Pepper ghost – Wikipedia

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Un homme apparaît virtuellement en transparence derrière un comptoir par un effet d'optique

Use of the so -called ‘ghost effect of Pepper’

The Pepper ghost or Pepper spectrum , in English Pepper’s ghost , also known as DirCks ghost , is an optical illusion technique used in scenic representations (theater, concerts, meetings), haunted houses and in certain magic towers.

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Using a semi-reflective plate (metallic glass or plastic film) and special lighting techniques, it makes it possible to believe that objects appear, disappear or become transparent, or that an object turns into another. The name of this method is taken from the name of John Henry Pepper, who popularized this effect. The term Pepper’s ghost is occasionally translated into French by mistake by “pepper ghost” [ first ] .

View of the cup illusion: looking through the red setting, the spectator feels like looking in the background a reflection of a room that he cannot see (“Blue Room”) carried by a support reflective (green frame).

View of the above illusion: in reality the bottom of the room is empty.

For the illusion to work, the spectator must be able to see inside the main room, but not in the hidden room (also called “Blue Room”). The slice of the glass plate is sometimes masked by a suitable pattern drawn on the ground.

The hidden room should be an identical image, as a reflection in a mirror, of the main room, so that the image of the main room and that of the hidden room correspond. This way of doing things is useful if you want to make it believe in the appearance or disappearance of objects. This illusion can also be used to ensure that the person or object reflected in the mirror seems to blend into another which is behind the window (and vice versa). This is the principle used in the effect “Girl-to-Gorilla” that was found in the old attractions of Carnival and in the film of James Bond The diamonds are eternal .

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The hidden part should preferably be painted in black, with only light -colored objects inside. In this case, when the light is projected in the room, only light objects reflect light and appear as translucent ghostly images superimposed on the visible room.

In the scene of the ball of the attractions Haunted Mansion / Phantom Manor Disney parks, the window is vertical instead of being tilted, reflecting the audio-animatronics below and above the visitor, which creates the illusion of “ghosts” in three translucent dimensions, which appear to be seated at a Large table and dancing through the ballroom. These characters appear and disappear when the lights projected on the audio-animatronics are lit then extinguished.

The first certificate of such an effect is in the popular scientific work Magic Natural From Giambattista della Porta, Italian scholar particularly paid in the perspective, dated 1558 [ 2 ] .

This technique has developed in the world of illusion in the second half of XIX It is century. The first to have presented such a device seems to be the Dutch conjurer Henri Robin (1811-1874) – of his real name Henrik Joseph Dontekel – who demanded the paternity of illusion: developed between 1845 and 1847, it was presented In Paris then in various cities in Europe under the name of “Living Fantasmagoria” [ 3 ] . In 1852, a patent for a leisure apparatus called polyoscope Using the same technique is deposited in France by the painter Pierre Séguin [ 4 ] Who had worked for Henri Robin.

But this illusion owes its usual name to the chemist John Henry Pepper, director of Royal Polytechnic Institution , a public popular scientific establishment linked to the future University of Westminster: the latter bought a device – then called “Aetheroscope” – created by the engineer and inventor Henri Dirks [ 5 ] Around 1858 [ 6 ] and develops it as theatrical illusion.

Pepper perfects the invention of dirks which is used for the first time in London in a representation of the room The haunted man or the ghost pact ( The Haunted Man or the Ghost’s Bargain ) Charles Dickens for Christmas Eve 1862 [ 7 ] . The process is copied by many theaters who must soon pay royalties to Pepper, fixing the name of the illusion [ 7 ] .

The attraction was a great success in the United Kingdom and France, where, after the installation of the illusion of Pepper in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1863, attractions of this type multiplied in theaters.

Some amusement parks use the Pepper ghost technique. The best known example is in Disney parks, ghost trains Haunted Mansion and their variations [ 8 ] . Aladdin’s enchanted passage And Pinocchio’s Daring Journey also use for this purpose [ 9 ] . Other attractions such as Djengu River à Toverland, The Pirates And Ali Baba’s palace use the same technique [ ten ] . L’attraction Hogwarts Express  (in) at Universal Studios Florida uses this effect, so that walkers entering the “way 9 3 ⁄ 4 “Seem to disappear in a brick wall for those who observe them downstream in the queue [ 11 ] , [ twelfth ] . À efteling, Spookslot , Dream flight , Morgana girl Use the Pepper ghost technique. Tales The Rossignol and the Emperor of China , The small table, the donkey and the stick And Pinocchio do the same in the wood of tales [ 13 ] .

