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Captain Disillusion debunks David Beckham beach kicks [video]
- gklitz 2y agoAs always this is so much more than merely a video debunking. It’s a great piece of comedy, an insightful analysis of technology and even great commentary on the historical development both back when the video was made but also the now current state of the environment around social media creators. Absolutely amazing.
- mgiannopoulos 2y agoCD is a true gem
- qsdf38100 2y agoI was very happy to see a new video from him. It has been ages. I highly recommend the one debunking the magic trick with the card, the glass and the monkey. As you said, it’s much more than a debunk, he even went to the place where it was filmed.
- slavik81 2y agoYou're referring to Orangutan Card Trick DEBUNK - https://youtu.be/j6tbG6b6xRg https://youtu.be/j6tbG6b6xRg. My favourite is The Debunkathon - https://youtu.be/OX-Ra4nrVj0 https://youtu.be/OX-Ra4nrVj0. I found the overall message deeply touching.
- oDot 2y agoYes, he's a fantastic storyteller
- yetanother-1 2y agoHe makes amazing videos by placing the cameras in all wierd angels and adds so much stuff to explain a concept, that makes you think it's simple, yet you finish his videos admiring him even more...
- jakevoytko 2y agoThe first video I saw was the tape measure trick shot debunk. I immediately subbed when I noticed he was inserting himself *into the footage he was debunking* to prove his point. I don't follow another YouTuber that has such dedication to their craft, though I'm sure they exist.
- motbus3 2y agoCaptain Disillusion is a must-watch. Also his assistant Adam is quite a useful guy.
- schlauerfox 2y agoAlan, and he gets sent to talks sometimes, those are great to watch.
- daymanstep 2y agoWasn't this posted 3 days ago?
- cmcconomy 2y agoyou should use the search function below, and let us know what you find out.
- Tomte 2y agoI submitted it ten days ago, it got no comments or upvotes, so submitting it again is totally fine. Only submissions with some attention make something a dupe.
- daymanstep 2y agoI'm not saying it's a dupe. I was referring to the fact that the HN timestamp says it was posted 3 days ago yet the comments are only 10 minutes old yet I remember reading the comments days ago. I was wondering if I had gone insane or if there is some bug with HN. Not complaining about this being a dupe at all. For the record, I have nothing against you reposting it, but I am weirded out when the timestamps don't match my memory.
- Tomte 2y agoI apologize for misunderstanding you. That time stamp effect is probably the second chance pool (https://news.ycombinator.com/pool https://news.ycombinator.com/pool). Those submissions get their time stamp mangled because it‘s easier for the ranking algorithm.
- ziml77 2y agoThis has also left me confused with timestamps that make no sense based on my memory. I thought I was going crazy recently because I was trying to find a way to make sense of things with the expectation that the timestamps couldn't magically change!
- airstrike 2y agoSometimes "very interesting stuff" gets resubmitted by the HN gods for a second try and it messes up the timestamp too, although I guess in this case it was a resubmission indeed https://news.ycombinator.com/pool https://news.ycombinator.com/pool
- bombcar 2y agoCaptain D puts more effort into his throw-away gags than many personalities put into their whole video. Always worth the watch.
- myself248 2y agoCaptain D produces some of the most impressive technical content out there, wrapped in subtle and not-so-subtle zingers, and breathtakingly illustrated. Decomposing a frame into its brightness channel, rotating it, and collapsing the columns to make a waveform graph? Mind completely blown. The debunk videos are his major stock in trade, but I personally love (and discovered him through) the explainers about frame rate and shutter speed, color spaces, interlacing, and other details of the video art. And of course, his mindbogglingly detailed exploration of Flight of the Navigator -- if you've seen the film, make some time tonight and watch it.
- HappMacDonald 2y agoYou should also watch his similar documetary on Back to the Future. :chefs_kiss:
- schlauerfox 2y agoIt was more of a demo reel pitching himself to direct a sequel. Give him the job!
- Tomte 2y agoI have never watched the movie, only heard about it in CD‘s video. I have watched his documentation at least six or seven times now. It is that good.
- myself248 2y agoOh, it's worth a watch. The intro sequence (no spoilers, but when you get to the dog scene, you'll know what I mean) is just great, and there's a handful of classic lines I quote to this day. (Sarah Jessica Parker and the Coke question! No VFX needed, it's solid gold on its own merit.) I honestly don't know how the film holds up today, especially from the eyes of a grown-up watching it for the first time. The overall narrative may or may not earn its keep, I guess. But all those VFX shots were in service of a larger story, and if nothing else I think you'll appreciate them more in context.
