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Table of Contents Introduction What is Misdirection? The 4 Principles of Misdirection Principle 1: The Off-Beat Principle 2: The Eyes Principle 3: Use Your Natural Style Principle 4: Justification of Moves Putting It All Together Final Thoughts Credits & Useful Resources
Introduction In the world of Magic, one thing that sets a Magician apart from someone who just performs tricks is the ability to understand and implement the power of misdirection. Understanding misdirection will allow you to make your magic more powerful, more real, and will leave a lasting impression with your audience like no other. Misdirection makes magic stronger. It makes you a better performer. However, it is the unspoken art within magic, and finding good theory and resources on the topic is hard to come by. In this book, you will learn what exactly misdirection is. You will learn the 4 key principles that it involves, and you will understand how you can incorporate them into your existing and new routines. If you have never considered building in misdirection into your routines before then be prepared to find out how you can massively increase the impact of your magic, and how you can leave a lasting impression in your spectator s memories. This book is aimed at magicians who require the basic understanding of the principles involved in misdirection, and it is deliberately kept compact to serve more as a reference than a definitive source. It is designed to enable you to understand and implement key concepts quickly and efficiently without too much theory. So with that in mind... let s get misdirecting! What is Misdirection? Some people find the term misdirection offensive, as to use the prefix mis generally has negative connotations. Terms such as mistake, misfortune, misunderstand and misuse all refer to the negative aspect of the given subject. On this basis, misdirection implies that you have failed at directing. So if we can t call it misdirection, what do we call it? Personally, I have no problem with the term misdirection ; however, many people prefer to use the term Direction of Attention. This identifies the process more clearly, and doesn t have the negative connotations associated with using mis. Whatever you prefer to call it, for the sake of this book both Misdirection and Direction of Attention mean the same thing.
In essence, misdirection is about ensuring that your audience does not see things you do not want them to see. This can include anything from a deck switch to secretly loading a selected signed card under a glass, a full deck under a glass or a coin switch, heck, it could even be switching yourself on stage with your assistant! Author of Leading with Your Head Gary Kurtz says Misdirection has nothing to do with distraction. It has everything to do with controlling audience attention, at all times. Or as Erdnase says, Not only shouldn t they [the audience] see anything, they shouldn t suspect anything. So, misdirection is not about covering moves. It s not about turning your back while you do a dodgy switch or half pass; it s about controlling audience attention so that when you are going to execute a move, the audience is not only looking somewhere else, but they don t even suspect you are doing anything. It is about ensuring that suspicion doesn t enter your audience s mind. Jarle Leirpoll, author of Pocket Power says A sleight is not perfect when the spectators are unable to tell what you re doing. Only when they re completely unaware that you did anything at all will they experience magic. You ve heard the old expression the quickness of the hand deceives the eye right? Well guess what, it s wrong! Eyes have the power to track you hand movements a lot faster than your hands are able to move. Quick moves done in full view only arouse suspicion, and remember, we do not want suspicion at all. The hand is not quicker than the eye. Misdirection is quicker than the eye! Moreover, speed attracts the eye, so by doing something quickly will bring more focus on what you re trying to disguise. Maybe you think that you don t have any routines based around misdirection. Well you can get that out of your mind right now! Nearly all magic effects can be enhanced with good, solid misdirection principles applied. You can apply it to existing routines, as well as create new ones with it. The possibilities are endless, once you understand the basic principles. If you want to see a wonderfully simple effect in practice that uses the principles of misdirection applied by a master of the art, there is no better than Slydini performing his version of the paper ball routine. To see this in action, go to http://bit.ly/jry23p. Tony Slydini was considered by many to be the master of misdirection. A search on YouTube for any of his routines is certainly worth a look and a good opportunity to see a professional in action.
Tommy Wonder is also a name that cannot go unmentioned in any talk on misdirection. His applied principles are well documented in his Visions of Wonder series, and again to see him in action is a pleasure. His original cups and balls routine encapsulates misdirection so well that even when you know what s going to happen, you still miss it. You can see Tommy Wonder performing his cups and balls routine by going to http://bit.ly/kiai2s. The 4 Principles of Misdirection Misdirection is very difficult to break down into simple component parts as a lot depends on your own performance style. For example, how you hold yourself, how you stand, your posture, you mannerisms and so much more all contribute to how you as an individual can apply misdirection to your performances. With that in mind, everyone has to find their own way to maximize the 4 principles involved. The 4 principles are: 1) The Off Beat 2) The Eyes 3) Your Style 4) Justification of Moves Principle 1: The Off-Beat The off-beat has been described as the blind spot in the audience s perception. But what does this mean? A lot of people have heard of the off-beat but don t actually know what it is. The off-beat is quite simply the moment of relaxation. It is when your audience takes a break from watching intently and more crucially, it is when they drop their guard! Most spectators, well at least those genuinely interested in what you re doing, watch you like a hawk! They want to try and catch you out. They want to be able to say to you I saw you do that, or I saw that move. It is our job as magicians to ensure they don t see it, but sadly a lot of magicians fail terribly at this. So why don t the audience say anything? Mostly it is because they re friends or family and are just too polite. However, when you re being paid to entertain in a professional
manner, it is your responsibility to ensure you are professional, and doing dodgy moves that spectators see is a sure-fire way to no-more-bookings-ville. So we need to create an off-beat in order to do the move. How do we do it? Well, quite simply it is by creating the moment of relaxation. This can be done in a number of ways. The first thing to control is your stance. Leaning forward, even slightly, creates anticipation in your audience. It puts them on edge and they ll be watching everything you do. So take a step back, lean on your back foot. This is a relaxed posture and just using this alone will signify to your audience that they can relax too, because if you re relaxed, your audience will follow suit. Being active creates tension, being relaxed creates relaxation. When your audience is relaxed, they drop their guard. After watching intently they need a break. However, this break is only a few seconds; you may have a window of anywhere between half a second and 5 seconds, but that s all you should need. Your audience will take a breath, look away from you briefly, perhaps to gauge other people s responses, before coming right back to you so don t hang around! Off-beats can be the apparent end of a trick or routine. It can be a moment of laughter or any moment of relaxation. The off-beat is not a mystical moment that few can create. By knowing your routines well, and knowing at what points there are natural pauses or moments of relaxation, you too can create the off-beat. Knowing your routines well means audience testing them. Whilst you may be amazing at a routine in front of the mirror, you must test your routines in the real world, with real people in order to know how your audience behaves, so that you can take advantage the moments when they drop their guard. Any secret move must be done in the off-beat, and it must be done in a relaxed way.
