mentalism – Page 9 – MagicShow.Tips

An Idea…

For about nine months I’ve had an idea for a trick kicking around in my head. I keep thinking about it, and that’s a good sign, I just haven’t sat down and put a lot of directed energy into it. The week I’ve started to take action on making this idea a reality. Unfortunately this … Continue reading “An Idea…”

Someone from the audience thinks of something and whispers it into a mason jar and closes the lid. They hand you the jar, you open the lid, listen to the inside and tell them what they are thinking.

Then you write something (unseen) on a giant pad of paper and whisper it into the jar, and they tell the audience what you were thinking. You confirm this by turning around the paper.

There are many variations of this that can happen. Two people from the audience could whisper into the jar and hear each others “whispers”.

The hurdle I’m hitting right now is what information do I want them to whisper? Obviously I’ll need to force the info, so it could be a book, it could be a birthday, or whatever. The one thing I know is that it’s not going to be done with playing cards.

Adding a Bonus Trick

It’s the little things that when people notice, I think it elevates your show. Before Darren Brown’s show, I noticed some posters in the theater that seemed out of place. Well, they played a role in the show, but their role wasn’t really IN THE SHOW, but after the show. They reinforced something that happened.

There was a very cool moment for some of the people that attended the show as we were leaving the theater. When walking down the stairs from the balcony to leave the theater, people noticed the posters and started commenting on how they were a part of the show. It was almost like the people got a “bonus trick” on the way out of the show.

I’m a huge fan of things that tell your audience that it’s not a bunch of tricks you threw together. That your put thought into your show. The easy way to do that is through call backs, when you reference things that happened earlier in the show later in the show. In magic, you can do more that just reference, they can have a role in what happens later in the show. Darren Brown’s show has this happen in the body of the show, but using it for something that people notice while they are leaving the theater is GENIUS!

Frame It Right…

The last couple of nights I’ve performed at corporate holiday parties. At both of them I did some roving magic. One of my staples of what I do is a trick where I guess a color someone it thinking of. Over two nights, I have very different results from the trick.

The first night’s event had very loud music, so I really couldn’t do the normal talking that accompanies the trick. That night the trick really fell flat. It was getting a response, but not what it normally gets. The flashier stuff that night played much better, and I stopped doing the color trick about halfway through the gig.

The second night’s event wasn’t nearly as loud, and my normal talk up to the trick was able to be heard. This night the trick played really well. The difference was that I was able to use the premise of the trick to connect with people, versus just telling them what they were thinking.

The trick is solid, but the conditions just weren’t right for it the first night.

Drawing Duplication…

One trick I’ve always liked is the drawing duplication trick. Basically the trick is that someone draws a picture that you don’t see, then you draw a picture and they match. The main problem with a drawing duplication is that if the audience thinks you see the picture, then you’re done. The problem with the method is that you have to see the picture.

I was driving the other day and came up with an idea for doing a drawing duplication. This version would not require me to see the drawing. In fact the drawing would be a prediction, so whether or not I see the drawing doesn’t really matter. I think the trick is stronger if I never see the drawing.

Basically what I’m doing is using a method for the classic magic plot “object in impossible location” to load a prediction. I made quick version last night and showed it to another performer and they liked it. It’s still got a little ways to go, and I’ll write more about it once I do it a couple of times.

Doing A Trick I Don’t Like…

Earlier this week I was cleaning up and found a bunch of forks that I had bought for a fork bending idea that I had. I had gone to Costco and bought a ton of these forks to work out the routine. I’m trying to use up stuff that that’s just taking up space in … Continue reading “Doing A Trick I Don’t Like…”

Earlier this week I was cleaning up and found a bunch of forks that I had bought for a fork bending idea that I had. I had gone to Costco and bought a ton of these forks to work out the routine. I’m trying to use up stuff that that’s just taking up space in my office, so I took the pack of 48 forks to the fair that I’m working this week.

The fork bend that I created and was working out is the first on on this video:

I published it in Vanish Magazine earlier this year. If you’re interested in learning about it, you can find it there.

What I’ve been doing this week at the fair that I’m performing at is simply putting about 10 forks in my pocket when I go out to do my roving set. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the fork bending, it doesn’t really fit my style of performing, but people really like it.

I think people relate to it because they know what a fork is and how durable it is. When it starts bending they immediately know what’s happening is “magic”. I’m getting great reactions from it, but just because people like it doesn’t mean it’s right for me or my vision for what I do.

What Me Worry…

It really cracks me up when magicians worry about exposure of tricks where the method is technological. The “exposure” they are worried about is when this similar tech becomes used in applications for the general public. A good example is someone makes a die that you assign tasks to, and have an app linked to it. You put the side up when you are working on that task. The app knows what side it up and tells you how long you devote to each task. This is essentially a tech that’s been used for magic for a long time.

I think there are two reasons that people that are upset with magic tech becoming everyday tech. The first is that when it’s magic, it’s a niche market and very specialized, so it’s expensive. These people are upset that the value of their investment has been decreased. The second reason is that these people aren’t willing to put in the time to learn to do it any other way (i.e. Sleight of hand).

