Blaine used a well-known magic technique to levitate up off of the ground. The technique allows a performer to lift off of the ground about three inches.
But what you don’t realize at home when you’re watching on TV is that Blaine intercut a shot of himself hanging from a crane, which made it appear that he was levitating some two or more feet off of the ground. The crowd’s reactions were real, but what they saw was Blaine lifting up a few inches, not two feet. The illusion was nothing more than a camera trick.
While the trick played well on television, Blaine made it hard for other magicians who have long performed the traditional levitation. Now when a magician performs the levitation, crowds will often ask why the performer can’t lift up two feet like that Blaine guy.
Another problem, when a performer uses such camera tricks on television, it casts a pall on everything else that the entertainer demonstrates, even if the tricks can be performed live. After all, if a performer is relying on a camera trick for one effect, what’s to keep him from using the camera again on another impossible-looking, beyond-explanation stunt?
The point is, Blaine himself couldn’t lift up that high in a real world situation. And now you know the secret behind the amazing levitaton.