- 2y ago
- xz18r 2y agoThis channel is amazing. If anyone has any recommendations for more stuff like it, do share!
- VyseofArcadia 2y agoIt doesn't have the same flair or humor, but I've found Technology Connections scratches a similar part of my brain.
- sgarland 2y agoAbsolutely. If you like CD, you’ll like TC. Though TC’s videos trend to the longer side (approaching an hour for some), but they are a fascinating way to spend time.
- myself248 2y agoNot the same vibe, but I feel similarly fascinated by Posy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSS6yAMZF78 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSS6yAMZF78 and TodePond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OIcwt8vcE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4OIcwt8vcE
- tambourine_man 2y agoThat TodePond link is what I hoped the internet would be as a kid. Weird people doing strange, beautiful things out of passion. It didn’t turn out that way, of course, but it’s nice to know it’s still possible. Thanks for the link.
- humbugtheman 2y agothank you! glad you like it
- jonny_eh 2y agoFor VFX breakdowns and debunkings there's also Corridor Crew: https://www.youtube.com/@CorridorCrew https://www.youtube.com/@CorridorCrew
- schlauerfox 2y agoThe crossover with Beakman's World in all but name was amazing.
- gamblor956 2y agoBeckham is known for his precision in kicking. It's his whole thing. Beckham actually did hit the trash cans in practice kicks; this happened on a public beach and there were plenty of fans hanging around watching it happen. That being said, it would have required an alteration of the laws of physics to land a soccer ball in the trash can as the diameter of the opening of most beach trash cans of that style in the LA area is smaller than the diameter of a soccer ball. (There are several styles of trash cans on LA area beaches. Several of them have capped/shielded openings; some of their are just uncapped basic cylinders, and others are cylinders with lids and narrow openings. The purpose of the caps/narrow openings is to limit the ability of wildlife like seagulls from getting at the trash. Generally, the uncapped basic trash cans are limited to more popular beaches where the trash cans will be emptied daily.)
- perching_aix 2y agois there any behind the scenes footage?
- OccamsMirror 2y agoNo, because they stupidly pretended it was real.
- me_me_me 2y agoNo sure why you are downvoted. I can easily see Beckham hitting a 3 of them in a row with some practice shots. Fairly big targets. Getting ball into the can is impossible (he would have to try a lot of time, 3x in a row probably statistically impossible).
- uncivilized 2y ago[flagged]
- dang 2y ago"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." It's reliably a marker of bad comments and worse threads. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- PetitPrince 2y agoAlso of interest for HN crowd: he's a enthusiast Blender user, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qSTcxt2t74&t=770s&pp=ygUYd29ybGQncyBncmVhdGVzdCBibGVuZGVy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qSTcxt2t74&t=770s&pp=ygUYd2...
- m3kw9 2y agoThis is great debugging
- davidpfarrell 2y ago/complete side note, but it came to me after watching this specific video the other day. When seeing the ads for the new Crow on Reddit (showing up a lot in my feed), with the tagline: "Keep The Promise, Break Everything Else" In my mind I hear this variation on the CD quote: "Love With Your Heart: Use Violence For Everything Else"
- gosub100 2y agoOne thing this man brings to our attention as software developers is that at least in this department, software has reached a level of complexity that it takes a lifetime of study to master it as a user. I know it's not the only subspecialty that has such an in depth consideration to UX but it's worth mentioning.
- Terr_ 2y agoSince we're on the subject of overcomplicated software, VFX, and youtube personalities, you might be amused by some SavannahXYZ stuff, ex: "Welcome to 3D Software" parody song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWY7fsXwh24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWY7fsXwh24 "Spooky Scary Skeletons" parody song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3L8fQKvmM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3L8fQKvmM "Stop using [ZBrush] Dynamesh" short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w4fVwfcYQvs https://www.youtube.com/shorts/w4fVwfcYQvs
- lucb1e 2y agoHow did you all discover Captain Disillusion? For me, someone on Mastodon linked it maybe a year ago. I've watched at least half the videos back and became a Patreon for a while. I can't believe I never heard anyone talk about the channel before or since -- until this HN post. I've shared it with some friends but nobody knew it. People here seem to be familiar, though, so I am curious how you discovered this gem of a creator
- TechSquidTV 2y agoBeen following for so many years, I can't remember anymore. I watch a lot of VFX related content, it could have been in my feed because of that. He's had so many viral videos, it could have been totally unrelated to my personal feed. If it wasn't on my homepage 10+ years ago, it was likely Reddit. Been a huge fan since. He's somewhat in the same mental collection for me as the old Corridor Digital videos.
