Don’t Look Down: The World’s Scariest Ferris Wheel

I’ve written about some scary designs before, but I never thought it would be in the form of a carnival ride. Since my heart would beat out of my chest, I probably wouldn’t play tennis on this tennis court, and I wouldn’t let my child play on this playground. Oh, and I wouldn’t swim in this deadly swimming pool either. However, I would definitely like to take a ride on this Ferris wheel because even though it looks like the ride of death, it’s all an intricate optical illusion.

As it turns out, the Ferris wheel’s wheel is not really missing like it looks in these pictures. According to designer Maider Lopez, “This is a video project in which the wheel’s structure disappears by using chroma key. You can only see the gondolas and the people floating in space. To achieve this, the wheel’s structure was painted red and the gondolas in complimentary colors.”

If you are unfamiliar with chroma key, it’s a technique for layering two images together. It’s the same technique used when we watch a meteorologist on television stand in front of weather maps to give us the forecast. A lot of filmmakers also use this technique for special effects. It all has to do with colors. The top layer is made transparent which then reveals the background image. You can see this fabulous Ferris wheel in action in the video below.

Via: [Incredible Things]