The Art and Science Science of Misdirection Misdirection
Many debates have started over the question, “Is magic an art or a science?” This single, simple question question has evoed evoed heated debate in the many circles circles of magic, from the hobbyist to the professional! "ored out completely, it can be ascertained that magic is both a science and an art! The science lies in the sleight of hand and technical #or that goes into any routine! The art lies in the presentation, the story line and the creative #ay that any given magician combines several techniques to come upon a logical sequence of events to mae magic happen! This sequence, pasted together properly, contains many factors! $ne factor, #hether built in by design or by accident, is misdirection! In the follo#ing series of articles, #e #ill be looing at this fascinating tool of our trade, #hich is a form of mind control, called misdirection!
In “The %oos of "onder,” by Tommy "onder and Stephen Minch, this topic is dealt #ith immediately at the beginning of &olume &olume '! So important is this tool to a magician, that Tommy "onder feels it imperative to begin his ( volume set #ith this sub)ect! *o#ever, before delving into a serious discussion, Mr! "onder considers the name, “Misdirection” and #hether or not this is a misnomer!
Misdirection is a negative #ord! +onsider that #e, as magician, are misdirecting misdirecting our spectators attention a#ay from the technical #or and directing that attention to #here the magic is happening! To fully appreciate the magic as it is happening, the spectator must be una#are of the things that #e are hiding! %y thining of our misdirection, #e, the magicians, are directing our o#n thought to the e-act spot #here #e do not #ant our spectators attention to be dra#n! As a result, #e psychologically psychologically and inadvertently direct attention to the #rong area! Therefore, #hen #e consider misdirection misdirection in all its technical and artistic glory, #e should not be calling it misdirection, but rather “.irection!” $ur o#n thoughts must be on the direction and not the misdirection, misdirection, to completely give our magic the po#er that it can and should have! "ith full consideration consideration to this fact, this article #ill deal #ith misdirection as misdirection, as that is the name that #e are comfortable #ith and to change it at this point could be an easy cause of confusion!
MIS.I/0+TI$1 I1 T*0$/2
Misdirection is a constant in our lives! Anyone #ho reads a boo #hile the television is on is dealing #ith misdirection! /eading #hile listening to music is also misdirection! *ave you ever been reading #hile your thoughts have gone on to something other than the boo? 2ou stop reading, reali3ing that you have not comprehended anything from the last paragraph or t#o and no# have to go bac and reread the #hole thing!
2ou have e-perienced mental misdirection! 2ou are playing a game, such as cricet or baseball, #ith your friends and t#o hours goes by lie '4 minutes 5 that #ould be temporal misdirection! Misdirection comes in many forms that #e deal #ith from day to day, but dont tae the time to consider that fact! "aling along, you hear a loud noise and immediately turn to see #hat it #as! This is misdirection, as is #hen someone calls your name! 2ou hear your name and everyone #ho hears it #ho has the same name as you, loos!
Misdirection!
There are many more e-amples of misdirection in our day to day lives! The magician, ho#ever, maes a study of this basic principle! To overloo this ultimately important part of our hobby is to overloo a very basic principle of magic! Sleight of hand and gimmics mae magic, misdirection maes magic po#erful! Try this e-periment6
/ight no#, loo at a picture on the #all! .o it, right no#! 1o# youve come bac to reading this article! *o# long did it tae you to refocus on this article? *o# long did it tae you to 7nd your place? 2oull note that it too a second )ust to 7nd your place and begin reading again! 2ou #ere misdirected and no# you are bac, but for a second in time, you needed to refocus and 7nd your place! 2ou may thin that this #as no big deal, but if you spend some time considering #hat )ust happened, youll reali3e that if you are doing a magic e8ect and you need a second to mae a move or manoeuvre unnoticed, #hat you have )ust learned is of e-treme importance!
As an e-ample, you are doing some close5up #or #ith a dec of cards and you need to do a pass, #hich is not fully invisible! If the spectators loo at the
dec in your hands, they #ill see you mae this manoeuvre, but it only taes you a second to pull it o8! 2ou need some misdirection, and you need it fast! So, #hat #ill #or in this situation? A quic brea in the action #hile you as a question or mae an observation #ould #or! All you need to do is as one of the spectators a question, they #ill reply and for the most part, the other spectators #ill loo at the person replying, or you, #hile you as your question! This can even be made stronger, using only the information that is in this article at this point in time! /ather than )ust as a question, use the name of the spectator that youll be asing the question to, “%ill, have you ever seen a card tric lie this before?” 9sing the name immediately dra#s %ills attention 5 youve used his name and by human nature, %ill is instantly dra#n to loo at you! Also, out of human nature, the other spectators are dra#n to loo at %ill #hile he ans#ers this question! The speci7c name given to this :by Tommy "onder; is “The /icochet!”
