i heard a crack. is that kid okay? >> who doesn't want to believe you can actually run on water. >> do you believe it now? >> video magicians at work. >> it's so goofy and so unbelievable that that's sort of what makes it so funny. >> and their bags full of tricks. >> by the end of it, it was like pulling my hair out. i actually started to have nightmares about the machine. >> how do they do it? >> a good magician doesn't give away his tricks. >> but we do.

"caught on camera: viral videos, how? what? why?" welcome to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. when i look at the web's most popular videos, the ones that go viral, my favorites get me going back again and again to try and figure out the method behind their madness. in this hour, we'll take a look at some truly unique, brain-twisting videos to see if we can unravel their magic and mystery. because we all want to know what on earth made them try that? and how did they catch it all on camera? >> a few people have tried it. nobody has ever managed to get anywhere close to what we got today. >> have you ever witnessed a miracle? >> you have to believe you can do these things. it's not, like, impossible. me, my boots and i, we're going to make it.

>> in april 2010, an incredible video hits the web making millions believe in the impossible. >> i definitely think it's going to be the next big thing. >> a new sport is introduced called liquid mountaineering, essentially running on water. >> could it ever happen? >> who doesn't want to believe that you can actually run on water? >> and you see that image of somebody really doing it, and it's exciting. >> you're going one step, going two steps, going three steps. we're discovering it as we go along. >> it feels like the type of documentary you'd see about any kind of extreme sport. >> it showed the background of

the athletes and their training and their preparation. >> it's not straight into the water. you know, any curve, a slight curve. by that bend you're actually not allowing yourself to sink into the water. and you want to keep that skimming sensation going as long as you can. i think if you don't actually believe you can walk on that water, it's not going to happen for you. >> belief, maybe. and the help of some magic shoes. >> go, go, go! >> yeah, yeah! >> liquid mountaineering is actually a clever viral advertisement for the high tech shoe company. >> what gets us those extra steps are these shoes. the original equipment we first started was equipment that would help repel water. >> the moment i realized that i was watching an ad was when they sort of close in on the shoe.

they say this shoe is how we're able to do it. >> totally water repellent. like water off a duck's back. >> if this was executed right, then we would achieve a lot of our goals, which was to make high tech cool. make people think differently. and most importantly have fun. >> you actually see the athletes failing again and again. >> come on. >> that lent some real credibility to the video. and most people that saw this video thought it was real. it's definitely a fake. >> wait, not real? well, if it isn't real, how did they do that? the piece is shot over the course of a week in portugal and features three extreme sports enthusiasts. >> we needed them to be believable, we needed them to be athletic and we needed them to be good fun. the fact they could act a little bit as well.

>> bonjour. >> fantastic. >> being able to walk on water is not a requirement for the cast. so what went into that biblical special effect? >> they created a wooden platform underneath the water that the guy actually ran on. >> weights are used to hold the structure into place. another pliable layer is attached to the top of the platform. >> it was a flexible, bendable platform. so when you see him run, you see him tip back and forth. and it actually looks really, really real. >> when i first saw the guy running on water, i was very nicely surprised because i think the worry was that if people thought it was fake straightaway, then it wouldn't have worked. >> with the effect complete, high-tech launches the video online. >> we wanted a real conversation starter. whether people loved it or hated it, whether they believed it or whether they didn't. we wanted everybody to talk about it and that's what

happened. >> it creates a splash. racking up millions of hits within days. >> it's so goofy and so unbelievable that that's sort of what makes it so funny. >> i think every boy out there has a dream of doing something like this. and to actually see it online conjured up a lot of memories. >> the viral ad becomes so popular that it spawns countless copycats who quickly find out that liquid mountaineering is pure fiction. >> we don't necessarily suggest you try this. it's been wonderful to see them mimic us. i guess it's the ultimate compliment. >> high-tech creates a safer method for budding liquid mountaineers, an online video game. >> we have got sharks in it, lairs popping up, and it's just great fun. >> yeah!

