VIDEO: Black Man Staring at People

November 24, 201335 Comments

 

I told you guys I wanted to start doing social experiments and here is my first one! This video was shot at the University of Central Florida right before the Rutgers tailgate.

If you’re wondering how we filmed it, my friend Jonathan would go and sit down before me with a backpack and some shirts covering the camera, which you can see obscures the lens at times. After he gave me a signal, I would come in and commence the Black Man Staring At People. Definitely need a better setup though, cause I don’t have any lens that allows me to shoot people from SUPER far away. For the most part, the camera was right in front of everyone…they just never noticed it.

Not gonnna lie, it was highly awkward staring at these strangers. I didn’t really know what to say. Should I respond to their questions? Or would it be funnier if I just kept staring at them? In the end, I did end up laughing every time, I just cut each scene before you see it. And yes, I did let everyone know it was a prank. What do you guys think of my first social experiment? Should I keep going? Would you be interested in seeing some of the raw footage?

What social experiment should I do next?

Tweet me suggestions at twitter.com/ScooterMagruder

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About the Author ()

Cameron "Scooter" Magruder is an actor, producer, and new media personality who creates weekly videos for his YouTube account ScooterMagruder. His videos have been featured on the Today Show, NBATV, The Huffington Post, ESPN.com, the Orlando Sentinel, and more. If you would like to contact Scooter Magruder, please navigate to the contact page.


Comments (35)

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  1. Dbaby says:

    Hey Scooter,

    I thought the social experiment was interesting, but, not that funny. Sorry, just keepin it real. Try doing something like:
    1. Dropping something ( i.e., Keys, pen, etc.) on the floor to see if the other person will pick it up. Try this with men and then with women of different ages.
    2. Go to a ball field to see if someone will let you play on their team, even if you don’t know how to play

    I have other ideas, but, last time I gave you a list u didn’t even email me back.
    Peace

  2. Sandra Hanna says:

    So did you just leave at the end or did you tell the people what was going on afterwords? This is actually the first social experiment ive seen on youtube just done by a person just cause. I was very entertained. 🙂 Great Work!

  3. Jazz says:

    Omg, Scooter why’d you do it?! I can’t breathe,and I’m sure the people in my neighborhood think I’m insane because of how much I was laughing. You’re awesome,and that guy listening to screamo was just perfect. For your next experiment, you should hand out pencils and notes to random people that say if you like me check yes or no. Watch them and see what kind of response you get. Keep up the great entertainment!

  4. Do you watch Impractical Jokers? They do a lot of stuff kind of like this and it can be pretty funny. I dont know what else you could do for social experiments im sure whispering to people asking “Did you fart” would be a funny video and you could probably get some funny responses off of that.

  5. SteveC says:

    I loved how you had to move to the other side of the table with the emo dude. Would love to se the B Roll.

    • You are not even ready though…still figuring out if I want to show the raw footage somewhere or not. I kinda want to make it an exclusive on this website…still toying around with the idea though!

  6. Nick says:

    Scooter! Nick here. Feels like it’s been forever since I left a comment here. Hope you are well. I almost cried laughing watching the video. Anyway, I digress.

    Did you see how clutch Romo was vs the Giants? That must have made you feel good.

  7. Kaithlyn says:

    Was this at the Rutgers tailgating? If it was, I’m so mad I didn’t see you there!! Haha

    #GoKnights

  8. Joshua Scribner says:

    Hey Scooter.

    I thought this was very interesting. And funny just because I could feel the awkwardness through the video.

    I would like to see you get some of your friends and do an experiment on group think and peer pressure. Something like you and the others all going up an elevator looking the opposite direction from the door to see if other people will do it when they get on. I think you’ll be surprised.

    Also excited for the return of “Stuff Fans say”

    Keep up the good work bro!

  9. Travis says:

    Hi Scooter,
    I think the one girl who was having lunch was kind of into you, before she got creeped out.

    -Have you done a Black Friday video? Or a crazy people around the holidays video? People really are insane!

    -Social Experiment: Is there anyone that doesn’t like Chinese Food?

  10. LaMia says:

    Hey Scooter! I usually post my comments on the actually youtube video, but since I haven’t switched to that google plus account thing, youtube won’t allow me to comment on any youtube videos (you should make a video about that) lol! But this video is great! Social experiments are awesome because they can lead to high levels of awkwardness, which is always great! Your social experiments can vary in topic, it really depends on if your doing the experiments to make generalizations about society or cultures or if you’re just doing the experiments for the fun of it. Either way, you’ll do great, keep up the good work!

    • Hey LaMia!

      The Google+ requirement is complete foolishness in my opinion…but what are you gonna do. Glad you managed to find your way to my site though! I’m definitely going to keep on doing the social experiments for sure…especially next year! I just don’t want to run out of ideas and start making nonsense :-/

  11. Lilly Brown says:

    Loved it Scooter! So funny. The people you did it to responded pretty well actually. Nice work not bursting out laughing. Since it’s Christmas season you should do some type of social experiment with mistletoe. Those were popular last year. Have another friend next to you and make it a “you can only kiss one” game. See what people do!

    p.s. My friend and I started a social issue YouTube vlog channel. We’ve made two videos, here’s the second! I’d love for you to check it out! This one’s about race & the black girls rock foundation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4gdIeh3-k4

    Keep up the good work,

    Lilly

    E5 Yellow 🙂

  12. Samuel says:

    Great videos man, and I especially love stuff like this.
    I really wish I could come up with something good for a social experiment video, but I can’t find that perfect idea.
    Dress up as different characters, exploit society’s intolerance to sexuality, race, religion, i don’t know.

  13. Thong says:

    This video was hilarious. Keep up the good work man. I look forward to seeing more videos like this.

  14. Samuel says:

    Even better the second time around!
    The girl on the phone, when you put your hands down to get her attention… HAHA.
    Just saying this is hillarious.
    I would love to see you keep involving fans and friends in pranks, they are always even better with more pranksters.

  15. Chang Ming says:

    Oh my goodness this is a great video, enjoyed it so much, from your “experiments” to the responses of the “subjects” at UCF (they are really nice people). It’s just so funny.

    Keep up the good word! Hope to see such social experiments challenging generalisation/stereotypes existing in our society today!

    – a new fan from Singapore
    PS: just watched your video about democrats vs republicans, extremely witty!

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