Will David Copperfield Make the Moon Disappear?
If you missed the news when it was announced towards the end of last year, one of the greatest magicians of all time, David Copperfield, proclaimed that he will be making the moon disappear this month. As is usually the case with his major stunts, he’s putting good purpose into it, and this time is collaborating with Save The Children to bring awareness and support to a global issue. "If one person can make the moon disappear from the sky, imagine how together we can make poverty and hunger and danger disappear for our children on Earth."
When will he make the moon disappear?
The date and time have not yet been revealed, only that it will take place in February of 2024. Thats this month! Due to the nature of the illusion itself, it may be important that the public isn’t aware of the exact date until the event is closer, or perhaps we won’t be aware in advance at all. While you might guess it would be done for the full moon for maximum effect, which would be the 24th, I found an important clue that leads me to believe it will be before then. Copperfield’s magic shows at the MGM Casino in Las Vegas take place on most days, however his schedule shows that he has no performances from the 15th to the 18th. Aside from those dates, there’s only one day off on the 11th. Every other day of the month, including the day of the full moon, he’ll have at least one act to do at the MGM. To me, that’s a convincing sign that the vanish will happen during that 4-day break, most likely on the 17th or 18th, giving him a couple days beforehand for final preparations. If I were a betting man, I’d guess the 17th, when the moon will be at about 75% illuminated. I’m also predicting it will be before it’s dark out (more on this later).
Who will see the moon disappear?
This is another detail lacking thus far, and we’re currently clueless as to who his audience will be. While some have wondered if he plans to make the moon disappear for everyone everywhere, I just can’t imagine how such an illusion would be pulled off, even for a billionaire and all our modern technology. Back around when it was announced, the magician did say on a news broadcast, “We’re going to have a contest for people to actually win a chance to see the moon vanish, live and in person, and we’ll reveal more about that over the next few months on my socials”. So at the very least, we know it will be performed for a live audience, however we don’t know how large an audience, or where. That said, there hasn’t been a single post on his socials regarding the mentioned contest, so there’s another mysterious element of all this that has me wondering if there’s a chance it may not happen after all. That said, I think he’d update us if there were changes to the plans.
We also don’t know if it will have a television or internet broadcast, but considering that most of his major stunts have historically had television coverage, and this will certainly be his biggest illusion yet, I have to believe this one will too. One thing to consider here is that being able to look up at the moon while watching it disappear on screen would definitely take away from the overall effect. Again, this is assuming the illusion will only be visible for the in-person audience, but also broadcast live as it happens, and we don’t know either of those things as facts. I’m thinking because of how live coverage could really ruin things, it might be delayed, and not live. If it is on television, my best guess is it would be on CBS, since it looks like more of his prior televised illusions were on CBS than any other network. As soon as I find out details of the when and where it will be viewed, I will share on my Instagram page.
How would you go about making the moon vanish from the sky in front of a live audience?
How will he make the moon disappear?
The biggest question of all! If you came here thinking I could tell you how the trick will be done, I’m sorry to disappoint you. At this point, aside from David Copperfield himself, the only people that can say how the illusion will be pulled off without speculation are select crew members involved with the project, and perhaps a few others close to him and his work. I’ve seen several interesting theories out there, many which seem silly and implausible, and others which could probably be done in reality.
So what’s my Prediction? Well, we’re talking about a master magician here, and for a stunt that I suppose will top his current Guiness world record for largest illusion ever staged, I have to believe he’ll be thinking more outside the box than most of us. I truly believe that the method he uses will be something that nobody else has thought of. That said, I’ve spent a lot of time investigating existing theories, as well as brainstorming on my own, and I’ll share my thoughts on what kind of method might be used.
A curtain in the sky might sound like a good idea, however, if done at night would likely be noticeable due to the fact that the moon illuminates so much of the sky.