>> can you believe it? now? you see it in reality. believe it, sunshine. >> go! go! go! >> we're having a laugh, but at the same time, i suppose there's an element of something real in it, too. >> walking on water may be impossible for us mortals, but you can still take away important life lessons from the video. >> be with yourself. believe in it. it's not about a miracle. it's just go for it. >> try to do it. if you fall down, try again. coming up, a couple of guys and a pair of sunglasses play stump the experts. >> when you watch it, you ask yourself, when did this stop being real? >> the tricks escalated from a very simple trick to an increasingly harder trick and

harder trick. >> how did they do that? >> someone said it's magnets. yet he had magnets in his head. >> maybe you can figure it out. >> a good magician doesn't give away his tricks. >> when "caught on camera: viral videos, how? what? why?" continues. that's ok. (dad) put it in second, put it in second. (dad) slow it down. put the clutch in, break it, break it. (dad) just like i showed you. dad, you didn't show me, you showed him. dad, he's gonna wreck the car! (dad) he's not gonna wreck the car. (dad) no fighting in the road, please. (dad) put your blinker on. (son) you didn't even give me a chance! (dad) ok. (mom vo) we got the new subaru because nothing could break our old one. (dad) ok. (son) what the heck? let go of my seat! (mom vo) i hope the same goes for my husband. (dad) you guys are doing a great job. seriously. (announcer) love a car that lasts. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional

better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423. call... today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? i get out a lot... except when it's too cold. like the last three weekends. asthma doesn't affect my job... you missed the meeting again last week! it doesn't affect my family. your coughing woke me up again. i wish you'd take me to the park. i don't use my rescue inhaler a lot...

depends on what you mean by a lot. coping with asthma isn't controlling it. test your level of control at asthma.com, then talk to your doctor. there may be more you could do for your asthma.

check it. >> whoa, check it is right. two characters get ready to roll out some pretty wild tricks. >> it's these two sort of charming looking slackers laying around. it's like a stupid human trick. you can feasibly imagine somebody who practices all day long because they don't have a job. >> the tricks escalated from a very simple trick to an increasingly harder trick and harder trick. >> and it gets progressively more unbelievable. and when you watch it, you ask,

when did this stop being real? >> a lot of viral videos are seeming like they're just for fun, but are really designed to pitch a brand without really looking like it. >> i was approached by an ad agency. they were doing a campaign for -- called never hide for ray ban. i spent a lot of time sitting on the couch with a pair of sunglasses. had them in my hands. thinking what would be a good trick? >> why settle on just one trick? benzo and his creative partner steven hamt decided to shoot a montage of startling stunts. but are they real? >> according to the laws of physics and gravity, it's possible in theory. i think it just kind of rode that line of theoretically possible, which is good. >> certainly theories abound on the internet, all kinds of viewers have all kinds of

explanations for how the boys do it. but the filmmakers are not talking. >> that was a great catch. >> did you get that? >> got it. >> i like to keep the mystique. a good magician doesn't give away his tricks. there was just a lot more planning that went into it than people might realize. >> unbelievable. >> there were hundreds of videos created of kids trying to do the same thing. they were discussing whether, in fact, it was real or fake. >> i remember there was a comment that someone said there was magnets. he had magnets in his head or a steel plate in his head. i started telling people when they'd ask. magnets, totally magnets. >> the most ambitious of the video deconstructors is a silver painted character who called himself captain disillusion. >> let's break it down captain disillusion style. >> is intro is a combination of

two seamlessly combined shots. the first is played back in reverse and the glasses are not thrown to the catcher but pulled toward the thrower's hand by an incredible invention, the string. so it's all played back in reverse until the switch pan, during which there's an invisible cut to a straightforward shot where the characters lead. >> there were moments where he was on to us but never really completely nailed. there were a few instances where he was wrong but he was very confident in his breakdown, yeah. >> the skateboarding is a simple reverse shot using the string and they left you a clue. listen to the sound of the wheels on the pavement. it's backwards. that sounds right. impressive backward skateboarding skills. i want to see the outtakes. >> the skateboard was definitely the hardest to figure out how it's done. nobody's gotten it right yet and i won't break the secret. >> that was pretty much the hardest one, the skateboarding one, to pull off. it took about 52 takes.

>> something like that is really hard. as we get through the video, our own behind the scenes methods became more and more complicated. as someone's watching the video and they think they figure out how we did the first few tricks, as we get to the skate-a-pault, then it totally blows that. >> i remember the first time i saw it the reaction that steve has with his ice cream cone in his hand made me laugh for about 20 minutes. and that was kind of when we knew we had a hit. this is the best face ever. >> yeah, i had about 12 ice creams. and then the car one was, like, ridiculous. it was like, you know, how do we make it even harder? let's nail them through a moving window on to his face. >> and there's some pain involved in catching sunglasses. hard plastic hitting you in the face.

