Today is my Birthday! And yes even on my birthday I put my celebrations to the side, I leave my presents to be opened later, and instead I sit down to review an episode of Most Haunted.
I think maybe the woos are right when they say I must lead a very sad life.
Well don't you worry, I am celebrating it proper tomorrow night. Where I will be making first contact with the Spirits one on one! "I am getting a J name, and a D name, does Jack mean anything to you? And Daniel or Daniels?"
Blurb:
The upper floors of the Leopard Inn are now deserted rooms and corridors that were once part of a Victorian hotel, and some of the boarders seem to have stayed.
When there is not enough money to do 10 separate investigations for a series of 10 episodes, what do you do? You double up. But with 3 episodes left to be filled, but only enough money to pay for one investigation, that means we get a three parter. And this is part 1. So expect there to be a LOT of shenanigans in these episodes. We have had a right few stinkers, and last nights episode (7) was an utter disgrace when it comes to making a TV show, the most lazy episode in the history of Most Haunted. So with this being the first of a three parter I have high hopes.
And we are at ANOTHER pub/hotel. But wait what is that 4 legged creature I see. IT'S WATSON! Boom! That is a guaranteed 1 point out of 10 for tonight's episode. Fingers crossed for Lou's Bum Bag and we are truly in business.
Worth noting that the Pub is on a main road, like right on the road, so anyone making noises outside will easily be heard inside.
We are primed by Yvette in the voice over that this is one of the most haunted locations in the entire country. Yet despite this Watson is walking about without a care in the world.
Do the ghosts hide during the day? Despite the fact that most ghost sightings are during the day. Just a few flaws for you to think about.
Did you know that despite what they may lead you to believe, Most Haunted only actually film for a couple of hours in any location, the rest of the time they sit about having cups of tea and then go home.
We are then shown a shot of a corridor, from a static camera, and doors are closing on their own OFF CAMERA. Karl and Stuart run out grab the camera and go check in the rooms to show there is no one in there.
Seems strange that they would leave a camera filming a corridor in the middle of the day, while they are in another room talking. Almost as if the whole scene was set up.
Very easy to fake the doors closing on there own. And at no point do you actually see any doors close, you just hear them close, or see shadows of the doors.
Hilariously we are now in another corridor with a static camera filming, and a doll is chucked from an OFF CAMERA position, into the corridor, this is so fake but quite amusing.
Karl takes a good 10 seconds to get the camera off its tripod and approach the room, giving Stuart, sorry I mean the ghosts plenty of time to hide.
One of the tricks that magicians will use is making you believe you are seeing an entire scene but in fact the angle of the camera is masking exactly where the magic is happening. So for example, note how during these scenes the camera will enter the room filming quite high, this is so the ghost Stuart who is crouched down by the door can simply crawl out of shot out of the room and stay behind Karl. Then as Karl is in the room and looking around the ghost Stuart can bugger off.
Any time a camera films up in a suspicious manner, you can assume that is the reason why.
HOWEVER in this case, this is not how they did the doll throwing trick. (in my opinion)
The doll is physically thrown by someone in the room, after it lands and has stopped moving the shot is cut, whoever threw it (Ghost Stuart) then leaves the room, filming is resumed, and then Karl picks the camera up off the tripod. You see by having the camera static like this, it means you can cut the footage without much of a chance of anything in the shot changing. Although they have been caught out a few times, I am reminded of the cabinet door slamming, but a clock on the wall giving away the fact 18 seconds was cut.
If you don't believe me, watch the doll throwing scene on as big a screen as you can, and you will see the tiniest of imperfections as the scene is cut and restarted. The audio of Karl is added in post production to give the impression it is all one shot. Also note the fake cobweb hanging down, this is moving, the cut is AFTER Karl has moved the camera, he then sets it down and then there is the cut when the upper cobweb which was moving is now out of shot.
So two possible ways for them to perform this trick. A simple camera edit is the easiest to do. But a ghost Stuart hiding and then escaping either from the other door or by crawling out is also pretty easy to do. Any noises he makes are easily covered by Karl muting the sound when he swears.
Glen has now arrived, Watson is no where to be seen. I have heard that Watson does not like Glen.
And before you know it they start hearing taps.
TAPS ARE NOT EVIDENCE OF GHOSTS!
After the previous episode I am truly sick of taps and knocks, such a waste of time and I will now ignore any segments of them talking about taps and knocks.
As Yvette and Glen's tapping segment is finishing, Karl nearly drops the camera, and blames the ghosts.
Yvette has now met up with the rest of the crew, and claims to have seen an orb with her bare eyes! Of course this was OFF CAMERA.
Stuart makes a slight breathy noise, and Yvette claims it is a growl, yet clearly it was nothing of the sort.
Half way through the episode.
Yvette is asking the ghosts to make a noise with their face holes. Karl points out the noise of the traffic outside, but says it is obvious what is outside and what is inside.
More taps and knocks. BORING!
If you sat in any old British house that has a wood frame, wooden floors etc and just sat in silence, you will hear knocks, creaks, it is just normal noises, it is the house breathing, as temperatures drop wood contracts. Air pressure in a house can make things move. Open a door of a closed room and you are creating pressure.
Have you ever noticed how every single time a crew member sees something like a shadow, or a "white shape" it is ALWAYS in the opposite direction to what the camera is filming in.
OMG They have caught an actual apparition! I can clearly see a ghost Yvette right behind human Yvette!