*o#ever, misdirection should not be overtly used! Misdirection needs to be subtle! In the e-ample above, you as %ill a question! That question needs to 7t into the natural
+onsidering the above, #e come to ho# to build misdirection into a routine! There are t#o schools of thought on this sub)ect! The 7rst, you can build your routine, identify the #ea points, then add your misdirection to cover these spots after#ards! This #ill #or, but it is not the strongest #ay to go about this! The second, you build in your misdirection as you build the routine! This is the stronger use of misdirection, as it becomes part of the fabric of your routine, rather than a patch#or that youve added as an afterthought! 9sing the e-ample above, #ith %ill, you reali3e that this part of the routine must be covered! >rior to 7guring out #here your routine is going, or adding in any parts beyond the pass that must be covered, you must thin of a reason to stop at this point to in)ect the comment for misdirections sae! Should you decide to 7nish the #or5up of your routine, then any comment that you add
#ill be a patch#or, or an afterthought! %y deciding to build in the misdirection right at the beginning, this comment #ill be logical to the e8ect that you are attempting and may )ust springboard your thoughts to a logical continuation of the e8ect based on the misdirectional statement! This #ill, of course, mae for a stronger and more magical routine!
In the ne-t article, #e shall dissect misdirection and its many forms! "e #ill tae an in depth loo at #hat misdirection is and #hy it #ors! 0ventually, #e #ill get into ho# to use misdirection not as a misdirection, but rather as a direction and ho# to build it into your routines, to mae you a better magician and to mae your magic as po#erful as it can possibly be!
There are several speci7c forms of misdirection, ho#ever! In the follo#ing section, #e #ill endeavour to list several di8erent forms and loo at ho# they a8ect our routine! In fact, misdirection can mae the di8erence bet#een a tric and a miracle!
'! The /icochet 5 This very po#erful form of misdirection goes straight to the heart of the psychology of misdirection! Termed “The /icochet” by Tommy "onder, this is psychology at its 7nest!
"hen dealing #ith spectators, there are several reasons to as them their names and use those names #hile #oring #ith them! $ne reason is listed in “*o# to "in riends and In
eople,” by .ale +arnegie! It is e-plained, in that boo, that the s#eetest sound to someones ears is their o#n name! %y using peoples names, you not only get them on your side and help them to lie you, but you also put them at ease! This is very important on several levels! "hen someone lies you and they are at ease, they are much more easily directed in the #ay that you desire! In
The ne-t thing that using someones name accomplishes is that it almost forces them to loo at you #hile you address them directly! “*ey pal,” does not carry the force that “0-cuse me, %ill,” does :assuming, of course, the spectator in questions name is %ill;! So, #hen covering up a special manoeuvre and you need a second or t#o, a question directed at %ill #ill
immediately get him to mae eye contact #ith you! *e is at ease because you are using his name@ he is on your side because he lies to hear his name used and he loos at you because you directly used his name in con)unction #ith a question! This, ho#ever, is not the ricochet itself!
The ricochet occurs #hen the other spectators loo at %ill as he ans#ers your question! Their attention is dra#n to %ill as he ans#ers you! This is the ricochet! It is deeply ingrained #ithin the human psyche that #hen somebody is taling that they should be given attention! %y putting the spot light on %ill, you have in
ets further assume that %ill is #ith his girlfriend Boannie! %ill simply #ill not loo up at you@ his eyes #ont leave your hands! *ere #e #ill invoe the ricochet to misdirect %ill! 2ou see, you #ill loo at Boannie and as, “Boannie, have you ever seen anything lie this before?” Boannie #ill loo at you as you as your question, having used her name she is compelled to give you attention! %ill, hearing another man use Boannies name #ill be compelled to loo at you out of curiosity and hearing another man use her name! 0ven if he still manages to eep his eyes on your hands, he #ill be over#helmingly dra#n to loo at Boannie #hile she ans#ers the question since the need to loo at her is ingrained into %ill 5 this is his girlfriend, she is conversing #ith another man and she deserves %ills attention #hen she speas! This is a very po#erful tool! If this doesnt #or on %ill, dont #orry, there are still more techniques to use in misdirection! This only serves to sho# you one very po#erful tool that you #ield in your misdirectional arsenal! Al#ays eep the ricochet in mind!