>> videos that have an element of how did they do that are a real staple of viral videos on the web. and brands have jumped into that concept completely. it's a great way to get discussion going around the video. >> once the video is ready, josh warner and his company take on the job of what they call seeding to help it go viral. >> we have a network of blog relationships that we have with hundreds of blogs all across the web. so we really know the influencers on the web that will help propel a video to popularity. >> it's a different way to express your brand, and it's a way that's more modern than traditional advertising. >> we have the never hide written in the dust in the car window. but it's not blatant in your face spot. no logo at the end. >> that was a great catch?

did you get that? >> got it. >> but many do notice the ad, including the judges at the cannes film festival. who awarded the bronze lion for advertising. >> i've been making films for 20 years and always wanted to get into the cannes film festival. then did this little video with benzo, produced it. and it won an award at cannes. coming up, an earthshaking boy-meets-girl story. >> we shot about 2,355 photos. >> with a cool twist on one of the oldest camera tricks in the book. >> so many photos. speaking of so many photos -- >> people don't know if it's fake or if it's real and if it's real, the insane amount of work in it. >> when "caught on camera: viral videos, how? what? why?" continues. how that feels. copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

spiriva is a once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that helps open my obstructed airways for a full 24 hours. you know, spiriva helps me breathe easier. spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? don't wait to ask your doctor about spiriva.

add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance and we'll replace stolen or destroyed items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ hey, guys, thank you for checking on my latest video. this project is probably the craziest i've ever done.

>> it's a simple boy-meets-girl story told in a really unusual way. >> this is sort of like when you have some magical fantasy of a photograph coming to life. and it's people playing with their cameras. so the story line is also about the sort of medium they're using with all those little photos flickering and changing. >> this is a great example of stop-motion photography. the filmmaker created a bank of frames and he's actually moving from one frame to the next. >> most stop motion videos are 30 seconds, a minute long, and they really kind of punch you in the face. the allure with this one is that it's four minutes long and it actually takes the time to tell a story that moves at a pretty slow pace. >> stop motion. it's a technique where you shoot one frame at a time in rapid succession, then edit the frames together to create an animated effect.

>> i was shooting with a digital slr. you're able to hold down the shutter and it's able to take something like six, seven frames a second. so we acted out the entire scene with them moving incredibly slowly so we could kind of get it back up to a normal 24 frames a second. i did use a story board for this. we had to mark down where the five photo frames would be, so when they jumped from frame to frame, we would be able to gauge where one ends and one begins. >> i also love when you first realize that when he takes a picture it's showing up right above you. you realize there's a system to it. >> we just decided to push it a little further and do stop motion inside of the frames and then do stop motion again for the entire scene. >> i kind of wonder how he set up the frames. what kind of techniques he used. it would be really interesting to know. >> the entire scene there at the

gorge was actually made up of two photos. we shot this first half here with brian walking on the right side of the frame. we shot a corresponding scene on the left side here. you can see when you start to combine them together, it started to kind of make the scene. we've got five photo frames on the top and five photo frames on the bottom. we knew these five photos along the top would equate to being these five photos on the top. these five here would in turn be these five you see on the bottom. and as a final step, we dragged it into the size of the photo frames we needed and exported the photos in a sequence one by one. you can see how something like that turned into thousands and thousands of photos here that are all the sequence to make the video. we shot about 2,355 photos give or take. >> but as labor intensive as dave wallace's video is, there's much more. the shots inside those frames aren't digital, they're actual physical photographs. why bother? >> a company called click picks

that does photo printing asked me to create something for them. so since they're a photo printing company, we definitely wanted to make sure we used real photos. so we sent those off to boston for click pixx to print. they sent them back to me in a giant box with all these photos. >> like a well-oiled machine, wallace and fren intrends insert their thousands of photos into picture frames. whim shooting the whole scene itself in stop motion, one frame at a time, for 11 hours. >> we've had great feedback so far. it's not in the millions just quite yet, but most importantly we have had the demographics that we want to be feeding back feeding back. we've had the photographers that are going to use click pixx feed back. >> if this film was edited digitally and not done physically, it would be less sort of enchanting. part of the magic is fact somebody actually did all of