- airstrike 2y agoFirst I ever hear of the guy and I'm an immediate fan
- martyvis 2y agoI think my one of my adult kids that was interested in video production pointed him out to me quite a few years ago. What is amazing is that you can see his comedic schtick was already in his earliest videos from 16 years ago
- TOGoS 2y agoAt Factorio office. Rseding was working nearby and seemed to always have these weird videos playing. "Why is that guy chromed?" I asked. "That's just how his face is", or something, was the response. I was curious so went and found them for myself. Was not disappointed.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoIIRC I discovered it via some random HN comment a few years ago. Binge-watched everything he made back then. I'm happy to hear he's making videos again, I'll catch up as soon as I have a spare moment.
- laserDinosaur 2y agoOne thing I didn't understand about the original video - why didn't they just CG in the bins instead? Why go to all the effort of CG'ing out the ball, changing the trajectory etc? It seems like it would have been easier to have him make 3 random kicks then add some bins in where they landed. But, maybe there's something obvious I'm missing.
- klankeser 2y agoChanging ball trajectories accurately is hard but you are editing something in motion that is visible only for a few seconds, is in air, and will mostly be viewed through a bad screen. Adding in cg bins on the other hand, you need Beckham to do 3 kicks that land where the shot is looking, but more importantly have to get those cans tracked perfectly for the entire duration of the shot as they are always visible. I believe that is a much harder to pull off.
- wonrax 2y agoBecause they would then have to camera track the whole clip to place the bins, and also make sure the bins stay in the correct positions when they reappear and disappear out of frame. In contrast, they only need to camera track the few frames when he does the kick. The quick movement of the ball also makes it harder to spot CGI errors IMO. Whereas if you have to fake the bins, you also have to deal with camera zoom, exposure changes, etc. that happen throughout the clip.
- laserDinosaur 2y ago"Whereas if you have to fake the bins, you also have to deal with camera zoom, exposure changes, etc. that happen throughout the clip." Oooh true, that makes sense. Cheers!
- FireBeyond 2y ago> The quick movement of the ball also makes it harder to spot CGI errors IMO. Whereas if you have to fake the bins, you also have to deal with camera zoom, exposure changes, etc. that happen throughout the clip. Way back in the day, Michael Crichton's Rising Sun, it talks about primitive video editing (when some people are editing the video scene of a crime). Looking at security camera footage over a period of time is monotonous, but harder too is also editing the audio. You could stare at the screen and still easily overlook a glitch, but a hard cut/slice in the audio will catch your notice even when only minimal attention is being paid.
- 38 2y agohe really doesn't need the make up - just makes him seem like a joke. otherwise great content
- jhatemyjob 2y ago[flagged]
- andybak 2y agoThis is entirely on topic for HN.
- jhatemyjob 2y agoIf it is then this site has gone down the tubes.
- Refusing23 2y agoI truly love his content. its always top notch entertainment
- The_Colonel 2y agoWhat caught my eye was that in 2011 they couldn't shoot it in 6K stabilized and crop for motion afterwards. But there were already 4K cameras at the time, and with zooming they should be able to capture at least the critical time window of Beckham kicking the ball / landing stabilized for easier post-processing. But the nature of motion glitches found suggests they did actually post-process on a shaky video. They could do a better job, but then the trick worked for more than 10 years, and thus fulfilled its purpose more than enough.
- Detrytus 2y agoSimilar thing with Nike commercial starring Ronaldinho bouncing the ball from the crossbar: https://youtu.be/qRWnDBN5MgQ?si=mdEYS9X9FwkwOkmj&t=90 https://youtu.be/qRWnDBN5MgQ?si=mdEYS9X9FwkwOkmj&t=90 To his credit, preparing for the shooting Ronaldinho allegedly managed to do that twice in a row for real.
- FireBeyond 2y agoThat was like the video of Steph Curry just casually throwing up five full court shots in a row from near the tunnel. In a press conference after a game he said "I'm humbled that people think I'd actually be capable of that, but yeah, there was some help in the process..." and then added "but I did make two myself!"
- brap 2y agoI don’t need to debunk it, the acting and script are terrible. https://youtu.be/2lvRv2mnYLU https://youtu.be/2lvRv2mnYLU
- mock-possum 2y agoGod the guy behind the camera commentating is just nails on a chalk board bad.
- dkdndndndnds 2y agoYuestor
- VikingCoder 2y agoIf you want to learn how to make better fake videos, you might want to start with "You Suck at Photoshop" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_X5uR7VC4M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_X5uR7VC4M