Suddenly a fork is thrown OFF CAMERA.
As they examine a fork, another piece of cutlery is thrown OFF CAMERA.
As I seem to repeat myself all the time, after the first thing is thrown any REAL investigator would set up multiple cameras covering every angle and every person. This is cheap to do as everyone has smart phones. If you believe the lies from the last episode they have at least 7 broadcast quality cameras too. Yet instead what do we get, Karl filming himself, and Stuart filming Karl filming himself.
We are 30 minutes in, and this is dragging a bit. As it is the same nonsense over and over again.
Every time something is thrown it is always behind either Karl or Stuart just as they are filming in the opposite direction. For any doubters, they simply have the item in a pocket and when filming with one hand they throw the item behind them with the other.
The lack of any of it ever caught on camera is proof it is not ghosts. Just think, this is series 22, and they have never ever, not once, never caught anything being thrown from it's start position. Even by pure blind luck, if any of this was real they would have caught something. Not to mention the sheer amount of CCTV that also films everything, we never see any footage from any location from the CCTV. Now ask yourself why.
Glen is on his own looking at a chair that is doing chair like stuff.
Yvette is wondering why the ghosts are throwing cutlery and not big things. I am guessing that ghost Stuart cant fit a chair in his pocket.
Also no sign of Fred this episode.
Yvette throws the cutlery down the corridor, and they film the corridor in the hope the ghosts throw the cutlery back, as expected nothing happens.
We then get a voice over, and Yvette is telling us that after she asked the ghost to say hello, in the sound edit they heard something very faint. So we get the enhanced sound, and yes it sounds like someone saying hello.
However since we have multiple people present and anyone can easily say hello under their breath without moving their lips, the obvious solution is that someone present said it, but it was not heard live, and then they found it in the edit. It could also easily have been added in post production. Yvette claims it is one of their best pieces of voice phenomena to date. But evidentially it holds no weight and can be easily dismissed.
Glen has been very quiet today, I am guessing they are saving his bits to fill up part 2 and 3.
Yvette is hearing breathing/growling noises in the toilet.
We then hear another breathy noise as Karl starts to speak.
We then get multiple replays, also bizarrely they debunk themselves, as they show the footage from Stuart's camera which does NOT pick up any noise. So only Karl's camera picked it up. Listening to it carefully it sounds like this is a post production edit and not something that was actually picked up at the time.
Yvette has made some graffiti on the floor, writing an alphabet and asks the ghosts to tap for her. But because who normally does the taps cant see clearly enough, there is no response and Yvette says they will come back to it later.
We then get another disembodied voice. This time it says "Demon"
Again to me it sounds like a post production edit.
Remember how they have a fake name in the credits as the person who edits the show, and we showed everyone it was really Karl?
Back with Glen and he hears some footsteps and correctly states it is just the other team. However we get this flash up on screen.
Clearly Glen will know where the others are, they all know where each other is at all times, they are on walkie talkies, they don't want someone walking into the back of someones shot etc. So this is just another attempt to convince viewers more is going on.
Yvette claims she can feel pressure on her Adams apple, like someone is trying to choke her. I think she might be remembering some of her late night sexcapades with a certain smug man who likes to keep his hands in his pockets.
And with that the episode ends.
Now you might watch this and think that a lot happened, but let's take a look at what actual evidence they caught. Erm..... Nothing. EVERYTHING that happened happened OFF CAMERA. The doll being thrown came from OFF CAMERA, the cutlery being thrown was thrown OFF CAMERA. The breathing sounds etc could all easily be added in post production, if not performed live by someone OFF CAMERA.
They didn't capture a single unexplained event in this episode, but I am sure if you read the comments from the fans after this episode has aired they will be convinced the place is haunted and that Most Haunted caught some of their best ever evidence.
Also other than the opening shot, Watson never appeared again, I guess they didn't want him chasing after the cutlery and bringing it back to Karl or Stuart.
And Lou's bum bag also did not appear.
I will however give this episode a 2 out of 10. They did make the effort with the doll, they did throw some forks and spoons about, and Karl did spend 10 minutes in the edit room adding some sound effects, so at least they made the effort, and if you compare that to the previous episode where they were just lazy, I can admit I appreciate it, even if it is all fake as hell, and only a fool would think any of it was real.
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By Jon Donnis
1 comment:
To cover their tracks with the slamming doors at the beginning of the episode, the ghosts materialise three extra shards of light further down the corridor to make it look as if six doors are open instead of just the three closest to the camera. They “close” the furthest doors in a ridiculous fashion to make the viewer suspect the footage is fake: these shards of light disappear from BOTH edges towards the centre, as if the doors are split down the middle like old west saloon doors! The corresponding slamming sounds are also made too violent relative to how slowly the doors appear to close. Then when Stuart and Karl rush to investigate the first three doors (note: they never investigate the furthest three because the ghosts faked those) the ghosts add the sound of a door being yanked open then someone running down the corridor just after Stuart enters the first doorway; so as to further discredit this evidence.
Towards the end of the episode, when Stuart, Darren and Yvette begin to walk towards the toilet, a chair is glimpsed next to where Karl is standing as he films the others enter the corridor. The ghosts jump on this opportunity and create a couple of seconds gap in the audio followed by the end portion of the sound of a chair being scraped along the floor, just as Karl would be passing by. So when the group exits the corridor and the chair is blocking their path the viewer is made to suspect that it was Karl who dragged it there as he followed the others into the toilet.
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