that. >> so many photos. >> you want to talk photos, meet israeli filmmaker iran amir. >> this idea kind of popped in my head. from the moment i thought about it, i knew i would have to make it. >> amir calls his video 500 people in 100 seconds. and what is that, a movie in their hands? >> this is a great, great video. you've got all these people being photographed and then there's a whole scene going on within the photograph that they're holding and you're looking at the people, but you're also looking at the video that they're holding. >> this video was made in two parts. the first part making the music video was easy. when i heard the song, i knew immediately this is the song i'm going to use. it has a catchy tune. it has good rhythm. also, it's exactly 90 seconds

which for me is the idea length of a youtube video. i used my sister and my brother and my friends. >> it's so perfect that it's really hard to understand how the little picture on the inside can be so smooth and pretty while everything else is flashing really quickly. >> people don't know if it's fake or if it's real, and if it's real, it has an insane amount of work in it. >> the first thought is that he must be using some kind of digital trickery to put his music video inside the pictures. not this time. >> as it turns out, he shot the black and white movie. then he had it divided up and turned into still frames. >> let's do the math here. amir took his 100 second music video and chopped it up into more than 2,000 continuous still photos that he then took to a printer for hard copies. >> i got the pictures back. what i got back was a giant box weighing in at almost 20 kilograms. which was almost $1,000 before

even knowing if this is going to work. then for the first time, i understood how much work i have ahead of me. >> no kidding. then amir had to go out and get 500 people to hold up each one of his 500 pictures in the same position in order. >> the first two days i went out to the streets of jerusalem, and i came back with nothing. i didn't have even enough courage to ask anybody. and then after two days, i said to myself, well, i'm too deep in this, i spent thousands on it. i have no choice. i have to do it. >> part of the magic of this is knowing that there are actually 500 different faces there. that's 500 different people. that's sort of amazing. >> having people actually hold the frames, it gives that analog charm or analog feeling that you can't get in a digital way.

my kind of breakthrough moment was after the first day of taking pictures. i went back home, i put it all in a row in the editing software. i just needed to see four seconds of it, and i knew i have something really cool in my hands. >> what's even more amazing is nearly 1.5 million views in the video's first three months. >> what's really funny about this video is that some of the youtube comments say that it's actually not 500 people. it's 436 people. to get that level of attention and interest online is really incredible. >> this video was made intentionally to be a viral video, to get as many hits as possible. i do have to admit i didn't expect 1 million views. so it surpassed my expectations. coming up, a photography studio shows just how complicated taking one single

portrait can be. >> we used almost every piece of photography equipment that any photographer would ever own. >> you imagine some mad scientist that put together this intricate system to he could take a picture of this pretty girl. >> at first when i started, i was like, this is fun. this is interesting. by the end of it i was pulling my hair out. i actually started to have nightmares about the machine. >> when "caught on camera: viral video, how? what? why?" continues. [ tires screech ] ♪ [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't. toyota. let's go places, safely. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her,

she's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with her all day to see how it goes. [ claira ] after the deliveries, i was okay. now the ciabatta is done and the pain is starting again. more pills? seriously? seriously. [ groans ] all these stops to take more pills can be a pain. can i get my aleve back? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. getting the right nutrition isn't always easy.

first, i want a way to help minimize my blood sugar spikes. then, a way to support heart health. ♪ and let's not forget immune support. ♪ but now i have new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. including carbsteady ultra to help minimize blood sugar spikes. it's the best from glucerna. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. advancing nutrition for diabetes.

i'm mem liss is a rehberger. here's what's happening. house speaker john boehner says he won't allow a vote on the bill to reopen the government without serious talks about spending. and boehner says the same thing goes for any upcoming effort to raise the debt ceiling. a terrifying scene in mexico. an out of control monster truck crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing eight people and injuring nearly 80 others. the driver was detained by police as they investigate the incident. back to "caught on camera."

welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. the web has nearly as many viral videos as there are creative people to make them. in our next video, a group of talented and very patient people takes one click to a whole new level. hey, rube, how do you take your portrait? ought to be pretty straight forward, right? not in this video, by a small photography company looking to get noticed. >> we decided to shoot a rube goldberg machine. relatively a simple task, take a photo, in as complicated way as

possible. >> so david and his colleagues at 2d photography designed a photo machine that you can't take your eyes off of. >> we used almost every piece of photography equipment that any photographer would ever own. we used camera bodies, we used lenses, we used little tripods, large tripods. we used light stands. we used lights. we used a conveyor belt which was kind of difficult to get our hands on. >> this is an amazing video. you have all sorts of actions causing other actions and you just can't believe that any one person could make all this happen as it's happening here. >> you imagine some mad scientist who put together this intricate system so he could take a picture. >> i thought of the idea while i was playing with a few memory karz on my table. i knocked them over. they were like dominos. that immediately led me to think rube goldberg.