(! 0ntertainment 5 This sounds simple but is probably one of the most important parts of misdirection that #e can use! This not only runs on a psychological level, but on a biological level too! The fact of the matter is, #hen people are entertained they are at ease! Alright, maybe not all the time, since deeply emotional things can be entertaining but still not put an audience at ease, lie a disturbing and scary movie, for e-ample! *o#ever, as a general rule, entertainment comes in the form of having fun and en)oying oneself!
$n the psychological level of entertainment, #e have something similar to the ricochet above! "eve put our audience at ease through entertaining them and this opens them up to being properly directed by the entertainer! This feeling of ease is used by the magician to force the spectators attention to #here it is desired! %y using this feeling of being at ease, the astute magician #ill use this in con)unction #ith other po#erful forces of misdirection, such as the ricochet! The audience, already at ease, is more susceptible to the e8ects of other misdirections!
"hich brings us to the biological factors of entertainment! 1ormally, #hen the performer is entertaining, heCshe is evoing laughter! It cannot be denied that laughter causes po#erful en3ymes to be created by the brain D this is a biological fact and has been studied under laboratory conditions! These en3ymes, called endorphins, give the spectators an overall feeling of #ell being and this, in turn, helps them to lie the performer! $nce again, #hen the spectators are on your side, youre using their names and you are entertaining them, they are much easier to lead along in the direction that you #ant to tae them!
E! Temporal 5 This is a misdirection of time! Temporal misdirection comes in many forms, from the physical to the psychological! $ne of the most po#erful of temporal misdirections is in the classic illusion, “Metamorphosis!” In this illusion, the magician and his assistant use temporal misdirection to mae the impossible happen!
Anyone familiar #ith the #orings of this illusion #ill understand #hat is being e-plained! In this e-ample the temporal misdirection is both psychological and physical!
Another temporal misdirection is #hen the manoeuvre that the magician needs to mae to get the magic to happen has already been done and the magician spends time building to the end of the tric! 2ou are leading the spectators farther a#ay from the actual manoeuvre and misdirecting them psychologically! The farther you get from the manoeuvre, the less are the chances that anyone #ill 7gure out the technique that made that magic happen!
As an e-ample, lets loo at a simple coin vanish! 9sing a rench .rop, you pretend that you have the coin in your right hand #hile secreting it in the left! If you immediately sho# the right hand empty, attention #ill naturally go to your left hand since the coin must have gone some#here! /ather than immediately sho#ing the right hand empty, #e #ill use temporal misdirection! The coin is no# secreted in the left and the spectators believe that the coin is in the right! /eaching into a pocet to pull out a #and, the magician leaves the coin behind! Then, e-plaining the use of the #and, the magician taes the spectators even farther a#ay from the time of the sleight! The farther the magician gets a#ay from that second #hen the sleight occurred the harder it #ill be for the spectator to reali3e that anything at all happened!
The above may not be the most po#erful of misdirection, but coupled #ith the ne-t e-ample of misdirection, it becomes very po#erfulF
G! Subtlety 5 Subtlety is a #ay of dra#ing attention #ithout actually dra#ing attention! Sounds lie a parado-, but it isnt! Subtlety is proving something fair #ithout actually saying, “As you can see, this is completely fair!” $ne e-ample of a subtlety can be found in a cups and balls routine! "hile the human hand is capable of doing several things #hile secreting an ob)ect, as magicians #ell no#, the general belief is that the human hand is only capable of doing one thing at a time! %y using this misconception, #e can point out that our hand is empty #hile using a #and #herein a ball is secreted! 9sing the #and in con)unction #ith a secreted item subtly tells the spectators that there is nothing in that hand, e-cept the #and!
Subtlety in con)unction #ith temporal misdirection #ould be something lie this6 9sing the e-ample above, the spectators believe the coin to be in the right hand! %y using the /amsay subtlety )ust prior to garnering the #and from your pocet youve proven that the left hand is empty in a very subtle #ay, prior to accessing your pocet!
