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It seems that with the recent spate of magic shows like 'fool us' there are more folks who have learned that they must 'watch the magicians hands at all times and not listen to the patter'. They have always been out there, just seems to be more of 'em at the mo! I'm not complaining - as they are often the ones who'll give you the biggest compliments if the magic still works for them, and the harder they watch, the bigger the 'relax moment' you have to work with when it eventually comes (and it always does)... Of course the main difference is that Penn and Teller knew what they were looking for, ie they know all the sleights and subterfuge, but your average spec doesn't know owt, in fact even the DL still seems to be completely unknown to the vast majority of folks... so they think they are watching carefully, but they are not qualified to. Just seems a shame as by focusing solely on the magicians hands they are missing out on the overall patter and presentation! I'd like people to just relax and enjoy - I'm not trying to trick or fool them, but just entertain...

Misdirection can be hard at the best of times. People know to focus on the hands anyway. The best way to counteract this is not with physical misdirection but verbal. The right emphasis on a word can make someone look up. Shamefully I can't tell you which ones as I just do it naturally now, it takes practise. Though if people are focusing on your hands do card to mouth, will be more powerful.

Joke with them, show them that it isn't a challenge, and maybe start with some relaxed, impressive, self working magic to show those that are burning your hands that it doesn't help (which should make them just relax and enjoy being fooled)?

Work on visually perfect methods ALA Jerry Andrus

Dont confuse television magic,with live in your face magic.

Misdirection is easy to learn.

you just get it wrong, untill you get it right.

once you get it right, you will never get it wrong again.

Tommy Magic wrote:It seems that with the recent spate of magic shows like 'fool us' there are more folks who have learned that they must 'watch the magicians hands at all times and not listen to the patter'.
(Snip)
...Just seems a shame as by focusing solely on the magicians hands they are missing out on the overall patter and presentation! I'd like people to just relax and enjoy - I'm not trying to trick or fool them, but just entertain...

There's two practical options.
-Tommy Wonder's Richochet technique.
-My own delay gambit... To burn someone's hands is not a normal behaviour, and it is quite difficult to break against normal social interaction like that. I've found out that, in average, a layperson can keep it up for about 8-12 seconds at most. So, just pause the routine you are performing for 8-12 seconds. Since they are staring at your hands anyway, during that time, you can give them something interesting/impressive to watch; like a couple of florishes (one-handed riffle shuffle, coin roll...etc.). Stare at your own hands when doing it... and after about 8 seconds, look at the spectator. If he looks back at you - you can continue with the routine where you left off. Otherwise, continue with the florishes for yet another 4 seconds, then look at the spectator again. By then, even the most stubborn person has lost their resolve, and misdirection will work again.

-Tom

To add to TStone, Juan Tamariz's "5 Points in Magic" has a few pages describing gaze crossing and double gaze crossing (a technique I read Slydini used expertly and unconsciously) to manipulate both gaze and attention.

sleightlycrazy wrote:To add to TStone, Juan Tamariz's "5 Points in Magic" has a few pages describing gaze crossing and double gaze crossing (a technique I read Slydini used expertly and unconsciously) to manipulate both gaze and attention.

Those doesn't work well in this context.

daleshrimpton wrote:Dont confuse television magic,with live in your face magic.

Misdirection is easy to learn.

you just get it wrong, untill you get it right.

once you get it right, you will never get it wrong again.

To me this says it all. Doing my Sunday lunch gig a couple of weeks ago I finished at a a table, got a round of applause and then one of the men at the table said "That was amazing, I was sure I would be able to see how you did it so close up".

Whatever you see on the TV people really don't know what to look for. I never for example thought I would ever get away with palming a card. I Have small hands and was sceptical about the advice I was seeing on here that small hands don't matter. So I fumbled a few convinced that it would never work. I looked at the wrong place at the wrong time and the audience looked with me. Now I regularly palm cards. My misdirection comrises me doing something with the innocent hand.

Sorry, I think I have wandered a bit......

Dales comment is excellent. Misdirection is easy to learn, it uses natural human reactions. It is a matter of practice and introducing it into your routine. Like most new skills it takes time to master but suddenly the proverbial penny drops.then you wonder why you did not master it earlier.

It is also worth remembering there are many different types/methods of misdirection.

Nic

Some exellent points mentioned in this thread. It is not just the misdirection thats important, but the QUALITY of the misdirection. The spectators attention must be constantly controlled and they must believe that what they are looking at at any particular point is of importance. WHEN a sleight takes place is also critical.

Have you studied the cups and balls ? This one effect can teach a heck of alot when it comes to misdirection and attention control. Even if you have no intention of performing it its well worth the study for what you can gain from it.

jim

Nic Castle wrote:Like most new skills it takes time to master but suddenly the proverbial penny drops.then you wonder why you did not master it earlier.

Thats a good point Nic, do you have the Magic of Michael Ammar ? This is mentioned in the essay on Vernons Theory of Artistic Advancement. According to his theory (and i have found it to be sound) we, as magicians, dont actually get better gradually. Instead we make leaps to a higher plateau when certain principles and ideas 'click', usually suddenly in our minds. There is a world of difference between knowing something and actually understanding it.

Sorry for veering off topic

jim

Great replies, thanks all. I wasn't actually looking for advice on how to do misdirection - as the penny dropped for me a good while back, and I enjoy being able to misdirect and time my sleights accordingly to entertain even the most studious of 'hand burners'. My point was that there seems to be more folks trying to remember to burn the hands, and they even say "I learnt from off of that TV show that you have to ignore what the magician says and just watch the hands..."

I even make a play of it (something I picked from Michael Vincent (The Classic Magic of DVD)) by saying to folks that I want them to burn my hands, that it is 'close up magic', and so they must watch my hands at all times, even pointing out that they are erring in their 'hand burning duties' as soon as they look up to make eye contact when you ask them a question!

The top change has to be my favourite sleight as it simply relies on good misdirection, and is so fantastically bold, yet so easy.


I would heartily concur that cups and balls are indeed good for learning misdirection. I'm currently 5 months into studying Tommy Wonders 2 cup routine and it is nearly all there...
I've had some great reactions from the few close friends who've seen the routine so far, and can't wait to perform it for a live audience. He was a master of misdirection RIP.

So keep the advice on learning misdirection coming! Every day is a school day, and I'm always keen to read more on the subject, and strive to improve, so if anyone has any more recommended books etc...?

My point was that there seems to be more folks trying to remember to burn the hands, and they even say "I learnt from off of that TV show that you have to ignore what the magician says and just watch the hands..."

sorry but..b*ll*cks.

Misdirection, makes this impossible.
the thing about misdirection is, it uses natural, uncontrollable reactions, to the magicians advantge. Things that are ingrained in every man, woman & child since caveman days.

If somebody talks to you directly in a day to day non magical situation, what do you do? You look at them, you answer them. If somebody points at an object in the distance,what do you do? you look.

The thing I am getting at is, if they look at your hands when you dont want them to.. your misdirection just isnt working.

on television you look where the camera looks.

in real life, face to face,you look where you are supposed to look.

when the performer gets his direction, and misdirection right.

Absolutely. Look at martial arts - they make heavy use of misdirection to beat their opponents, two good fighters are still able to misdirect each other during a bout. If years of training can't make someone un-misdirectable, I very much doubt watching a few episodes of Fool Us will either.