One Potential Method:
Many people suspect he’ll use drones or balloons to fly a curtain in the sky and obscure the moon. Simple enough, right? Well, I don’t think a basic curtain would work. Even on a clear night and after it’s completely dark, a black curtain would stand out because the moon illuminates a large portion of the sky. If attempted during the day, the curtain would have to match the sky’s color. Due to various factors, the color of the sky varies, even from the same time and place day to day. Any clouds nearby would also likely screw things up. All things considered, going that route doesn’t make sense to me. There is however, a certain kind of curtain that might just work, and that’s one with some sort of reflective material. Essentially a mirror curtain, that could camouflage against the sky, perhaps made of something like mylar (used for emergency blankets). For this to work, it would have to be done during the day, and with a clear sky. Still, this would present many challenges. I did some calculations to find out how big a curtain would have to be. Of course, this is dependent on its distance from the ground, and how large an area on the ground the illusion will be visible for. Believe it or not, a 50X50 foot curtain would do the trick if flown a mile away from an audience, assuming a group no more than a few hundred people. The higher you go, the larger it has to be. If flown 2 miles in the air, it would have to be closer to 100X100. That seems doable, but in the end it seems to me that too many things could go wrong. Wind could easily destroy the curtain if it isn’t strong enough, or it would at least turn it into a sail, taking out drones holding it in the process. It seems the trick could go wrong in any number of ways, not to mention all sorts of other logistical, and likely legal hurdles for this method.
A sky curtain during the day also has its own challenges. It would have to match the sky’s color exactly, and that can’t always be accurately be predicted in advance. That said, I’ve never seen a giant curtain in the sky, and perhaps in the distance it can be camouflaged enough to appear invisible, even if the color doesn’t perfectly match the sky.
Even after considering all those potential issues with a curtain method, it still seems to be one of the more likely ways to go about it, however there are two additional points that make me skeptical enough to leave this theory behind:
1) As previously mentioned, I don’t think Copperfield is going to use a method that we all guess before even seeing the trick, and so far a lot of people seem to think a flying curtain is how he’d do it.
2) In a news broadcast, David Copperfield said “I’ve been testing it the past few months, and people have reported seeing strange things in the sky at night, all around the country. So, if anybody in their home, sees anything weird up in the sky, please let me know by tagging me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. I’m @copperfield, so let me know if you see any of our rehearsals accidentally, because I’d love to see what’s going on.” I believe that statement served an important purpose. Of course, it’s great marketing - Copperfield knows that people see weird things in the sky all the time, so it’s a way to get the “audience” involved and generate hype around his stunt. At the same time, and more importantly, I think it’s classic misdirection. Get people thinking the trick is done up in the sky, when in reality, it’s done on the ground.
In 1983, David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of a live audience. I did this in Photoshop. He did it at night, without any camera tricks. Might he use a similar method to make the moon disappear as he did for the statue?
My Best Guess:
So if he’s not flying something to obscure the moon up in the sky, that leads us to something on the ground, much closer to the audience. Another common theory is he’ll use high tech screens, to trick the audience into thinking they’re viewing the night sky. In the digital world, it’s easy to make things disappear! But this of course comes with several challenges too. Also, he’s said that the illusion is something he’s been working on for 30 years, and while that doesn’t necessarily exclude high tech methods coming into the equation, I do think it will be something that doesn’t require super modern technology. While some have speculated he’ll do something similar to when he made the Statue of Liberty disappear, I really don’t think a magician as experienced as Copperfield will be recycling a method used for another one of his biggest illusions. I do think it will be similar to that illusion in the sense that it won’t be something high tech or elaborate as we might imagine, but a fairly simple yet clever method to obscure the moon close to the audience. While vanishing the moon will likely go down as his “biggest” illusion, consider that the moon actually appears VERY small to the naked eye. If you hold your hand out at arms length, the moon will always be smaller than the nail of your pinky! Compare that to the size of the Statue of Liberty when you’re standing just a few hundred feet away, - it takes up a huge portion of your field of view. So in theory, making the moon disappear should be much easier.
In Summary, my prediction is that Copperfield will make the moon vanish before a live audience no larger than a few hundred people in the afternoon or evening of February 17th, while it’s still light out. If not the 17th, at least one of the other days the 15th-18th. I believe it will be done while it’s still light out, and using a simple concept with clever engineering and coordination. It will likely be a method not seen before or perhaps even thought of, at least by non-magicians. However it is done, I’m sure it will be an impressive and captivating performance. How do you think he’ll pull it off?
Doing some of my own moon magic. This used a camera trick, double exposure. I first took a picture of the moon, then turned around and captured my shadow created by it, and the two photos are merged in the camera when taken.