1o#, the spectator has no reason to believe that youve done anything #rong and #ill not suspect the left hand #hen it goes into the pocet to retrieve the
#and! 9sing temporal misdirection, you move their attention farther a#ay from the point #here you accessed the pocet and dropped o8 the coin! "hen you mae the coin disappear, youve not only proved to them that your hand #as empty prior to accessing your pocet, but youve moved them farther a#ay from the time that the sleight #as done! 2ouve no# taen a simple coin vanish and have come closer to a miracle!
4! /epetition 5 "hen something is done the same #ay, time and time again, the spectators come to e-pect that it #ill be done e-actly the same #ay, every time! %y using repetition, you dra# o8 any suspicion of #hat you are doing! "hen you do a speci7c manoeuvre once, it may dra# attention, #hen you do it the second time it may garner a passing glance but the third time it #ill go completely unnoticed simply because the spectators e-pect it and #ill pay it little, if any, attention!
As an e-ample, #hen doing a double lift, if youve turned over every card prior to your double lift e-actly the same #ay that you e-ecute the double lift, it #ill al#ays go unnoticed! 1o#, there are many #ays of e-ecuting a double lift to mae it loo completely fair! *o#ever, no matter ho# fair the double lift may be, if youve
"eve taen the time to consider that misdirection is probably a misnomer of #hat #e are actually doing, and that is directing attention and not misdirecting! This is an important consideration in the study of misdirection, #hich is #hy I am repeating it here! 1ever forget, you are not misdirecting
attention, you are directing attention to #here the magic happens and that is #here your o#n attention belongs! 2ou #ill not master this technique that is so important in our art until you believe in your o#n magic! "hen something disappears, you need to believe it yourself and you need to react to that vanish much the same as your audience! This is a psychological subtlety and one that you are strongly advised to study, learn and use throughout your career as a magician!
This really is the di8erence bet#een strong magic and #ea magic!
If you have been follo#ing this article since the beginning, you #ill have noted that #e have already discussed 4 important forms of misdirection! $f those 4, entertainment is really the strongest! *onestly, entertainment is the strongest of all the forms of misdirection and #e #ill soon discuss more methods of misdirecting! *o#ever, you must stop to consider that entertainment is #hat paves the road for your audience to follo# along #ith the magic that you are presenting! %y entertaining your audience, you are taing them along for the ride! Thin about the fact that misdirection happens naturally during entertainment and you dont need anything overt to misdirect #ith! 1o, misdirection is a subtle thing and if you dont use this po#erful form of mind control subtly, you #ill never be anything more than a tricster!
This point is driven home in a routine by The Ama3ing Bonathan! Bonathan holds up a spoon and e-plains that he #ill bend it #ith his mind! *e begins to concentrate on the spoon, raising one eyebro# and bulging out one eye! *e cocs his head and his mouth becomes taught, the audience can see, in a humorous fashion, that Bonathan is putting everything he has into maing the spoon bend! Suddenly, from o8 to the side of the stage there is a big e-plosion #ith a boom and a
*o#ever, consider that #hen you openly misdirect attention, you are using the o8 stage e-plosion technique!
The audience is misdirected, of course, but they #ill no# that you used overt misdirection to get them to loo a#ay and did your dirty #or in that instant! .ont fool yourself into believing that )ust because you can mae someone loo a#ay that they #ont no# e-actly #hat youre doing! They #ill! So, you must entertain, you must lead them along and eep their attention on the entertainment to successfully use misdirection! It is in this that #e see misdirection as an art over a science, for the magician must artfully bring about the entertainment that gets the spectators to #illingly follo# of their o#n volition! That, dear readers, is the secret, right there, for you to read and use!
"hen the spectators feel that they #illingly are looing in the area that you #ant them to, they #ill not suspect any misdirection at all! "hen the spectators are forced to loo in a certain spot, they #ill no# #hat you did to them every time! >lease, go bac and reread that, it is the most important thing that you can learn from this column!
H! >revarication 5 This is a term used by Tom +rone in his manual, “Misdirection for +lose5up Magicians!”
>revarication is, quite literally, lying, or to deviate from the truth! This can be both a mental andCor physical misdirection that requires subtlety to properly use! In prevarication, #e are telling our audience that speci7c conditions e-ist #hen, in fact, they dont! As an e-ample, using prevarication, #e #ish to point out that #e have no more than three coins #hen #e actually have four! $vertly used, the magician #ould say, “I have three coins!” This is very poor! /ather, in the form of e-planation, the magician should say, “These three coins #ere handed do#n to me by my great grandfather!” That is subtle prevarication! 2ouve pointed out that you only have three coins #ithout actually stating that you only have three coins, and either #ay you go, you are lying!