the term rube goldberg machine is named after a famous artist that is american. he was known for designing cartoons that performed simple tasks in the most complicated way possible. >> getting from concept to reality takes more than six months, 25 people and many sleepless nights. >> it was trial and error. >> build an element, pray that it works. if it does, build the next element. and we had 133 elements. >> at first when i started, i was like, oh, this is fun, this is interesting. by the end of it, i was, like, pulling my hair out. i actually started to have nightmares about the machine. >> i think the photo booth might have been the most complicated element actually. it turned out to be a very complicated series of mouse traps and a very painful thing to set up as well.

because mouse traps are super sensitive. i think my favorite element in the machine is the little mario on the screen that jumps across. >> who doesn't like mario? >> they have hundreds of synchronized moving parts and every one has to work from beginning to end in sequence, without stopping. >> we decided not to edit the video and try to get it in one take, just because i think as a viewer you would want to see it in one take, and not have transitions or different camera angles. there's axes flying around. there's bottles being shot. so you definitely had to learn the timing and learn what's going to happen. i had to choreograph the movements with the camera. i had to learn almost like dance moves. in and out and twisting and turning. >> it's an amazing amount of work to put together a video like this. i have to imagine there were so many takes required to get this right. >> every time i started a take, i would announce, take 93, this is the one.

i was disappointed 98 times. but i was happy on the 99th try. >> i think people really relate to the amount of work that's required to put something like this together. >> from the very beginning, we knew that it was going to be go big or go home kind of deal. >> my parents called me up and said, oh, i saw the video, it's got 10,000 views. that's amazing. i'm like, dad, just wait. >> 3 million views later, the product of david's imagination is a viral video smash hit. >> it was fun. i'm happy i did it once. but to be frank, i never want to do another one of these machines ever again. coming up -- >> 1,000. >> got 77 hours to spare?

>> evidently this guy does. >> 4,000. 5,000. >> they say the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. what would they say about a counting to 100,000? >> 10,000. >> clearly this guy has to get a day job. >> 12,000. 13,000. 14,000. >> when "caught on camera, viral videos, how? what? why?" continues. igle for medice?

that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about and which aarp medicare supplement plan works best for you. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients... plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. there's a range of plans to choose from, too, and they all travel with you anywhere in the country. join the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans

endorsed by aarp... an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations... and provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. ♪ call today. remember, medicare supplement insurance helps cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. expenses that could really add up. these kinds of plans could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. and there are virtually no referrals needed. so don't wait. with all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you.

o0 c1 help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven. and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. new york has never been cuter. the big apple as a little toy city in a video gone viral. >> it sort of feels like toys brought to life.

it reminded me of when you used to play in the sand pit as a kid. like, you have these tiny little versions of things. you make little towns. have all these little construction vehicles. that is really where it came from. >> and look, someone else made a miniature chicago. >> this was just a different view of the city. i was thinking, you know, i'd love to get something that people can relate to and enjoy. >> what's really fascinating about this is you really, really can't tell if it's real or if it's miniature sets. when you first see the boat, it looks like a little miniature boat. it's almost like it looks like it's in a bathtub. >> so, how did these two videographers make tiny little towns out of two of america's largest cities? if you guessed model toys, you'd be wrong. >> they did this through tilt shift photography. it's a method of where you're actually shooting down at an angle, and it blurs out backgrounds and really focuses

your attention on particular scenes and people within those scenes. >> there's sort of two ways people make these tilt shift images. on one hand, people use actual tilt shift lenses sometimes. but then people started figuring out ways to do it in post production. >> the thing that makes it feel like toys, like a miniature, it's a distinction of two thipgs, really. the first thing is when you see the focus is falling off, that immediately cues you to think that it's small. and the second thing is the acceleration. when you look at things like the boats and the helicopters, they seem to bob up and down. that's what a smaller thing would do. >> for his new york miniatures, sam o'hare used a still camera and normal lenses to shoot 35,000 digital images to create his stop motion effect. then played with focus and color in post production. in chicago, wgntv producer tony lytle also thought tilt shift technique would be a perfect way to promote his town and his tv station. but instead of shooting

