Shadowing Practice: Flying Phone Scam Exposed (so I built a REAL one) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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- I saw this video on Twitter with over 5 million views, and then again on YouTube with nearly 1 million views.

Basically, this guy modified his cell phone case with propellers to take selfies, which is awesome.

My only issue with it is that it's not only fake, but it's a scam, which I'll explain in a minute.

But as for it being fake, the first clue is that these are three-volt, seven-millimeter microbrush motors like you see here.

If you attach one to a beam like this and turn it on at full throttle, you'll see the most weight that it can lift is six quarters, or about 30 grams.

The cell phone in the video with all the flying gear attached would weigh about 300 grams, and since drones are typically designed to hover at 70% max thrust, you would need at least 15 of these motors to do what he did.

But you know, this just doesn't look as catchy.

In fact, we recreated the exact setup he used in the video and turned the motors to full throttle and this is what happened.

Here it is in slow-mo, and as you can see, there's hardly any difference than if you don't turn the propellers on at all.

So I'm gonna show you how this scam artist somehow manages to break the laws of physics four more times in this three-minute video.

And then because obeying the laws of physics isn't optional, we're gonna call up fellow YouTuber Captain Disillusion to see if he can help a spot any signs of special effects.

And then with my buddy Peter Sripol, I'm gonna show you what it would take to actually build a flying selfie phone case, and then I'll put all the details on a new site I built using wix.com.

But before I do any of that, let me first explain why this is a scam and not just a harmless fake video for meaningless internet points.

With this many views and an astounding 80% like ratio, which means most people probably didn't realize it was fake, it's a statistical certainty that some young, aspiring engineer actually tried to build this themselves.

Worse than their parents' phone dropping like a rock and breaking, this might have been his or her first experience at making something.

But how, you might ask, would they know what components to use?

Well, here in the description, Amazing maker was kind enough to put links, Amazon affiliate links.

You can tell by the URLs.

So he is making money off the crest dreams of aspiring engineers without enough experience yet to know that this is total BS, and aspiring engineers are my people and you don't mess with my people.

(gun cocks) Let's do this.

(gun fires) The second gratuitous violation of physics comes in this scene.

Force of gravity always points down, but helicopter spinning blades create a force perpendicular to the blades themselves.

So if you want to hover, you need to be level so the forces will cancel out and you won't move.

If you tilt forward and then break the thrust force into its x and y components, you suddenly have an unbalanced force that will move you in that direction.

In essence, that's how helicopters move forward, by tipping forward.

In other words, it's physically impossible to hover in an orientation like this.

The forward thrust component is unbalanced, and it would have to move the phone forward.

The third major issue is the Arduino-compatible circuit board he chose.

It's the same board here, and it's supposed to be the brains for the drone.

Yet this specific model of board doesn't come with any sort of gyroscope or accelerometer.

Here's why that matters.

If you've ever tried balancing something on your hand like this, you and your body were creating what's referred to as a closed loop feedback control system.

So if it starts to tip over, my eyes relay that to my brain and my hand says, "Hey, I'm no longer feeling the weight just up and down.

It's also pushing my hand this way." And so my brain takes all that information and responds by telling my hand to move this way at a specific speed in order to compensate.

So to keep this thing balanced, there's this continuous loop of quickly gathering information, and then making real-time adjustments.

And closed feedback loops are used all over in engineering, from the simple case of a thermostat that continuously checks the air and turns on at a certain temperature, to dartboards that update their position 200 times a second to get a bullseye every time.

(bell dings) To machines that are abused, and most certainly for anything that flies and needs to stay in the air.

The fact that his board is missing a gyroscope and an accelerometer means there's no way for it to tell if it's starting to rotate or to fall in any direction.

It's the equivalent of trying to balance the board wearing a blindfold and an oven mitt.

You have no idea what adjustments to make to keep things balanced.

(cat meows) Which is the perfect lead-in to the fourth major physics flaw.

Notice how he attaches these motors and rigidly fixes them to the phone with double-stick tape.

This means if you start to tip forward, you have no way to self-correct the phone orientation, and it would just turn into a nose dive.