>revarication in the above e-ample is a mental misdirection! In misdirection, there are t#o #ays to go D mental and physical! As #as mentioned earlier, there is repetition of action as misdirection, #hich #ould be a physical e-ample of misdirection! *o#ever, prevarication can fall into the form of physical misdirection also and, once again, requires subtlety to use properly!
As an e-ample of using prevarication both physically and mentally, #e shall add on to the e-ample above! After using the mental prevarication as in the e-ample, #e shall follo# it directly #ith physical prevarication! $rdinarily called a “shuttle pass,” after dra#ing attention mentally to the fact that you have three coins, lets assume that those three coins are sitting on your left hand #ith one hidden in your right! 2ou sho# those three coins to the spectators on your left and, #hile in the middle of saying, “These three coins #ere handed do#n to me by my great grandfather,” you s#ap the coins from the left hand to the right, holding one bac in your left hand, and display the coins openly on your right hand :#hich, by holding one bac, you no# have E coins sitting on your right hand;! This is a physical prevarication because you have sho#n e-actly three coins but the prevarication is that only three coins e-ist, #hich, in fact, there are four! Subtle, but e8ective!
! 0ye Movement 5 Time and time again, you have probably been told that the audience loos #here you loo! There is a reason youve heard this so many times 5 its trueJ "hen you #ant the audience to loo in a certain place, you must also pay attention to that place! This is a terri7cally subtle misdirection! This can go bac to the ricochet, discussed earlier, in that #hen you spea to someone, you loo at them! $f course, they loo bac at you and maintain eye contact! This is a natural thing to do! 1ever forget the po#er of eye contact #ith your spectators, but also pay attention to the fact that their attention follo#s your attention! "here you loo, they loo! If you follo# the hand that is empty, #hile the other is dirty, then so #ill your spectators! If you follo# the dirty hand trying to get the spectators to follo# the area that you are trying to misdirect them to, give it up, they #ont!
$nce again, #e go bac to entertainment and the need for your attention to follo#, naturally, along #ith #here the spectators attention must be placed! 2ou can use the “o8 stage e-plosion” technique to get their attention a#ay from yours, but you #ill not be a magician by so doing! 1o, you must use your attention to follo# the area #here the spectators attention belongs! It is in this form of misdirection that #e see the e-treme importance of practicing our craft! If you cannot palm that item perfectly, #ithout concentrating on it,
then this form of misdirection #ill fall
K! *and Movement 5 The eye follo#s the movement, or the action! The hands must al#ays have purpose and meaning! +onsider coming up to a light at an intersection! The cars that are stationary tae up none of your concentration! *o#ever, as you prepare to go through that intersection, if a car begins moving to your left or right, it immediately garners your attention, even though it may be in your peripheral vision! The same for the hands #hen performing magic to the spectators! The hands must al#ays be held in a natural manner, even #hen palming 5 especially #hen palming! If you )ust made a false transfer, the hand that dra#s the attention is the hand that moves!
There can also be a di8using of attention! As an e-ample, both hands move simultaneously! The attention can only go to one hand! So, youve made the false transfer and you #ant to move both hands at the same time, one drops to your side :the dirty hand; and the other is brought to centre stage in front of you! irst, of course, #e must consider eye movement 5 your attention should be on the hand that you #ant the spectators to follo# :and that aint the dirty handJ;! So, you follo# the clean hand! If youve done your false transfer properly, then the audience #ill give attention to the clean hand automatically! In that, you add your attention #hich strengthens that misdirectional manoeuvring! "hen the dirty hand hits your side, then you allo# it to s#ing :#hich actually goes bac to repetition of movement because the hand dropped to the side #ill naturally s#ing, #hich is repetition of natural movement;! 2our attention on the clean hand taes the attention o8 of the dirty hand, combined #ith repetition of movement, lightly salted #ith prevarication added to entertainment and youve got the maings of a miracle #hen that ob)ect disappears! %ut, eep in mind, if you simply mae the ob)ect disappear, you #ill need to dra# attention else#here, or the audience #ill immediately begin looing for #here that ob)ect #ent to and, of course, the only place that it can lead them is to your other hand!