thousands of still images like sam, tony created stop motion in his video camera. >> we decided to shoot video instead of still photography just because the process is a little easier and quicker to do. each shot is like two seconds long. the strobe effect is what gives you the stop motion look. and then the color correction. we mess with the saturation to make it look miniature and toy-like. and then the lower layer is the one that has the defocus or blur on it that really helps you focus on the subject. >> tony's bosses at wgn loved the result. their miniature chicago has become a youtube hit. and the station's most popular on-air promo. >> i think i've gotten so many hits on a video like this is because people love their city. i mean, chicago's a great town. >> it's just the pure pleasure of seeing the city look different.

so sort of charming and harmless in a way. >> sam calls his new york video the sand pit. in its first seven months, it has more than 750,000 online hits. >> i didn't really expect the response to be as big and positive as it has been. it's something i thought would maybe generate some interest in me and be popular, but i didn't expect it to kind of explode in the way that it did. >> you almost get to this point where every city wants to have it. when you're seeing your own city that way, it's familiar yet different. it lets you see your own city in a different light. gee whiz, i sure do love counting. i wonder how high i can go. let's find out.

one, two, three, four, five, six. >> and so it will go for more than 70 hours. no flash, no tricks. john hartchick is simply going to keep counting all the way up to 100,000. >> 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. 830, 831, 832, 833, 834, 835. >> this video is legend on youtube. the concept is so simple and absurd that you really want to see if he's actually going to make it to 100,000. >> 2,798, 2,799. 2,800. 2,801. 2,802. 2,803.

2,804. 2,805. >> one of the comments on youtube was from a guy who said he went to spain for the weekend and came back and the video was still playing. clearly this guy has to get a day job. >> i shot the entire video on a little ipod touch. it has a front-facing camera and just shoot it whenever i had free time. the majority of the video was in my bedroom. parts of it were all over pittsburgh. parts of it were at my school. i actually shot part of it at my sister's wedding. i was a little bit bored during part of it. i left the reception area, went upstairs, took out the ipod and counted a little bit. >> 80,010. 80,012. took about three months to make the whole video. >> how john does it certainly isn't very complicated.

the bigger question is why, for pete's sake? >> i went to college for tv production, and our final assignment for the final class was to make an experimental film. the assignment was extremely open ended. but i also just wanted to do something original and make people question what it is that makes a video entertaining. and just do something different. >> the best part is that nobody could ever disprove him because nobody's going to watch the whole thing. you almost wonder if he stuck in little jokes on the inside that nobody ever saw. >> 61,438. 61,439. >> and while some people may think this man needs to get a life, what about all the people out there who are actually watching this? >> i think it became a real contest of wills on whether people could actually watch the entire video. >> when i put it on youtube, a couple people pointed out little mistakes i made. i know i missed 99,991. >> 99,990. 99,992. >> people keep leaving a comment

telling me i missed a number. throughout making the video, there were several phases. at the beginning, it was kind of peaceful and actually kind of relaxing to do it. near the end, it became torture. i actually started having nightmares with me sitting there counting. part of the reason i originally did it was to do an easier project. i wouldn't have to write a script. i wouldn't have to hire actors and stuff. about halfway through i realized it was actually much more work to actually sit there and count to 100,000. >> 99,796. 99,797. 99,798. 99,799. 99,800. >> john's torture doesn't stop with the counting. his simple concept hits a technical roadblock when it comes time to get his video to go viral. >> youtube has a 20 gigabyte limit, so it's tough getting 77 hours of video down to 20 gigabytes. most video editing programs have

a time limit. most of them are 12 hours. so i had to do a bunch of research to actually find a program that would be able to do it. >> so there it is, his pride and joy, his claim to fame. more than 500,000 views and still counting. >> that's sort of the magic of the internet that it can be something you do that nobody else did. it might be counting to 100,000 and maybe nobody else wants to do it, but it's his forever now. >> 99,998. 99,999. 100,000. >> i have had lots of complements when people tell me i missed a number. >> coming up, two kids from germany run into trouble with a magic trick. and then it gets worse. >> holy crap.

