Greetings children, it's me, Captain Disillusion. Too many plot developments have been happening around here lately
it used to be about the work not feelings. Debunking hoaxes and
solving viral-video mysteries no one else could solve
Like this little gem that's been paying regular visits to my inbox for the past five years.
[Jingle music] Host : "Hi and welcome to this episode of "Can you imagine"...
A segment in a low-budget promotional webseries from the Rochester Institute of Technology features an unusual piece of
architecture. "Here we are in the escherian stairwell.
Located in building seven, one of the first structures put up when RIT made the move from downtown Rochester to suburban, Henrietta.
The stairwell designed by Filipino architect Raphael Nelson
Lagonda was built in 1968
and has been wowing RIT students ever since."  The authenticity of this marvel is then backed up by a bunch of testimonials and
demonstrated in various convincing ways making the impossible seem very clearly possible. But relax
There's nothing paranormal about it. It's just a quirk of design. It's an optical illusion.
Lady : It's just an architectural trick.
It's a totally normal, what are you talking about?
Dude goes up the stairs and comes out from the floor below. Not only is this video fake,
It's not even a video. It's a multi-layered web endeavor that combines narrative filmmaking,
documentary, social media, analytic philosophy and theoretical physics into a creative exploration of how the academic world might respond to the apparent physical
manifestation of a logical contradiction
At least that's what it says in this 81 page master's thesis by Michael Lacanilao, graduate of RIT school of film and animation
sci-fi enthusiast and creator of a modern myth.
It was the dawn of the third year of graduate school
the Escherian stairwell project was a myth given form.
A transmedia art piece wrapped in 52,837 dollars worth
spinning bullshit all alone on the web.
It was a pair of mockumentaries, a network of fake websites and
eventually a massive crowdfunding campaign focused on keeping the myth alive. It failed
I'm sorry to hear that Michael, but trust me
You don't want to take one little project that gave you validation as a young person and milk it for years into a full-time
Crowdfunded career. Before you know it, you're pushing 40 still slathering on stupid silver mak...
I mean spreading rumors about a fake stairwell
You're remarkably skilled as a director and your commentary on your own work is very insightful
"I did not treat the "Can you imagine" episode any differently from any of my other films. I wrote a script,
storyboarded the whole thing and we started rehearsing it like a play"
But you're strangely coy when it comes to revealing the details
"The people in the "Can you imagine" episode are excellent excellent actors."
Yeah, but like
Who are they ? Be more specific just say Kevin Schoonover, acclaimed art photographer and proprietor of flying whale studios
Rosie Han, fellow RIT graduate and talented filmmaker in her own right.
I didn't have time to hound down anyone else
But I think after five years they each deserve an individual credit for their excellent performances.
"I don't really research stairwells that often, I guess"
And in a document detailing all the facts behind the project you stopped short of explaining the actual
filmmaking techniques used to achieve the Escherian stairwell effect because you might want to continue the myth
I'm afraid I can't allow that Michael
deconstructing myths is my mission.
Escherian stairwell related keywords in the metadata of this video are spreading through the internet as I speak and a detailed shot-by-shot
Breakdown of the visual effects will commence
now.
Like all convincing illusions the Escherian stairwell video uses a variety of techniques to keep you guessing
Scattered among the testimonials are six scenes where the impossible is actually shown.
The initial demonstration by the host, two demonstrations with Rosie, two background effects with a boy in a red shirt and the final demonstration
with a visitor named Dwayne.
To visualize the tricks, we'll use the latest in machine assisted 3d virtual environment recreation
technology powered by a natural intelligence engine : my brain.
The first scene is a split screen transition enhanced by a subtle camera move
Performing his monologue, the host walks up the first flight of stairs as the tripod mounted camera tilts up slightly.
The tilt stops before he disappears behind the wall,
taking a specific step during a specific line.
Here, action was paused and the actor then walked down to the landing below while the
cinematographer was careful not to disturb the camera position.
