The Man Walking on Water in 'High Hopes' – Storm Thorgerson’s Optical Illusion

That scene isn’t actually a man walking on water at all. Storm Thorgerson filmed a man walking across a wet road, then flipped the camera 180 degrees. The reflection on the road becomes the “surface” of the water, and the real world becomes the underwater world upside down. It’s a classic Thorgerson trick: make you question what’s real and what’s reflected.

The inspiration came from the song’s theme of looking back at lost chances with illusionary hope. Thorgerson wanted a visual that felt like a dream where gravity doesn’t apply—literally walking on water because your perspective is flipped. The man with the balloon is the same character, drifting between the two worlds. No CGI, just a camera in a van on a rainy day.