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AmazingKeithy New user Round Rock, Texas 99 Posts |
One of my fondest memories is the first time I fried my brother with a close-up effect. We had both gotten interested in magic at an early age but he had lost interest over time while I kept plugging way. My brother subsequently developed into the type of terrible/merciless audience that makes you want to drop out of magic all together.
Finally, when I was in high school, I purchased the fine book Variations by Earl Nelson. In it were two Ring and String effects, one titled Clifton’s Ring Move. I remember reading the effect and not believing that I could get away with it. After much practice, I got up the courage to try the effect on my brother and could not believe that he did not see right through what I was doing. No trick boxes, just a little bit of sleight-of-hand and strong misdirection. He was so amazed when the ring disappeared from the cord and magically appeared on the pinky of the opposite hand. This is when the light went on for me concerning the power of misdirection or attention direction. I’m interested to hear when the misdirection light went on for anyone else out there. Keith |
ben creitz New user 99 Posts |
My dad has an interest in magic, and sometimes I use him as a "test" audience. He is a very logical, critical thinker, and it is tough to disengage him from that. I was recently learning "reset" by Paul Harris and I was skeptical about some of the discrepencies in the trick (you know what I'm talking about if you know the trick). I kept my commentary and moves smooth, and what I was so worried about was what my father least suspected. It felt good!
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Gianni Special user WILMINGTON, DE 993 Posts |
I am responding to this because of the way you framed your question: when did the "light go on." That was exactly how it hit me as to what misdirection was and how to use it. The light went on during a Darwin Ortiz lecture. He was so clear in describing that he purposefully created a move for the exclusive purpose of providing misdirection that I finally understood how basic misdirection is.
Until that moment in the Ortiz lecture, I looked at misdirection as a kind of fuzzy activity by which you tried to blur the dirty work. Then I realized that proper misdirection is the actual creation of a circumstance that your audience is just compelled to look at. Of course it has to be part of your presentation and seem to play an integral role in what you are doing. You can't have someone drop a stack of dishes in the back of the room at the right time. You must construct your effect so that you do something compellingly interesting for your audience at the exact moment that you are doing something for yourself. Now, it seems embarrassingly simple. Gianni |
AmazingKeithy New user Round Rock, Texas 99 Posts |
I forgot to mention in the first post that Jarle Leirpoll has several essays devoted to this topic posted at his website:
http://www.leirpoll.com/misdirection/misdirection.htm - Keith |
TheAmbitiousCard Eternal Order Northern California 13425 Posts |
I purchased Pocket Power which is a steal.
I purchased Leading with your head by Gary Kurtz which is also a steal. I'd like to say that the light has gone on but I think there is so much to work on in that area that I wonder if I'll ever be done. As an example, i do not yet perfom an effect that employs 'Double Crossing The Gaze' I konw what it is, I understand it, I can do it but it is not second nature yet. I was contimplating about what a list of effects would be that eased people into using misdirection.
www.theambitiouscard.com Hand Crafted Magic
Trophy Husband, Father of the Year Candidate, Chippendale's Dancer applicant, Unofficial World Record Holder. |
paulapaul Regular user Nevada 173 Posts |
[quote]On 2002-09-24 22:32, Gianni wrote:
"proper misdirection is the actual creation of a circumstance that your audience is just compelled to look at." Paula adds: ... While creating body language that makes them ignore, forget or dismiss the dead hand. Control of attention. Good stuff. The following story does not apply to what I wrote above, nor is about the BEST misdirection. But it is a misdirection story that made me laugh. To thank a night club employee who helped get my props into the venue, I taught him a card trick. He must have been a "special kid" as he grew up - slow, with heavy speech impetiments. I taught him something that required practice to pull off. He (Billy) was thrilled. The one bit of mental manuvering that I taught Billy was this: "People may watch your hands. When you are going to make the move, ask a question. When you create a thought in a person's head, the eyes will automatically raise briefly. Just wait for them to look up." (This is oversimplified, I know. But he was not a magician, and he was probably going to get busted without some kind of help.) Well, one night, 2 strong magicians - Tim Glancy and Lorne Michaels - visited me at work. As I excused myself to go put away props, I saw Billy start showing his trick to these serious card men. Billy was moving even more erratically than usual, I mean jerking his hands and looking very nervous ... I figured he was a dead guy. Well, my magician friends told me that Billy fooled them! They didn't expect any REAL dirty work from him, and by the time he did his sleight, it was too late. I later asked Billy what happened. He answered: "They wooked (looked) at my hands and kept wooking and wooking at my hands and they wouldn't wook away and I waited and waited and waited and they wooked up." Ah, don't ya' just love human nature? Paula |
Raj New user UK 22 Posts |
Paula...
Great story. Some of us magicians don't need much to fool us - sometimes we fool ourselves. Raj |
kakronen Regular user 107 Posts |
It really clicked after rading Carnye's Carneycopia
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AmazingKeithy New user Round Rock, Texas 99 Posts |
In response to fstarsinic’s mention of a list of effects to help ease into misdirection, I am reminded of the ‘Card to Pocket’ on p. 342 of Jean Hugard’s 'Encyclopedia of Card Tricks'. Not the traditional ‘Card to Pocket’ plot but there is no heat on the hand as it goes into the pocket. Also, do not miss Stewart James’ ‘Miraskil’ in the same book. Another fine effect that uses a form of misdirection is Bob King’s ‘Impromptu Stunner’, which produces an ‘Invisible Deck’ sort of effect. If you find his website online, he might just email the instructions for this one.
“To thank a night club employee who helped get my props into the venue, I taught him a card trick. ” . . . There is a whole lesson in this one sentence. Thanks, Paula, for sharing this story. I am also reminded of the interview with Howard Thurston in Dale Carnegie’s timeless classic, 'How To Win Friends and Influence People'. Sounds like you are living out the principles described by Mr. Thurston. Keith |
Bascomb Grecian Loyal user Redding, Ca. 202 Posts |
The light went on for me at the 1984 SAM convention in Las Vegas.
Michael Ammar did his cups and balls at his lecture. The room full of magicians gasped at the same time when his ball appeared on the cup after the wand spin. WOW what a moment. We were all suckered right in! I will never forget that.
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