Picking up where they left off the host emerges from behind the wall
delivering the same line and the camera tilts down to frame him
We can tell these were real nodal tilts and not just digital
scrolling up and down a wider image because the slight offset of the cameras sensor on the tripod causes tiny parallax on the handrails
But the tilts probably felt too choreographed in the combined split-screen
so a gentle digital camera shake was added to the final shot and, no,
they didn't use twins because twins don't look and sound exactly like each other and everyone would be able to tell!
The next scene is more complicated. It starts on the floor below the main staging area which I guess is why we don't get to see much of it
Rosie walks up the stairs and the camera follows her handheld
Everything is real until she reaches the last step at which point a carefully choreographed
lateral track reveals the host.
But he wasn't really there. The take was over and he had to walk up the stairs the boring way. At the same time Rosie
Went up to the landing above while a fake imposter stand-in Rosie took over her position.
With everyone in place, the action was resumed. The beauty of this framing is that a blank wall leaves you free to align the host from the second shot
with the camera move from the first and makes it easier to blend the two with a soft wipe.
We can still spot the first frame where it appears and the distance between the host and the exit sign shrinks slightly
But it's pretty seamless ! The camera then whip-pans to catch the back of fake Rosie running down the stay and right on cue
real Rosie emerges from above to finish the scene.
Now, strangely, there is another transition hidden in the whip pan
I can't think of any reason for it other than to bridge two different takes containing the best version of both moves
That throws a little doubt on whether this is a double. Maybe it is real Rosie and this is a transition again ?
But if it is it's completely flawless and there would be no need to hide her face here.
Ideally, you should show it. But then ideally you should also use a plus green gel on a tungsten light when combining with a fluorescent.
Mistakes happen. As in the next shot, the host leaves Rosie on the top half landing and walks down.
At the end, he leans over to catch a glimpse of her on the floor below and that's when a huge flashing
rectangle tries to distract us from something. What is it?
There is this odd frozen matte line on the arm, but to really understand what's going on, we'd have to spend hours
painstakingly restoring the shot frame by frame as accurately as possible and no one is crazy enough to...
Okay, here it is. Much more clear.
A separately filmed take of Rosie waving was composited into the background
But unfortunately in the host's take, his arm ended up blocking the exact spot where her head w as supposed to be when the two shots are lined up.
So her element had to be moved over to make her visible
This caused the jump during the transition and a huge misalignment on the overhead light.
It just wouldn't work. In every effects artists life
there comes a moment when he just gives up and flashes a big video artifact
on top of the problem. But next time in lieu of a plain white rectangle,
may I recommend a professional plugin like Red Giant glitch or Video Copilot's twitch ?
Or my own : snitch !
The next two scenes happen subtly in the background of a testimonial.
This was done simply by filming the interview as a static shot,
then filming the two phases of the red shirt kids action,
compositing them all together and adding a bit of artificial camera shake.
And it's a great time for a Hitchcock style director's cameo
Finally the scene with Dwayne involved many people,
but only an instant of trickery.
The host has a brief exchange with him, then sets off down the stairs and it's in
this moment that the magic happens. With a giddy hop the host covers the entire frame,
transitioning the view behind him to a different take of Dwayne by himself during a similar camera pan.
It was needed because almost immediately the rest of the shot cuts to yet another
take in which Dwayne is already in position on the landing below.
The Artificial Dwayne patch keeps it looking like he's upstairs until it's softly wiped away off-screen.
With the handoff completed, we now follow the host all the way down to real Dwayne who greets him with an exotic
double fist bump the likes of which the host has never seen !
Credit where credit's due : the transitions are awesome.
Making them this invisible takes real skill
If you sat me down and warned me that I'm about to see a trick video
I still wouldn't be able to tell how it was done on first watch
But that's not what you did, is it Michael ?
You wanted the world to believe it was real.