"e have touched on the fact that misdirection can be built into the routine as an afterthought, #hich is the most common #ay of using misdirection! The magician has hisCher routine all set up then goes bac and loos at the di8erent areas #here heCshe must tae attention o8 of the secret
manoeuvres! At this point, heCshe begins to put misdirection into the e8ect, so that heat is taen from the secret manoeuvre and placed else#here! In the various techniques on misdirection that #eve discussed, youll 7nd that you can use several of them together to achieve this “after thought” #ay of misdirecting attention! *o#ever, there is a more po#erful #ay of using misdirection and, #hile it #ont be easy at 7rst :and #ill never be as easy as the “after thought” technique;, youll 7nd that this other #ay #ill mae your magic so much more ama3ing!
The most po#erful #ay of using misdirection is to build that misdirection into your routine or e8ect right from the beginning! Slydini has spoen of magic as being lie a piece of #oven cloth! Misdirection is one of those threads that runs through the cloth! If you #eave a handerchief, then go bac and 7- any problems #ith it, you #ill not have as beautiful a piece of cloth as you #ould have you #oven it correctly from the start! So, too, #ith misdirection in magic, it must be #oven in as part of the cloth, rather than something to go bac and 7- the holes #ith later on!
%efore #e get into that, #e need )ust t#o more speci7c tools, another t#o techniques of misdirection, #hich #ill #eigh heavily in the method of using misdirection as a part of your routine or e8ect as you “#eave” it! These are numbers L and ' in our misdirection technique tool chest!
L! +ontrol of Interest 5 2ou must give the spectators something of interest to tae a#ay their desire to loo #here you dont #ant them to! Sounds lie a no5brainer, but this is so often overlooed! A person is going to loo #here ever their attention taes them, if you do not control that attention, then you cannot get them to loo #here you #ant! 2ou must o8er them something of greater interest than the area #here your secret manoeuvre is taing place! If you are palming an ob)ect and both hands appear empty, then both hands are of equal interest! 2ou obviously #ant the eyes on the hand that is honestly empty, so you should 7ll that hand #ith something 5 be it a piece of paper, a cup, a pencil, #hatever, )ust mae your clean hand more interesting than your dirty hand! If you really #ant their attention some#here else, other than your dirty hand, you must o8er them something of greater interest!
This is #here building misdirection into a routine as you go along, rather than as an after thought, begins to tae shape! As you build your routine or e8ect,
consider right from the start that you need to o8er something of greater interest! 1o#, understand that you can use subtlety, as in number G found in as a #ay of sho#ing the hand empty! In other #ords, by o8ering something of interest to pull the attention to the dirty hand as a subtle #ay of sho#ing the hand empty #ill be a po#erful tool, but #ill it #or the #ay you #ant it to #ith the routine or e8ect at hand? 1o# is the time to 7gure this question out, not once youve completed the e8ect! "hat this #ill garner for you is a logical reason to do everything that you do!
This misdirection that you are building in #ill give you reasons to go to the ne-t point of the e8ect or routine! If it comes as an after thought, it may not logically or psychologically 7t into the e8ect or routine! Still, you need it there, so you #ill use it and all the #hile your audience #ill pic up on this discrepancy, even though they may not even reali3e that theyve piced up on it! "hat happens is that your magic #ill be vie#ed as a tric, rather than magic! This is something that, I hope, you #ant to avoid! That is the po#er of building in misdirection #hile you piece together your routine or e8ect! It gives reason to your movements@ it is built into the fabric of your e8ect!
$f course, you #ill #ant to use the other misdirectional techniques if you can at this point, to strengthen this even further! 2ou must #or on this, )ust as youd #or on creating your e8ect or routine! "hen given the proper tools, you #ill be able to mae up a routine or e8ect and no# you have tools for misdirection, #hich you #ill build, simultaneously, into your e8ect along #ith the sleights that you use to build the e8ect itself! As I said, this #ill be hard at 7rst, but this #ill serve to tae you from the level of a good magician to an e-ceptional magician!
The ne-t technique, also important to understand #hile putting your routine together, helps you to build your misdirection into your routine as you go! In fact, this is terribly important in your overall e8ect, regardless of its misdirectional uses!
