Hi all
I wonder if somebody could point me in the right direction.

The other night I watch a magician put a volunteer into a ‘heightened sense of synchronicity’ he looked very relaxed and had his eyes closed (The volunteer not the magician). From that point every time the magician lifted his arm up the volunteer would raise his arm as well, likewise when the magician lowered his arm so would the volunteer. It seemed to me the volunteer had no way of knowing when the magician raised or lowered his arm.

I was wondering if this is a form of hypnosis or is it a magic trick??

I am currently reading ‘The New Encyclopaedia of Stage Hypnotism’ But I have not read any thing about this yet.

Cheers Ben

Probably a magic trick (depends on who the magician was and what they were doing), but sounds a lot like an effect I'm working on - done entirely with suggestion.

Who were you watching?

Hi procyonrising

Thanks for the quick reply.
I was watching ‘Close Encounters’ with Keith Barry.

I believe Derren Brown as done something similar.

This IS Derren Browns Lift.

Just to put the last post in context.

Derren Brown created this effect, and, as it is unpublished and such a signature piece for him, I am gobsmacked that Keith Barry has the nerve to perform it, nevermind on TV.

Why not have a go at coming up with something NEW guys? Go on, you might surprise yourselves...

Chris Carter has a killer routine that is like this very one. Its a stage variant, and a MUST see!

So are we saying this an illusion or hypnotic technique?
It’s a shame Derren is not still here, then again he probably wouldn’t tell anyway.

If I may respond to Dr. Zodiac's post, what I do is NOT lift. It's actually more like a reversal of lift. I and a spectator stand several feet apart with our backs facing each other, and I am blindfolded. The spectator is instructed that he is to slowly raise and lower either arm to the side, and he is to do this three times. Each time he may wait as long as he wants to raise, and raise the arm as high or as low as he wants. Each time he does, my corresponding arm moves in tandem with his. The end result looks a lot like the 'mirroring' excercizes done in acting classes, except that I and the spectator are facing away from each other, and I am blindfolded.

I'm sorry to make this description so belabored. I just wanted to make it clear that I haven't 'lifted' Lift, but rather am doing something different. In my opinion, Lift is Derren Brown's, and should be left to him.

By the way, Mesaboogie is right, what Sickpuppy saw is Lift.

--Chris

Whilst doing a search on google for the ‘Lift’ routine I came across this website http://www.hypnotorious.com/hypnotrickscourse.htm It looks a bit cheesy to me but what do you guys think? I don’t think I would want to hand over £177 to them for this course.
If any body has then please let me know if it was worth it.

Cheers Ben

Ummm, Lift is not public domain. Try doing something else, there is a ton of great stuff out there for you to look into. And according to the orginal write-up, Lift is done using hypnotic induction.

I believe Derren's method was was originally done by Mike Hutton (T on T version)in the 80s.
Maybe even before that!

DB's Lift is on his lecture tape and does not use Hypnosis (if my memory serves me)
Cheers
TJ

Where can one find Derren Brown's lecture tapes? Do they come in DVD? One last question, what books has Derren Brown written or contributed to? Thanks in advance.

International Magic in the UK is the only supplier of his lecture tapes and no, they don't come in DVD format. His other books are Pure Effect and Absolute Magic.

TJ, he didn't explain the method for Lift on his lecture video. In his original notes for Pure Effect he describes the method using hypnotic induction. There have been threads about doing this routine without hypnosis, however, the method from Pure Effect suggests otherwise.

Extreme warning Sickpuppy, stay away from that hypnotorious site, you will kick yourself in the head if you associate yourself with Johnathon Royal.

I'm not saying anything more on that guy but I'm sure some of the others will.

Look up a search on him on the Café, I've heard a lot from close mentalist friends about him.

H.W

Thanks Hypnotic Winter, I thought as much.

The thread discussing him is called "A new book about hypno-tricks"
I've no idea how to link threds yet as I've never had to do it.

One other thing, Keith Barry is an Irish magician and not a good one, Ireland has a bad vetting process regarding anything to do with magic unlike the UK, the main TV station basically accepted the first guy who came through the door, Channel 4 in the UK spent years looking for someone like Derren, I guess I'm a little annoyed at him as he has given away effects due to bad performance. You have no idea how bad it is to have almost every lay person who saw him perform know how psychokinetic touches is done, he also has used Derrens lift and not changed a word of Derren's script. Now that really annoys me and I almost never get annoyed.

H.W

I am the same but sometimes when I watch magicians on the TV it's blatantly obvious how the trick was done, but when I turn to my fiancé she is amazed. So sometimes we as magicians can see more than the layman.

That's true except I had not seen the said program at the time, and heard about the method off of non magician friends who wanted to tell me about the program because they knew me to be a mentalist. I don't mind magicians spotting method, you can always expect that. Keith is probably a good guy but has messed up too many times on live tv for my liking. In one famous incident he had to be taken to hospital because he got a bean stuck in his ear when another piece of magic when wrong, his method is, read book, go out and perform trick, he clearly doesn't practice enough.

H.W

Sorry Guys,

Never seen Lift, actually, forgot all about it. The thing I'm working on doesn't look anything like Lift and uses a voodoo doll.

I love, however, how Keith Barry comes across as "magician."

And yeah, no point in trying to do Lift. Everyone who knows anything knows it's Derren Brown's. You'll always be known as a thief in our community.

Chris Carter, sounds like a great effect.

Best,
James.