is that kid okay? >> you're about to find out. when caught on camera, viral videos, how, what, why continues. ♪ [ male announcer ] harvey's "i'm so happy you're home" dance? that's real love. and so is giving him real tasty food. now there's new so good! dog food from iams. some leading brands contain sugar, or dyes, or artificial preservatives. ♪ [ dog whimpers ] but so good! from iams has 100% wholesome ingredients and none of those other things. now that's real love. and so is that. new so good! from iams. learn more at iams.com. new so good! from iams. still doesn't feel real. our time together was... so short. well, since you had progressive's total loss coverage, we were able to replace your totaled bike with a brand-new one. the tank, the exhaust... well, she looks just like roxy! you know, i'll bet she's in a better place now. i'm sure she is. [ ethereal music plays ]

[ motorcycle revving ] getting you back on a brand-new bike. now, that's progressive. customer erin swenson ordebut they didn't fit.line customer's not happy, i'm not happy. sales go down, i'm not happy. merch comes back, i'm not happy. use ups. they make returns easy. unhappy customer becomes happy customer. then, repeat customer. easy returns, i'm happy. repeat customers, i'm happy. sales go up, i'm happy. i ordered another pair.

i'm happy. (both) i'm happy. i'm happy. happy. happy. happy. happy. happy happy. i love logistics.

two kids attempt one of the oldest tricks in the book. >> let's start the magic trick. we can do the old table cloth out from under the stuff on the table trick. >> they tried it again and again. >> everybody knows what it is to be the kid trying to do this trick and failing a whole bunch of times. >> you keep expecting for something to happen. >> and then something does. >> oh, my god, the kid gets crushed.

>> you have to sort of scream the first time you see it. >> holy crap, is that kid okay? >> you're wondering what the heck happened. >> don't worry, nobody was hurt in the making of this video. it was a marketing trick for the gop variety theater in germany. >> you just sit there and you look through wide eyes and it's very fascinating. >> we have about 700,000 people coming to our shows every year. >> however, the theater wants to attract a younger demographic,

they hire filmmakers dominic and matt to create a video to gasp people's attention. >> we went on youtube and found out that accidents of children and accidents of animals are a big sensation on the internet. >> how could they ever lie to you and make a fake viral video? but they can. >> dominic inlists his brother and cousin to star in the piece. >> it was roughly explained to me that we would be doing the table cloth trick. >> they had to do multiple takes attempting the trick. >> we laughed a lot because we had to do everything over again. and everything broke. we liked that. >> the first three videos we made certainly set up the credibility of the piece. >> then the filmmakers come up with the real ta-dah moment.

which ask made up of two shots. >> first we filmed the two kids in the room. the table is set with just the table cloth, no dishes. and then he dumps into the shelf and falls to the ground. >> they are sent out of the room as the directors prepare for the second shot. >> we secured all cables and knocked the shelf over. >> with the living room demolition a success. dominique and max bring the footage into edit. >> we then superimposed the videos so it would look as if they were having at the same time. as if sven was able to pull the table cloth out from under the dishes and the shelf was falling on mchale. >> with the magic of editing complete, the filmmakers are happy with the result. however they do notice one small mistake.

do you see it? >> in the front you see a pin that is slightly moving so there is a mast that's not running correctly. this could be a clue that this video is faked. >> you need serious attention to detail to catch that one. >> in august of 2011, the theater launches the magic show online. it tricked viewers earning more than 10 million hits turning mchale and sven into internet celebrities. >> i think it's cool. >> my father suggested we print autograph cards. >> it went all over the world so people in australia and people in south america, they were watching our video, so that was really, really exciting. testifying not -- it was not

expected. >> i think this video went viral because it's really well done. it's short, sharp and shocking. >> there's an immediate feeling of sort of surprise and of horror and then just wondering of where it came from and who made it. >> millions of others feel the same way and trace the video back to the gop theater. after the magic trick gone bad hits the internet. curious patrons flock to the theater in record numbers. this may not be the last year from mchale and sven. >> people have said, sven, you have the potential to be an actor. >> i want to move in that direction because i want to be actor one day. >> the next time you click on a viral video, loud out loud cringe or shed a tear, remember, there's a lot more than meets the eye. i'm contessa brewer.

that's all for this edrugs of "caught on camera." all the world may be a stage but there's no telling when life will radically depart from the script. in illinois, a man is trampled by a panicked horse while another in north carolina struggles to escape from a deadly inferno. then, a 4th of july celebration goes explosively off course. while taking off in a jet turns into a fight between life and death. and falling from 9,000 feet, two skydivers free themselves before it's too late. >> you have to do something or your you're going to die. >> sometimes the best-laid plans