Well, as I predicted would happen, you are now out of my league. Duplicating that video's trick is more of an engineering problem than a physics one, but at a glance it looks to be a fairly complicated setup, and I definitely do not know enough about magnets or, in particular, mechanical engineering involving magnets, to be able to help you. I would ask your physics TA, and have him direct you to somebody doing experiments involving magnets (particle accelerators, maybe? Although they use electromagnets, not static magnets). I'm sure Penn State has somebody who does that!