Derren Brown: Apocolypse

[One]

I don't think people realise how ridiculously difficult it is to cover things up. Especially something like this with hundreds of people involved. You only need one person to blab some credible information and the hat's out the bag, then more come out of the woodwork admitting to its fakery. If this was fake then it stands to reason other shows by Derren will have been faked, so those will have people involved in the production coming out to say it's fake.

It would come down to Derren having to shell out millions of pounds in order to keep their silence and he doesn't have that sort of money to give away, nor would everyone involved accept bribery anyway.

 

[arknor]

most of the people involved wouldnt have a clue if it was fake or not even if they did use an actor.

how can they tell the guy isnt acting?

 

[iamtheoneneo]

3. You think you would arm yourself immediately but as you or no one has ever been in that situation you don't know how you would act. You would have a million things going through your head , adrenaline pumping through your body , who knows how long it will take you to get your composure and start thinking logically. I mean its a Zombie Apocalypse i would be ****ing my self.

of course you would! we have been pretty much conditioned to accept that in a time of war where people are trying to kill you the first thing you should do is get a weapon no matter what it is.
You wouldnt just run around like a massive pansy no matter your mental state.

the whole thing is a massive lie, fair enough its entertainment but none of it is real in the slightest.

 

[antijoke]

I enjoyed it, but my first thought right from the bus scene was that it was all staged.

Yes it's good entertainment but I don't buy it as real in anyway. Still enjoyable to watch.

 

[eyetrip]

I didn't buy it.

I wasn't sure if it was mildly entertaining or annoying.

The main thing that keeps me from being able to suspend disbelief is the fact that the guy doesn't pick a weapon up. But of course, they can't have him pick up a weapon, because then, if it were real, he may have cause to use it. Don't have him with a weapon, and all he can do is run away, hence avoiding any awkward situations.

Oh, and the fact that the guy comes across as a bad actor. His reactions don't come across as natural at all.

I am not saying he is an "actor", but more likely just some regular bloke who agreed to be in a show. He can be the person they are portraying, but just have agreed to play a part.

He and Derren would be the only people who needed to know. Everyone else could be led to believe it was authentic, even his family.

 

[Kol]

So for the last two posters did you not read the q&a? The producers removed anything that could be used as a weapon. Second he stated that most people would run away from a group of zombies rather than risk contagion.

I thought the very same thing until he informed everyone in his q&a that there were no items that could be used as a weapon in his surroundings.

 

[eyetrip]

I need to watch again to check for items that could be broken to make weapons.

Just looking around me now in office, and I can tell you, if push came to shove, I would at least use my keyboard to smack someone up side the head, even if I only got one use out of it.

 

[Russinating]

Trouble is I think "Man if I were in a film I would do xxx" is very different to actually being there.

Like he probably could have torn apart his hospital bed to get a metal bar or something, but would you actually do that in real life or are we so used to watching these kinds of situations in films that the realism is blown way out of 'realism' (I put this in marks because the likelihood of this ever happening are close to zero anyway).

I did note very early on that even the chairs and tables in the hospital waiting room (with the TV screen) were all bolted to the floor.

 

[Chicken #16]

what probably would have been more convincing would have been a plague. Zombies is just silly.

I could very easily believe something like bird flu mutating and infecting quickly. I would not want to go near someone sneezing, and if the news told me it was airborne I'd be in a mess.

 

[Russinating]

It's not zombies. Zombie-like tendencies sure, but they're not undead.

 

[arknor]

So for the last two posters did you not read the q&a? The producers removed anything that could be used as a weapon.

almost anything can be turned into an improvised weapon...

 

[Russinating]

almost anything can be turned into an improvised weapon...

In a computer game or theoretical situation yes. In an actual situation where the death of your family or real thoughts on wtf is going on are on your mind? Who knows.

 

[Tibbz2]

what probably would have been more convincing would have been a plague. Zombies is just silly.

I could very easily believe something like bird flu mutating and infecting quickly. I would not want to go near someone sneezing, and if the news told me it was airborne I'd be in a mess.

While it's not zombies, I think it's too zombie-esque to be believable imo

 

[One]

While it's not zombies, I think it's too zombie-esque to be believable imo

Even if you didn't think it was real, or that they are real zombies, you'd still be concerned after waking up in a rotting hospital 14 days later with a bunch of dressed up people running after you. You'd be in a state of shock at the very least and you might start wondering how they got so many people to play along, in this kind of Saw nightmare.

It's certainly believable to some extent, but I think due to it being such a novel idea yet covered by so much pop-culture that people form their own ideas of how people should react. I think people are deciding they would be a lot more like Shaun from Shaun of the Dead than how this kid is reacting.

There is two basic reaction to a threat and those are flight and fight. I think when faced with a whole bunch of infected people running at you you will run, rather than try to grab a keyboard or table leg and fight, especially when you have the option of an easy getaway each time.

 

[e36Adz]

Few people from work were talking about this and I caught some of the repeat last night. Seemed very very fake to me. The only alternative is the guy was an absolute pleb. Seriously though, you think they would try that on someone when they have absolutely no idea how it could affect him, or how he would react? It was all controlled and it was all acting, quite poor acting I should add.

 

[Craig R]

Few people from work were talking about this and I caught some of the repeat last night. Seemed very very fake to me. The only alternative is the guy was an absolute pleb. Seriously though, you think they would try that on someone when they have absolutely no idea how it could affect him, or how he would react? It was all controlled and it was all acting, quite poor acting I should add.

They didn't have absolutely no idea how it would affect him. He was given a psychiatric analysis before the show. They also monitored him carefully throughout to check how he was coping. In the ambulance for instance the driver stopped several times on their journey (not shown on TV) to check if he was doing ok. If they thought he was in danger of flipping they could stop at any time.

The guy was an absolute pleb as shown right at the start.

 

[e36Adz]

I missed the start, I caught it as he was getting off the coach. Brown just walked up to him and said sleep and he was out, just like that. It seems far more likely that the whole stunt was actually on the viewers and not on him.

 

[Craig R]

I missed the start, I caught it as he was getting off the coach. Brown just walked up to him and said sleep and he was out, just like that. It seems far more likely that the whole stunt was actually on the viewers and not on him.

Brown had met him months previously when the initial hypnosis had taken place. Steven had volunteered to take part in a show along with hundreds of others but they eventually told him he had failed after doing loads of tests to narrow down the candidates. In reality Brown had decided that Steven was perfect but obviously didn't want him to know he was going to be the subject.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

...and loads of other convenient information he wants you to believe.

If it wasn't for the dodgy hypnosis, it could be believable but the fact he "wakes up" surrounded by zombies is convienient enough to set off alarm bells surely?

I'm always skeptical about his tv shows, but this one seems like it was poorly thought out. The production is very good but it's always going to be lose-lose as the public always assume its an actor.