3 Spectators Teleport Over the Singapore River in 2.5 seconds!

Well, I haven’t blogged for several days because I was preparing for the mega illusion that, as you know by now, was a fantastic success! Over 5000 turned up to witness the illusion and it was covered by multiple news outlets including Channel News Asia, Ch5 news, Ch8 news, Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao! Check out the picture that was in today’s Lianhe Zaobao and Lianhe Wanbao.

Watch the news report on Ch8 here

I spent the few days before that overseeing the fabrication of the props, designing music, writing the technical cue sheet, writing scripts, planning for every conceivable contingency and doing my best to keep the client updated.

I can assure you this is the most complex and technically demanding we have ever done and that has ever been staged in Singapore. Technical costs of staging the mega illusion alone cost $60,000. From the staging, lighting, audio, pyrotechnics, video camera work, event usage, licensing, manpower, security, event branding and illusion apparatus, this was a monumental illusion that was supposed to last just 2.5 seconds!

For the magic technical aspects of the illusion, suffice to say, this one-off mega illusion is extremely complex with multiple points of failure. More than 15 magic principles and concepts were applied to create this single illusion. Due to the nature of the illusion, this was never rehearsed at all even once.

Ning did a fantastic job holding her own! Ch8’s report on the mega illusion noted correctly that she is Singapore’s only professional female magician and now the first female magician in this part of the world to present a mega illusion. The sheer scale of “The Impossible Journey” required two of us to present it. And Ning was critical in ensuring the participants reappeared safely at Read Bridge. It was precision teamwork between us as well as our entire team that ensured we kept to the touted 2.5 second mark – which we did. I’m really proud of her considering how far she has come in such a short time. Just two months ago, she was risking her life under “The Impalement Cage”.

Check out some of the photos from the night before of the mega illusion. We were on site till 4am setting up, designing lights, and blocking through the illusion.

View of the destination platform on Read Bridge from the Singapore River bank

Close-up view of the Destination Platform @ Read Bridge where the 3 teleportees reappear on.

A look at the lighting, audio montor and pyro control set-up @ Read Bridge

Set-up of 3 teleportation platforms @ Central river promenade

Some event decorations and branding @ Central river promenade

The nature of this type of illusion also means we violate one principle in magic; and that is to never tell the audience what you are going to do. This is so that the magician has an element of surprise and can use this as a tool in his/ her magical method. In this case, with all our mega magic projects thus far, we are always telling the audience and media what we are doing before hand. Everyone knows exactly what is supposed to happen so it takes an even more ingenious and sophisticated approach to the illusion to amaze the audience.

On the day of the mega illusion, we were overwhelmed by the turnout. Even our 14-man security team was not enough to hold back the enthusiastic audience. Safety for crew and spectators was most important to us so the event team did all we could to control the crowd.

 

While the illusion effect takes a mere 2.5 seconds, the entire presentation was about 20min long; from the introduction of ourselves, to the introduction of the 3 Central shoppers chosen to be teleported and the illusion itself. The entire mega illusion was supported by our 4-video camera team with live feeds on giant video screens and plasma TVs so that everyone could see what was happening at Central and the Read Bridge. (Thanks to Jason for allowing Ning & I to use some of his photos from his blog, check out more pics at his blog here.)

Moments before the teleportees stepped into the chamber

Seconds later, they are gone!

Nothing under the stage!

I would sincerely like to thank all the fans and well wishers who waited an hour after the mega illusion for autographs and photos. Thanks Darren for the use of your silver marker! We had people bring our Impossible Journey posters, VCDs, “Ultimate Magic” Zo Cards, brochures and even magazine features. We had a blast meeting everyone.

Someone exclaimed that the successful presentation of this mega illusion has cemented us Singapore’s celebrity magic duo. Very flattering but we are just really happy that we are able to create a magical event that captures the imagination of the media and general public. “The Impossible Journey” also adds to our proven track record of high profile magic projects that raised the level of magic in this part of the world to a level never seen before; from my last year’s 50-storey teleportation, Ning’s “The Impalement Cage” mega escape to “Ultimate Magic”, Singapore’s first permanent illusion show. We are already in talks to develop another mega magic project for next year.

From the publicity and business angle, more than 5000 people turned up to witness the mega illusion. No lucky draws or prizes for turning up, just the draw of a mega spectacle that has never been done before. That is a major success in itself. Multiple media outlets covered the event and we have received a significant amount of media coverage over the last few months. Check out the list of media that this project generated (not counting listings and publicity blurbs):

• Lianhe Wanbao, 25 Sep 2008
• “新加坡河大型幻术表演 三人在数千人眼皮下消失” Lianhe Zaobao, 25 Sep 2008
• “幻术师瞬间传送真人 穿新加坡河畔” xin.sg, 24 Sep 2008
• Channel 8 News, 24 Sep 2008 (VIDEO)
• Channel 5 News, 24 Sep 2008
• “Singapore Tonight, Channel NewsAsia, 24 Sep 2008
• “3 people to be teleported across the S’pore river in magic act”,Channel NewsAsia, 23 Sep 2008
• Lianhe Zao Bao’s “ZB Now” (Cover Story), 23 Sep 2008
• “Celebrity spotting”, AsiaOne, 22 Sep 2008
• “60 seconds with J C Sum”, IS Magazine, 19 Sept 2008
• “The Sum of All Illusions” (Cover Story), Current Events Issue 7.1, Sept 2008
• “Stuff I Love” The Sunday Times, 14 Sep 2008
• “Trick with Treats”, The Straits Times LIFE!, 12 Sept 2008
• “The Bag Page”, The Straits Times Urban, 12 Sept 2008
• “Magicians to make 3 spectators teleport across the Singapore River in 2.5 seconds”, Lianhe Wan Bao, 9 Sept 2008
• “Magic Babe can’t make her favourite gadgets magcally appear”, My Paper, 8 Sep 2008
• Hot Stuff Magazine Singapore, Cover Sep 2008 issue
• “Magic Babe will make you disappear in 2.5 seconds”, My Paper, 8 Aug 2008
• “3 weeks of events during F1 race”, The NewPaper, 24 Jun 2008
• “S’pore GP Season festivities will add to Formula 1 buzz”,  My Paper, 24 Jun 2008
• “Two illusionists for F1 event in September; wil teleport across Singapore River in 2/5 seconds”, Lianhe Zaobao, 24 Jun 2008
• “Formula for fun”, TODAY, 24 Jun 2008
• “Lifestyle activities planned for Singapore’s first F1 race”, ChannelNewsAsia, 23 Jun 2008

Our principal client, Central, is elated with the success of the project. They have received tremendous publicity and media over a sustained 2 month period and honestly, their mindshare has increased substantially since the announcement of the mega illusion. STB also sees this mega illusion as a major highlight for their inaugural Singapore River Festival which is part of the F1 GP Season and were wowed!

Arena who supported the event officially by releasing us from our daily permanent show the last 3 days to prepare for the mega illusion have received a great PR push as well. 5000 people saw the official “Ultimate Magic” trailer and our permanent show is always mentioned in our interviews.

The Concept:Magic team has grown more experienced and efficient. New team members have been exposed to a scale of magic they would never experience anywhere else. So, overall, the company has grown stronger with enriched experience and expertise.

If you would like to read about the very start and first announcement of this project, read my entry here.

Over the next few days and weeks, we will be making official photos and videos available real soon!