If you only have two propellers in this configuration, they both need to be able to rotate with respect to the phone in order to correct for movements in all six degrees of freedom.

For example, if it starts to tip forward, you could rotate them both back like this to correct for that.

Or if the wind is trying to spin the phone this way, they could assume this configuration to counter that.

To return to our balancing shovel analogy, by fixing the motors directly to the case, you lose your ability to even make corrections.

So not only do you have no idea where to move, but your arm is locked out from making adjustments anyways, which makes it literally impossible to balance.

(shovel clangs) Ow.

And my final physics issue with this video is one of acoustics.

This guy proposes using it as a hands-free way to watch your favorite, super hip music videos, conveniently dubbing over the audio here.

(upbeat music) (singers singing in foreign language) For reference, this is what an episode of "The Office" would sound like on a phone at full volume.

(actor talking) (propellers buzzing) And don't forget, you would actually need 13 more motors than this, so it would be at least six times louder.

So now we've thoroughly established a multitude of physical laws have been broken, let's find out exactly how he faked it.

And to do that, I've arranged a video call with the undisputed heavyweight champion of debunking fake videos using special effects, Captain Disillusion.

- Make sure to get it as flush as possible against your skin to minimize folds that might make it hard to chroma key out, like this.

(Mark clears throat) Nice and tight.

Mmm. - Captain!

- Oh, hi, Mark.

Mark Rober! You weren't supposed to call yet.

- It's two o'clock.

I'm actually even five minutes late.

- Really? Well then.

(objects whirring) How can I help you?

- Did you not even watch the video I sent?

- Ah, yes, of course.

The mobile drone video.

I've analyzed it thoroughly, Mark, and my conclusion is it's totally real.

- Seriously?

- Yes, everything except for the mobile drone part, that's fake.

If you look very closely, you might just be able to make out the huge, shadowing mask on the side of the phone, visible in every shot of it flying.

The creator must have been in a real hurry because it's so messy.

Here, it cuts off the edge of the phone.

Here, the tip of his finger.

And here, it reveals the thing it's supposed to be hiding, a rod.

It's narrow and light colored, and probably attached with the same mounting tape he used to tack on all the other gadgets.

That's why he's able to grab and adjust the phone in this shot.

By the river, the mask hides not just the stick, but the whole person holding it.

Look closer.

On this side, the real-time water, and on this side, a still frame from an empty version of the shot.

And if we track the phone's position and rotation, we can easily reverse engineer exactly how the stick puppeteer did, rotating mostly from the point where it was held.

- Wow, that was very impressive, Captain D.

Thank you for taking the time- - My favorite part of this whole thing is the audio.

The tiny propellers must have made so little noise at a distance, it didn't give a proper drone vibe.

So the hoaxers recorded the sound of the motors up close, and reused the same clip in every scene, complete with their muttering voices in the background.

(drone whining) (drone whining) (drone whining) - Awesome.

Well, thanks again for- - But even more impressive is the number of posts, messages, and tweets presumably from people with functioning eyeballs asking me if this painfully obvious edit is real, over and over.

- Okay, Captain, well, take care.

I've gotta go back to my- - Even you, Mark!

How could you do this to me?

How could you do- - He's such a joker. (laughs) So it's fake, and now you know exactly all the reasons why, but it's still a really interesting idea.

And I was curious what it would look like if you actually built one of these using less special effects and more practical engineering.

So naturally, I called in my buddy, Peter Sripol whose qualifications include building his own electric plane from scratch, and he immediately got to work.

(bright music) Turns out if you take two brushless motors, two electronic motor speed controllers, a flight controller that actually has a gyroscope and an accelerometer integrated, a 3D-printed frame, and two servos to articulate the rotors, a radio transmitter for a remote control, and a four-cell lipo battery, and then you put them all together, it actually works.

(propeller whining) (machine clattering) Kind of.

We had to do a bunch of test flights to calibrate that feedback control loop we talked about before.

So if we notice the drone is either undercompensated or overcompensating when it starts to fall in a certain way, we tweak the response sensitivity in between flights until we get to the sweet spot.

And I should mention, remember how the motors from the fake video could barely lift only six quarters?