During the 2006 Grammy Awards, Madonna performs a “duo” with the characters of the Gorillaz group, projected on stage using the illusion of Pepper.

In 2012, at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, it is Snoop Dogg who will use this illusion to make a duo with the deceased rapper Tupac.

Bruno Cohen, scenographer and director, reintroduces these techniques in 1991 in different museums in France and on the occasion of his artists’ work ( virtuous chamber [ 14 ] ZKM Karlsruhe, “but the angel” or des-illusions [ 14 ] , burnt numeric)

In 2017 the show “Hit Parade” featured digital reproductions of artists from the 70s in transparency accompanied on stage of real dancers [ 15 ] .

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, February 5, 2017, for the first time in France [ 16 ] , gave a political speech simultaneously in Lyon and Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) thanks to this technology, abusively named Hologramme on the occasion [ 17 ] .

For uses outside the scenography on the same principle, we are more often talking about “virtual showcase” [ 18 ] Or simply “showcase”, but confusion with holograms is just as frequent. These devices belong to the family of transparent displays.

  1. ↑ ‘ Ghost illusion of pepper (5/5 steps) » , on tubef.com (consulted the ) .
  2. ↑ (in) Jim Steinmeyer , Hiding the Elephant : How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear , From Capo Press, , p. 33 .
  3. ↑ (in) «Robin, Henri» , in Sarah Stanton and Martin Banham, The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre , Cambridge University Press, , p. 316 .
  4. ↑ See “Living and intangible specters”, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Magic and amusing physics , ed. Book-e-book, 2002 (éd. Orig. 1877), p. sixty four .
  5. ↑ See “Optical Illusions”, in The worlds: weekly review of sciences and their applications to the arts and industry , Giraud edition, 1864, p. 350 .
  6. ↑ Paul Clee, Before Hollywood : From Shadow Play to the Silver Screen , éd. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, p. forty six ; see Cosmos , t. XIII, 1858, p. 563 .
  7. ↑ a et b (in) « Pepper’s ghost » , in Sarah Stanton and Martin Banham, The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre , Cambridge University Press, , p. 282 .
  8. ↑ The History of & Changes to The Haunted Mansion , (At) ( ) Park Ride History.
  9. ↑ (in) Jim Korkis , Secret Stories from Disneyland: Trivia Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes , Theme Park Press, (ISBN  978-1683900603 )
  10. ↑ (in) ‘ Toverland, Magic Valley Djengu River – 2013 » , on leisurexpertgroup.com (consulted the ) .
  11. ↑ (in) ‘ Ride Review: The Hogwarts Express at Universal Orlando Resort » , on Themeparkinsider.com , (consulted the ) .
  12. ↑ (in) Bob Sehlinger et Seth Kubersky , Beyond Disney : The Unofficial Guide to Universal, SeaWorld & the Best of Central Florida , Birmingham (Alabama), Keen Communications, , 9 It is ed. , 422 p. (ISBN  1628090448 And 9781628090444 , OCLC  902657268 , read online ) , p. 227
  13. ↑ (nl) ‘ Pepper’s Ghost » , on EFTEPEDIA.NL (consulted the ) .
  14. ↑ a et b (in) ‘ Bruno Cohen » , on www.brunocohen.fr (consulted the ) .
  15. ↑ ‘ How were the holograms of stars who died for “Hit Parade” were created » , on The HuffPost , (consulted the )
  16. ↑ Bfmtv , ‘ How will Jean-Luc Mélenchon send his “hologram” from Lyon to Paris? » , on Bfmtv (consulted the ) .
  17. ↑ ‘ Mélenchon’s hologram: and arises a ghost … » , on FranceCulture.fr , (consulted the ) .
  18. ↑ (in) Oliver Hooch , Bernd Cheerful , Dieter Narrow climb et L. Miguel Incarnation , ‘ The virtual showcase » , ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Courses on – SIGGRAPH ’06 , ACM Press,‎ , p. 9 (ISBN  978-1-59593-364-5 , DOI  10.1145/1185657.1185804 , read online , consulted the )

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

  • (in) Jim Steinmeyer , Discovering Invisibility , London,
  • (in) Jim Steinmeyer , Hiding the Elephant , New York, Carroll & Graf, , 362 p. (ISBN  978-0-7867-1226-7-7 )
  • (in) Jim Steinmeyer , The Science Behind the Ghost , London,
  • (in) Jason Surrell , The Haunted Mansion : From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies , New York, Disney Editions, (ISBN  978-1-4231-1895-4 )
  • (in) John Baptist Brings , Natural Magick , Sioux Falls, SD, NuVision Publications, , 380 p. (ISBN  1-59547-982-1 )

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