You wanted it to go viral, and it did, in a way you might not have been prepared for.
When the video's popularity exploded,
you filed copyright takedown notices against hundreds of reposts,
enforcing some, releasing others, not because you wanted credit or ad revenue but simply as a mechanism for
controlling the spread of the myth to fit with the rest of your production schedule
When curious fans from all over were expected to mob the annual 'Imagine RIT' Festival,
the event the video was designed to promote in the first place,
you posted misleading signs around the campus to prevent too many people from finding your exhibit.
Those who managed to find it were told the truth and
some of them weren't pleased.
Still all attendees were encouraged to keep the secret to perpetuate the deception, and even now, long after you've left college behind
believers continue to make pilgrimages to the school, seeking the stairwell, only to be casually led to the wrong one by worn-out
disinterested faculty members,
"Charles, do you know about the Escherian staircase?" "All too much"'
forever burdened by the consequences of your big, clever myth !
[Panting]
I guess I'm being a little unfair.
Putting a negative spin on the events that you yourself described in the thesis.
After all,
you widely-publicized the truth almost immediately and the majority of smart
clear-headed commenters seem to, as you put it, get the joke.
But artificial myths aren't biodegradable.
The video doesn't go away. It continues to drift online as an unlabeled artifact in a world
that's currently having just a little bit of trouble with misinformation.
And to some who find it, it's not a joke or a fun puzzle, but ammunition.
If this is real what else could be real ? If it's fake what else is fake?
12 million people can't be wrong. This reminds me of a cool prop blaster
I once built functional but harmless... well, almost.
Turned out that strong healthy people were completely unaffected by its powerful energy rate
but it tended to cause some weaker, less-advantaged folks significant... discomfort.
Now that's not what I was going for, I didn't have any malicious intent, neither did you.
But now even as you post links under the video to interviews discussing the project,
even in response to your own comments explaining that it's all fiction
believers persist.
A Myth is a story.
Shaped by culture over time. It has a moral, a point it tries to communicate,
The notion that a college somewhere in America is home to a physically impossible stairwell is... just a lie.
I think I understand what you were trying to do. I'm just having a hard time figuring out... why ?
'I remember watching films like Close Encounters or something like 2001.
Watching those films kind of inspired us with awe and a sense of wonder.
How can I create something that would give audiences that type of experience,
that type of experience that I remember, which I haven't felt in a while.
And I don't know what it is : Is it my maturity level ? Is it because movies are getting worse? I don't know.
You know, I, I don't know what the answer is, like, I just saw Star Trek
even Superman, right, Man of Steel. Every time I see a film like that
Every time I see a film like that I just hope that I get swept up again, the way I did when I first saw 2001
And I don't know the answer for why I don't experience that anymore.
All I know is that I don't experience that anymore
Oh...Dude...
That's normal. Those movies affected you so strongly because they were good, but also because you were a kid.
The kids of today are just as impressed by creepy all CGI Ninja Turtles reboots, or whatever it is they watch.
It's their turn to be inspired and your turn to create what inspires them.
Not by reinventing the concept of storytelling, just by telling good stories.
I've been listening to this book on edible.gum
which I think is called 'A hero with a million faces' by Josie camel or something like that.
It's about story structure.
The important thing is to have a protagonist which ideally shouldn't be a slab of concrete but a person.
A person with a goal, clear and immediate like a back itch.
Have them take steps to pursue their goal in a clever way.
But run into unexpected obstacles
Rising to each challenge brings the protagonist ever closer to their goal while helping them grow as a person,
until finally,
a catastrophic setback all but annihilates their progress and all seems lost
Then a dramatic solution leads them to success
But that success comes at a price, so they return to their ordinary life, forever changed.
Or if you're smart,
they're poised for a new journey full of infinite possibilities,
sequels and merch sales and maybe use a cool catchphrase to crystalize the entire franchise, something like :
Love with your heart, use your head for everything else !
[Music]
You
