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Hi peeps

There is one particular flourish that I saw Derren Brown perform in the casino scene (it was what originally got me into card tricks ) but, irnoically, I've never been able to figure out the name of it or anything, so I don't actually know where I can learn it O.o

There's a video on YouTube for it (Clicky) There's two actually One at 2:38 (after the one-handed cut) and another at 2:41 ish.

I thought I'd ask here because you guys probably know a billion times more than me about magic and stuff

Thanks a bundle in advance guys!

Great clip there Callum.

It looks like he's just using flourishy f**** cuts to keep a top and bottom s***k throughout that sequence. Or maybe even a full deck. I'm not really sure. And really it's not my place here to dissect his methods.

There are literally thousands of variations of these types of cuts, and I have no idea what most of these are called. If it's flourishy cuts that you're after, the Dan & Dave System DVD is very popular with the kids these days.

Mind you, it does look like he's using a s******* deck, though I may be wrong (I probably am) and as I say I really don't want to get into Derrens methods.

Nice clip!


EDIT: edited several times to remove billions of typos that my hungover brain had not noticed.

He's so unbelievably good it's just amazing. I could watch him all day long just doing his thing. I love watching the Devil's Picturebook. Not becaue of the explanations just to see him perform is an actual honer in my eyes. I havn't got a clue how he did any of that and I don't want to know. I only watched it once and I picked up an up the ladder cut but that was it.

The end just topped it. A phycological card force? Who cares.

It's a very good routine, he outlines how it's done in Trick Of The Mind, and as always it's far more about the way he presents the trick than how it's done.

If you want to hear my idea of how it's done feel free to PM me, but I can imagine you'd rather not know.

Serendipity wrote:It's a very good routine, he outlines how it's done in Trick Of The Mind

Does he??

Ahh, cheers guys

I've heard that it's a Z-Cut of some sort.

Though I also (geekishly) looked that up on YouTube and I found a couple of videos that looked nothing like it O.o

Any ideas?

The first cut after the one handed shuffle is touched upon in his video "The Devil's Picture Book" when he's discussing setting up the deck in full view of the audience under the guise of counting the cards using Lennart Green's colour separation. It's essentially a pivot cut which is done during an elegant all around square of the deck.

Of the florishy cuts, you can find those things on the Buck's Trilogy. The first looks like "Tectonic Verb". The second looks like a "Tornado Cut" to me - only with a single spin of the central packet. That move is used a lot in other card flourishes. I suggest you type those names into youtube to see if I'm close.

Personally I don't like these sorts of flourishes that much as it invites the audience to burn your hands, making it difficult to present an effect as "magic" rather than skill. However they are nice eye candy even if they all have stupid names!

Hope that helps.

I think we all know Mr Brown will be talked about for years and years. If you try and work it out your brain starts hurting. I cant remember reading about this in his book so I will have to go over it again. Any clues on the chapter before I re read the whole book?

tiw wrote:The first cut after the one handed shuffle is touched upon in his video "The Devil's Picture Book" when he's discussing setting up the deck in full view of the audience under the guise of counting the cards using Lennart Green's colour separation. It's essentially a pivot cut which is done during an elegant all around square of the deck.

I thought he was using a stripper. Oh well. I did have my reasons though, especially considering the seperation. I'm not a stripper user though so I'm a bit out of my depth here.

Personally I don't like these sorts of flourishes that much as it invites the audience to burn your hands, making it difficult to present an effect as "magic" rather than skill. However they are nice eye candy even if they all have stupid names!

Yeah I agree with you here. Mind you I think that is the impression he was trying to give, you know, a card sharp persona?
I very rarely use anything flourishy except in situations like these when I'm doing a card sharp or gambling routine. Normally I do not like to give the impression that I'm a worker with cards. Quite the opposite is desirable when doing 'magic'.
And remember, Derren's misdirection is very strong and I think it's even working here. I suspect that there is something much simpler at work in this effect but Derren has put enough into this little routine to convince us magicians that he's working the cards brilliantly.

Or perhaps not.

after watching this vid several times...I have a headache, lol

The only thing Im pretty certain of is that he is f***e shuffling and cutting, maybe using sybl flourishes (spelling :S) to make it look as if the cards are being shuffled into a random order...as for the ability to cut a certain number of cards or guess how many cards have been cut to...im baffled, I thogh stripper deck, but when he was able to count how many cards the dealer had cut I was baffled even more...and as for the final trick :-O ARGH !!! How on earth do you make someone pick out a certain card, its not even like he could have used a classic force or anything :-O

Mind you, the thing to remember is, its all on TV, that 5 minute youtube clip (same as the one shown on TV) could have easily been a 20 minute demonstration, and that 5 mins was just edited together - not saying he is a fraud, but its just a point to remember

Dan

Re-read the bit about memorising a deck of cards...

Also, I wouldn't be suprised if the cutting to a card at any number is genuine. Especially if you think about the number of the card she cutting to, and that whenever you cut the deck you actually are cutting to two cards...

I do believe that the ability to cut to any card is a 'knack' that people pick up.

I've seen (or heard of) lots of people being able to do this, but they're not magicians or people with an IQ. over 200.

Practice makes perfect, I guess

Perfect practice makes perfect my friend

I'm not going to pretend that I know how this trick works - which is very, very well. I'd just like to point out that Mr Brown isn't above basic techniques and principles that are familiar to us all - something apparent if you've read any of his books. The thing you have to remember is that it's his presentation that makes this trick so wonderful, as I really

Darwin Ortiz has a very good "name a card" trick where a thought of card gets trapped between two aces - and I believe both tricks use the same basic principle. I don't think it's impossible to dead cut to a thought of card ... I just think it's unlikely that it's done without a little "help".

I think everyone is thinking about this a little too much. I'm not 100% sure of Derren's method but there are a number of very simple ways this could be done, most can be found in some of the more recommended beginners books.