'! +ontinuous .irection 5 This is a story telling device and is used in every theatrical production #orth the time to #atch! 2ou must, absolutely, give continuous direction as you #or your e8ect or routine! It is your )ob to tae your spectators on a )ourney through your magical realm! It is your )ob to eep them on the path so that they dont get lost in the #oods! A poorly
directed theatrical production #ill 7nd its audiences attention going o8 in di8erent directions, considering this or pondering that, #hile the story is being told! .o not let your audience drift lie that!
2ou must highlight the important parts of the e8ect that you are creating! 9sing NL above to give interest #here you #ant it, you must also build these highlights into the e8ect or routine! Oiven thought, you #ill reali3e that to build the e8ect or routine, then go bac in hindsight and add these t#o important factors into the e8ect or routine, simply #ill not #or! Taing both NL and N' into account as you build your e8ect or routine #ill elevate your #or to a #hole ne# level!
Magic, and I mean real magic, is not easy! The consideration of numbers L and ' above serve to sho# that a good e8ect or routine isnt something that you simply come upon! 2ou must spend the time and e8ort to build your e8ect or routine #ith all the po#er that you reasonably can! .o you #ant to be a magician, or do you desire to simply tric your audience? I am giving you the tools to mae you a magician, but it is your choice as to #hether or not you #ill use the tools given you and spend the time and e8ort to elevate your magic to the level that it really deserves! The choice is yours!
Bust to recap, #e have discussed ' di8erent points of misdirection! They are as follo#s6
'; The /icochet (; 0ntertainment E; Temporal G; Subtlety 4; /epetition H; >revarication ; 0ye Movement K; *and Movement L; +ontrol of Interest
'; +ontinuous .irection
+onsider your magic as it pertains to your routines! I #ant you to consider everything in your routines that you feel is #ea, #hether it is a spot that doesnt smoothly
ets have a loo at another form of misdirection, but one that should be used in small doses!
''; The Mi- 9p 5 +alled the “"rong5eg Technique” by Tommy "onder, this form of misdirection relies on the performer to tell the audience that one thing #ill happen, #hen, in fact, something else does! A good e-ample of this is the old “Salt Shaer Through the Table” bit! 2ou place a coin on the table and tell the spectators youre going to mae it penetrate the table! 2ou then place a napin over a salt shaer and slam your hand do#n onto the salt shaer :placed over the coin; and the salt shaer penetrates #hile the coin remains in place! Most all magicians no# this old shtic!
This is the mi- up! 2ou say one thing #ill happen, and #hile the spectators are #atching closely, you are able to do your dirty #or unnoticed! This is a very po#erful technique, but, once again, it must be done in very small doses! If you abuse this technique, you #ill 7nd that your audience #ill quit #atching #here you #ant them to and begin #atching everything else! 2ou #ill lose their trust! To tae the sting out of this technique, a good thing to do is act lie you had not intended such a thing to begin #ith! "hen the salt shaer penetrates the table, do not tae credit for it 5 act as surprised about it as the audience #ill be! In this #ay, you loo innocent as to #hat happened :even though, deep do#n, the spectators #ill no# you did it on purpose; and the sting of blatantly lying #ill be taen a#ay from your audience! Another form of this misdirection can be used in a top change! 2oull 7nd that
if you are going to physically change a card, you can claim that it #ill be the spectators card that changes! All eyes #ill be on the card that you claimed #ill change and #ill give you great leverage as to #hat can be done #ith the card that #ill really change 5 the one in your hand! Again, though, you dont #ant to abuse this very po#erful form of misdirection!
9se it sparingly, eep it in mind #hen you have something that is very diPcult to pull o8 :again, #hile putting together your routine, rather than #aiting until the end and putting it in as an after though;, and it #ill al#ays come through for you in a pinch!
Tommy "onder tals about the “+hain of Shado#s!” These are areas in your routine that naturally create spots #here misdirection is automatic! If you have your routine #ritten do#n on paper, you can easily spot these areas and use them! %y using these “shado#” areas, you are eeping your misdirection to the point of your routine! As Ive stated, the best you can hope to accomplish is to build your misdirection into your routine right from the beginning, rather than as an afterthought! %ecause these spots are built right into your routine from the beginning, you should pay special attention to these shado# areas that are naturally built into your routine, #ithout the need to create them! These are strong areas of misdirection, since it is a natural spot of direction in your routine and not placed there by device! earn to 7nd them and start using them :go over the list of misdirectional techniques above and 7nd the spots in your routine that have these techniques built in, #ithout having actually put them in yourself;!
