John Hutchison is known for showing footage of many strange effects, including the Hutchison effect of levitation.
I'm not taking a stand here on whether or not I think he is legitimate or not. But seeing some recent footage on TV, I have a pretty good idea of how it could be faked.
To main "trick" would be to have a very convincing upside down shooting stage. Since some of his effects are with non-magnetic/non-metallic objects, gravity would be a logical choice for how to make things fly (if you are filming upside down). And let's assume that actual film is being used (vs. video or digital)
Some adjustments to the filming technique would also make it look more realistic. Items falling up at normal speed would go too fast, so I would slow the footage down by perhaps 1/2 or 1/3rd normal speed, or shoot the footage at 2x or 3x the normal frame rate. To do that you need be using a exposure, but having a lower aperture (larger iris hole) would mess up the depth of field, but adding extra light would help compensate for that. If somebody had time and the footage, they could even see if the levitation path taken by objects is accelerating, and even estimate the slow-down factor of the film.
Glue, fasteners, or easily controllable electro-magnets could selectively hold objects or parts of objects in place on the "floor" (actually the ceiling).
Using these simple techniques, let's consider a couple examples from Hutchison:
In one sequence, an old-fashioned wood saw levitates up and out of frame. Given an upside down shooting stage, you could hold the saw in place with an electromagnet until you are ready, and then turn off the current. The saw then falls "up", and because it's filmed at a higher than normal frame rate, when played back at a regular rate it whooshes up gracefully.
The most amazing shot he shows is that of a mixture of mostly ice and bit of liquid (possibly from the melting ice) fly up out of a plastic drinking cup, the but the cup stays on the floor. Easy: freeze some ice and soda in a glass until solid enough to stay in the glass when inverted. Glue or otherwise fasten the glass upsidedown on your stage's "floor". Then get ready with the camera while the ambient warmth of the room melts the contents enough to release from the edges. And again, film at high speed. Presto!
The other levitation effects I saw all seemed to be consistent with this general technique. But again, it sure would be cool if his footage wasn't fake, I just don't have access to his technology.
A final touch: on Hutchison sound stage, a broom is seen in the background, leaning against a wall. A nice casual visual cue that this is just a normal (non-inverted) cluttered workshop, with a broom just leaning against the wall. If footage were being faked on an upside down stage, it would certainly add realism to fasten some seemingly innocent items in frame.
BTW, rotating a sound stage is well known in Hollywood. The movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" used it very effectively, to allow the crew to walk around in 360 degrees in their space ship.
Finally, in this TV snippet I saw, Hutchinson was quoted as having said something like "it's more about art than science" - could that be much more appropriate than casual viewers would notice? Perhaps even an inside joke or subconscious slip?
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