an automation failure because otherwise it must have either been a failure of the crane’s controls which seems unlikely or operator error which also seems unlikely.) I would love to know what specifically went wrong here and I’m sure that whatever production company was responsible for this show would love to as well. The actor did a great job of taking the whole thing in stride, at least from what is visible in the video (he becomes so small eventually that it’s not really possible to tell what’s happening). I’m very glad to hear that he’s okay. The article pokes fun at this a bit but to experience this specific malfunction must have been abjectly terrifying. I really hope that they figure out whatever happened here and install safety measures to keep it from happening in future. Admittedly the video of this event is really funny. He just keeps on ascending.
While this is a terrible thing to actually happen, and the story would have been much different if the actor had been seriously injured or killed by this malfunction, I think we can all agree that of all shows for this to happen, this is probably the funniest possible option. It feels like a joke that would be in the simpsons, not a real life event. That being said, I really wonder where the crane that was picking him up from is located, and why something like this would be fully automated without some sort of e stop that a crew member could hit when it became obvious that Jesus was rising just a little bit too high. I also wonder what eventually stopped him, because running into the head of a crane does not sound like a great time. All in all, I’m happy that this actor made it out unscathed, according to this article, so we can all chuckle a little at this dramaturgically backed automation fail.
Hey, so this is actually not funny. This is really terrifying. I cannot imagine being that poor actor who has no idea what’s going on. I wonder if this was automated or human-run? Based on the video, I can make a guess that it’s an automation issue, which really just makes this a lot scarier. Where’s the Emergency stop? Where is a smidgen of a concept of safety for the actor? I’m glad he took it as well as he did, because if he’d panicked then the audience would’ve panicked and we would have had a different article on our hands: “freak easter accident leaves actors and audience in a frenzy when crane malfunctions.” But if I am being completely honest from a non-safety standpoint, this is one of the funniest things I've seen all day. He just keeps... going up? and doesn't stop??? it's pretty hilarious if you ask me.
This is a masterclass on why communication is so important when you are flying actors into the air! I originally saw the video a few weeks ago and thought it was faked, but clearly it wasn’t. You should never think its safe to fly an actor, who made it very clear they are scared of heights, more than the predetermined height. It doesn’t matter if you think they are having fun, nor if they are trying to face their fears, you just don’t. I am quite surprised no one stepped in, and it took 10 minutes for him to finally come down. This is why we have headsets, or even handheld radios, in order to prevent things like this happening, and so someone can get on the channel and be like “hey stop.” This is also why you have a safety talk with your team, so everyone understands the automation elements.
This was such an interesting story to read about. I think the whole situation is incredibly ironic, for what was written into the title was absolutely really quite funny. But the whole thing is also incredibly scary. It at first seemed so purposeful that the person was supposed to fly as far as he did but. It really was just an honest mistake. But I think personally I think there was definitely more at play here. Whats crazy is that this was on a crane. Not some sort of automated system, this was human controlled and not automated. How someone could make such a mistake is just so crazy to me which is what makes communication in these types of situations so important. Especially when aspects like live performers and flight are in the same sentence. I thought this whole article was definetly a lesson on proper communication in entertainment, and the potential consquences of no proper communication
I think this was looking really good for a little bit until it didn’t stop. I question many things, for starters, I had no idea cranes were used to lift people in the air like that. I'm assuming this stunt passed safety inspections and it has been done before, because I feel like using something like a crane to lift someone is too risky. But also, why is someone not monitoring this in case they have to manually override the crane? There’s no way someone was operating this and kept going, so it must have been an automation malfunction. If I were the actor, I would never trust something like this again, that is just traumatizing. I do hope the stage crew behind this stunt have faced some kind of punishment, I just don’t get how you let this happen. At least now there is a prime example of what could go wrong using a crane to lift someone.
I feel EXTREMELY conflicted reading this article and watching the video. First of all, I need to say that I am glad, from what I’ve heard, the actor is safe. If I were the actor, I would have been HORRIFIED and I likely would have panicked, so I have to give him major props for not visibly freaking out. Now, I have to ask, what was going on with that crane and crew? If you are any technician worth your salt you know safety always comes first, so it truly makes me wonder how the situation got this unsafe this quickly. Was it being handled manually and the technician fell asleep on the job or was it automated and the coding/machinery malfunctioned or was it a mix of both? Either way, this is not something that should be allowed to happen and people should be more vigilant to prevent these things from happening. That being said…I would be lying if I said I didn’t laugh seeing the video for the first time. It is hilarious to watch removed from the reality of the situation and how unsafe it is.
This whole situation is pretty frightening, the actor must've been really terrified in that moment, on stage flying is already stressful so the fact that something went wrong must've been terrifying in that moment, if i was him i would never be rigged to fly again, im glad he survived tho this story would've had a completely different tone if he did( also im confused on why this particular crane was the best way to fly him, there had to have been another option). The context of this story is hilarious though and it wasn't something I was expecting to read. I can't imagine just standing on the sidewalk and seeing someone dressed as Jesus flying through the air. It would've been something I wouldn't stop talking about for sure. this article does have me wondering what are the rules for flying people internationally, is every country strict about it or are some places lax about it until something like this happens and they enforce some regulations
I do not agree with the amount of joy and excitement that was put into the writing of this article. I understand finding the video and the event to be somewhat amusing due to the visual that is created by having a Jesus character literally ascending into the heavens. Regardless this is an extremely terrifying mistake that could have gone so incredibly wrong once you consider that this amount of movement was not planned for in the design of this theatrical moment. I bet people and in particular the writer of this article would have a much different tone if the actor would have fallen and gotten extremely injured or worse. Alternatively what if the actor would have suffered a heart attack or something similar due to the shock of being lifted so much higher than the were expecting or prepared for. As a TD this is a heart wrenching scene to watch and learn about, and I am so relived that nothing went wrong and that the actor was ok, and I hope that this event will not stop the actor for trusting stage crew and other tech people on production they may be a part of in the future.
This is so funny. It probably would've been terrifying to experience, not knowing if/when you'd ever stop. Luckily, it sounds like he got back down just fine. Honestly I think it's funny that they even did this in the first place. Like I see what they were going for with the whole ascension thing, but also doing this as a performance in church is really funny. I don't think it's necessary but some people like to see that I guess. I really wonder what actually malfunctioned to cause this to happen. And was it the operator that chose to swing the crane away from the stage in hopes that he'd be out of sight of the audience? I feel like it's even more distracting because people are going to be looking either way. I wonder how long he was stuck up there. I also wonder how high he was initially supposed to go and if he was supposed to come back down in the audience's view?
A video came up on my TikTok for you page, and I genuinely thought that it was an April Fools' Day prank or fake or staged somehow… I had no idea that this was an actual malfunction that happened during a real show, it's so funny to me how mistakes like these can happen yet they're so serious at the same time. The video popped up and all of the comments were laughing at the guy suspended high in the air unwillingly, but nobody was mentioning the dangers that that could have brought. I saw another point of view from someone who knew the guy suspended, and he was horrified of heights. I think this just shows how serious it is to take all safety seriously and even though the videos were funny, it wasn't a funny situation to be in and wouldn't be funny to you if you were hanging too high in the middle of the show without having a way down. Also, I think this in general just shows crews just need to be more careful and watchful cause mistakes can happen and we need to be quick on our feet in fixing it.
Post a Comment