My Cart - When is a Window Not a Window?
Windows; they’re simple things. We look through them and see whatever’s happening outside. So, if you were to look out and see meteors strike your home town, aliens landing or some other outlandish event, you might be shocked or surprised but you might also be inclined to believe it. After all, you’re seeing it happen right there, with your own eyes, right?
Well, maybe not. Here at Electronic World, we recently helped The Gadget Show make the unlikely happen for one poor unsuspecting soul in a Birmingham coffee shop…
It all seemed normal enough to begin with. The young man in question arrived for a chat and sat down to wait. Through the window across from him, he could see people walking past along the passageway beside the cafe.
Then the rumbling began. It got louder; his table started to shake. The menu board fell off the wall, and through that window he saw an alien (looking surprisingly like TV presenter Amy Williams) fall through the ceiling in a cloud of dust, brush herself off, and walk towards the door.
Of course, it really was Amy Williams – and the window was not a window, but a cunningly disguised LG 4K Ultra-HD TV, supplied by yours truly at Electronic World.
It was all part of an April Fool’s prank, designed by Channel 5’s The Gadget Show using only consumer electronics – and it worked astonishingly well.
The TV was only one part of the prank, but it was a testament to the ultra-realistic displays of today’s 4K sets that the victim didn’t realise that what he was looking at was anything other than a window.
“I kept seeing people walk past on what I assumed was just a window when I came in… it was pretty convincing,” he said afterwards – when he’d stopped shaking.
So, how did this prank come about?
Well, it was a challenge for presenters Jason Bradbury and Amy Williams, an appropriate task for the week of April Fool’s Day. They were inspired by a range of hoaxes that have gone viral on the internet, especially ones using modern technology.
In one of the hoaxes that inspired the Gadget Show team, would-be job applicants were fooled into thinking that a meteor had struck the city – through the use of an LG Ultra-HD TV in place of a window.
Another inspiration came from a prank carried out by horror filmmakers promoting the remake of the Stephen King classic, “Carrie”. A New York cafe was staged with special effects to make unsuspecting patrons believe that a young woman really could harness the powers of telekinesis.
So, with those two videos as inspiration, the Gadget Show planned their alien invasion. Alongside our TV as the “window” with green screen effects filmed on a Panasonic Lumix camera, they used a surround sound system to deliver ominous rumbles, with cunningly rigged effects (using parts from a power drill) beneath the tables to make them shake. The whole thing was set up overnight, and controlled remotely from a laptop at a nearby table. On a less technological level, the cafe was populated by extras to promote a mimicked reaction of shock and horror.
With no time for a dress rehearsal, it was a case of fingers crossed as the “mark” walked in – but it all worked swimmingly.
The whole prank, including planning, can be seen on Season 21, Episode 5 of the Gadget Show, available to view on-demand from Channel 5. To skip straight to the prank itself, go to timestamp 34:53.
Here at Electronic World, we specialise in cheap TVs – whether for home entertainment or the setting up of elaborate pranks! For more information or to buy, browse our site, contact us on 0121 327 3273 or visit our Birmingham showroom.