Well, if you properly size them for the task at hand, they should be able to lift 150 quarters.

100

And so once we felt like we had it in pretty good shape, we took her out for the maiden test flight.

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(gentle music) (camera shutter snaps) (camera shutter snaps) (gentle music) In our defense, it was a little windy out there, but as you can see, it could be pretty wobbly at times.

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The truth is, a bi-copter like this totally works.

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It just isn't a great design choice.

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The reason pretty much all camera drones are quad-copter is because they're much more stable due to a larger footprint shared between four motors.

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And by getting clever with a throttle speeds, you can move in all six degrees of freedom with no moving parts.

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So there you go, with solid engineering, you don't need hidden rods or masking and rotoscoping, and Sir Isaac Newton can once again comfortably rest in his grave.

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So the moral of the story is just don't cheat and lie and scam.

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I actually considered going a little easier on Amazing maker, but then I happened to scan some of his other videos, like this knee brace that charges your phone and even powers this flashlight as you walk.

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In theory, I'll skip the details, but in reality, this system would also never work as shown, which is why if you rewind that and stabilize on his hand in the pocket you see him click a hidden flashlight switch.

110

Thanks for watching.

111

(bright music) (children yelling) (snowballs striking) (Mark yelps) More tape!

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Flying Phone Scam Exposed”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: motor, drone, fake. This video has 111 sentences and 2067 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:54. The speaker talks fast, about 190 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
drone noun	/dɹoʊn/	A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen.
propeller noun	/pɹəˈpɛl.ə/	One who, or that which, propels.
whine verb	/ˈwaɪ̯n/	To utter a high-pitched cry.
rotate verb	/ˈɹoʊ.teɪt/	To spin, turn, or revolve.
scam noun	/ˈskæm/	A fraudulent or dishonest deal. A swindle.
accelerometer noun	/ækˌsɛl.əˈɹɑ.mə.tɚ/	An instrument for measuring acceleration.
aspire verb	/əˈspaɪɚ/	To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something.
gyroscope noun	/ˈd͡ʒaɪ.ɹəˌskoʊp/	An apparatus composed of a wheel which spins inside of a frame (gimbal) and causes the balancing of the frame in any direction or position. In the form of a…
hover verb	/ˈhɒvə/	To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air.
throttle noun	/ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/	A valve that regulates the supply of fuel-air mixture to an internal combustion engine and thus controls its speed; a similar valve that controls the air…
thrust verb	/θɹʌst/	To make advance with force.
adjustment noun	/əˈd͡ʒʌst.mənt/	The action of adjusting something.
copter noun	/ˈkɑptɚ/	A helicopter.
flashlight noun	/ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/	A battery-powered hand-held light source.
shovel noun	/ˈʃʌv.əl/	A hand tool with a handle, used for moving portions of material such as earth, snow, and grain from one place to another, with some forms also used for…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
call up verb		To retrieve from personal or computer memory.
cut off verb	/ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf]	To remove by cutting.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
make out verb	/meɪk aʊt/	To draw up (a document etc.), to designate (a cheque).
move forward verb		To cause to make progress.
turn out verb		To end up; to result.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

You weren't supposed to call yet.
I'm actually even five minutes late.
How could you do this to me?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is unbalanced · are abused · is locked
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've ever tried · have been broken · I've arranged
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	selfies, which is · ratio, which means · anyways, which makes

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: throttle /ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/, thrust /θɹʌst/, thoroughly /ˈθʌɹ.ə.li/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: flashlight /ˈflæʃˌlaɪt/, shovel /ˈʃʌv.əl/, shutter /ˈʃʌtəː/, configuration /kənˌfɪɡ.əˈɹeɪ̯.ʃən/, orientation /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: accelerometer /ækˌsɛl.əˈɹɑ.mə.tɚ/, configuration /kənˌfɪɡ.əˈɹeɪ̯.ʃən/, orientation /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/, helicopter /ˈheliːˌkɔptə(ɹ)/, gratuitous /ɡɹəˈtu.ɪt.əs/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like drone, propeller, whine.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Flying Phone Scam Exposed (so I built a REAL one) - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?