Here’s a good example, many people make a little cube that has different colors on all of the sides. Due to the tech, you always know what color is on top. However if you are aware of a similar device to keep you on task at work, then the impossibility of the trick is diminished. How can you do the same trick?

Here are two ways:

1. Instead of the cube, they write down a color on a business card and put it in their pocket. Using standard mentalism techniques you can easily know their color.

2. You put a prediction on the table. The pick a color on the block and it’s covered up so you can’t see it. You turn over the prediction and it’s the color they picked. Methodwise this is simply using the block to tell you what color was picked, then you use nailwriter for the prediction.

Both methods will have the same impact as just using the tech, but won’t become obsolete when the magic tech becomes everyday tech. The moral of the story is to go out and learn some sleight of hand.

Magic Apps…

Ugh, this summer for my Library tour I needed a way to either force some information, or get a peek at it. The problem with a peek is this that I need pretty much real time info, I can’t preshow it. I also need it to fit an “educational” bullet point in the show. The bullet point would be researching.

The nice thing about researching is that I could use a book. The downside is that I need to force specific information. I need to force the size of an animal. I was going to use Inject 2.0, however the need for two devices to have working internet was something that I didn’t want to get involved in. This is a huge the problem with most magic apps.

If internet isn’t an issue, then the other problem is why are you using your phone. I use an app on my phone in my show on cruise ships, and there’s a good reason. I make a phone call, and a phone call at sea is very expensive, so obviously I’m not going to use a borrowed phone. The cellphone thing is easily overcome in a kids show, because younger kids frequently don’t have phone on them.

I heard about an Instagram prediction called Predict n’ Grab.

Predict n' Grab magic mentalism trick review

This is the solution. They now scroll through an animal facts Instagram page and stop at one of the pictures and that’s the force! I created a custom Instagram page that has all of the force info in the picture in meme form. Having the info in the pictures makes it much easier for a kid “research”.

Adding Texture to Predictions…

A friend of mine who is a mentalist from Ireland is in town and we had coffee yesterday. We were chatting about mentalism and the struggles to make it play big. One of the things he showed me was probably the coolest thing I’ve seen this year (more on this in a minute).

Part of the challenge of mentalism is you need normal-ish looking props. Once you know make a die 24 inches big, or use a calculator that’s build for bigfoot, you lose what makes mentalism great, which is the lack of propy props.

This is where what he showed me comes in. He showed me Phil Smith’s Quinta Force.

This is an amazing way to force one object out of five that feels very free and has some theatrical build up to it as well.

My idea is to borrow five different objects from people in the audience. You introduce a padded envelope that has your prediction in it. They give you a number, let’s say it is 28. You count to that number per the Quinta Force and let’s say we end up on a cellphone. You open the envelope and inside is a cellphone…then for the kicker on the back written in marker in giant numbers is 28!

I haven’t finished reading the book, so someone may have thought of this already.

That’s something that will play fairly large, I guess it could be done with paper prediction that unfolded into a large display. My thinking was to try to get away from a printed prediction as that’s fairly common way to reveal things and I wanted something that would add some texture to the show.

Mentalism’s Biggest Challenge…

Mentalism is huge right now, unfortunately most mentalism isn’t huge. That’s the biggest challenge with mentalism, isn’t making it interesting. The biggest challenge is making it play big!

I think that’s why there are certain plots that are popular, like a chair test. A chair test uses 4 people, large props and can easily be seen from a distance. Where something like a lottery prediction is good if you have video projection, it won’t play nearly as well without projection.

Doing things like having someone roll a die is very small, and even if you use a two foot die, most of the audience cannot see the top side. Having something like a word picked from a magazine is small. This is why I think most mentalism is basically a close up trick that is performed for one person while a group watches. Where with a magic trick like the egg bag, we still see it happen, the part that the person does on stage is fairly “mechanical”. Even a card trick, we all know the card if they show it to the audience. But remembering a word, that’s something only one person knows.

I’ve been working on a trick that’s normally a close up trick, but trying to make it play big. I think I’m onto something….more later…

Play Big or Go Home…

One of the things that really dislike about a lot of mentalism that is performed is size. The props and predictions are small, and I can’t see or read them from the fourth row of the theater. Sure there’s always video projection, but it’s not always used, or can be used due to the method.

Here’s an example, someone locally in Seattle does the Kurotsuke effect, where you have five marbles, four are one color and the fifth is another. Then five people reach into a bag and grab a marble, and you tell who has the odd colored one. The problem of the trick is there is no visual payoff for the audience as we can’t really see the marbles. Sure, it’s how you play it, but the center of the trick is the prop, and we can’t see the prop.

Personally I’ve been working hard to make my props play a lot bigger, so the whole audience is doing the trick, not you doing the trick for one person. An example of the difference would be a prediction written on the back of a business card, versus a prediction written on a sheet of paper that’s three by four feet.

TLDR: Make the payoff of your tricks play BIG!