Principle 2: The Eyes Establish and maintain strong eye contact. I see a lot of magicians falling over this hurdle. I m not just talking about magicians who are just starting out either. Experienced, professional magicians who have been in the industry for years still get this wrong. And here it is... your audience will look where you look. That s it. Sounds simple right? Well, it is. The problem is that a lot of magicians buy something new and are desperate to show it that they don t spend the necessary time practicing and rehearsing to the point where they know the routine inside out. The result is that when they perform it to the real world, any time there is a crucial moment where they need to do a move or need the audience to look away, they themselves get that glazy eyed look on their face. They stare into space and their whole body freezes while they do the move. Then, in a moment of back in the room, they spring back into life. Your audience will watch your eyes; it is human nature and is a big part of the way we interact with other people. If your eyes aren t doing what they should, people notice. This means that you must be aware of yourself, and truly act as though you do indeed have the magical powers to do what you are claiming to do. If you have secretly palmed a coin and want your audience to believe that you still have it in your other hand, then your eyes need to follow that hand. If you pretend to throw something invisible into the air, then your eyes need to follow too. Practice your routines as though it were for real and see how your eyes move and follow the action. Perform your routines as though you believe what you are doing is real. That way, your behaviour will look authentic. Then, when you re fully aware of how to act, build in the secret moves while retaining your previous eye moments. In misdirection, people will look where you direct them to. Don t forget this. It is one of the most important things to note. Check out Tommy Wonder s video again from above. Look at how he directs his audience to look where he wants them to look simply by using his eyes. He s looking as astonished as the audience at what is going on, and they totally buy into it because of his eyes. Imagine how the final load of the bag would look if instead of looking at the cup on the table, he turned his head and looked at the bag and cup nearest him. It would give the whole game away.
John Ramsey says When you want the audience to look at something, look at it yourself. This underpins how important the eyes are and is another reason why you must act as though you are really doing what you are pretending to. Ramsey goes on to say What you want them to look at you, look at them. This is a clever trick to use as it is human nature to look at someone who is looking at you. People can feel your eyes burning into them so use this to your advantage. This has a lot to do with confidence. Looking your audience in the eyes take confidence and comes with experience. If you re just starting out in magic, or do not perform that much, do not underestimate the power of looking your audience in the eyes! For a good example of a master of eye contact, watch Bill Clinton in the 1992 Bill Clinton vs George Bush Debate at http://bit.ly/lajfnj, where Bill Clinton uses the power of eye contact to great advantage. Use people s names to draw their eyes to yours. You can also ask them a question as this naturally draws their eyes to yours too. Finally, if it fits in with your performance style and is appropriate, a touch on the arm will draw their eyes to you too!
Principle 3: Use Your Natural Style Every performer is different. Some are very mobile while performing, some stand very still. Some are nervous, some are confident. Whatever your style of performing is, you must use that style in your misdirection. How do you know your style? Well, if you re not aware of how you perform, the first thing you should do is video yourself. Next time you perform, whether that be for friends, family or a paid gig, get a friend to video you, even if just on a mobile phone. Then watch yourself back and see how you interact with your audience. Look at how you hold yourself, and look for the moments of relaxation in your routines, the off-beats. Then start practicing building the principles into your style. Here s an example. A friend of mine always performs wearing a jacket. He s the sort of person who is always putting his hands into his jacket pockets for things. Maybe he s trying to find a marker pen for a spectator to sign a card. Maybe he s looking for a coin, or a deck of cards. Anything really. Now he knows exactly what pockets has what in, but he never goes straight to the pockets. Instead, he deliberately goes to the wrong place, and then looks as though he s searching for the item. By doing this, he establishes in his audiences minds that his hands are dipping in and out of pockets, so when he does a deck switch, or a coin ditch, the audience don t think twice. It seems so natural. This is because he is capitalizing on his own natural style. This is one of the principles of misdirection that most people find difficult, partly because we see other people performing a lot more than we see ourselves, so we naturally tend to mimic others. With this principle, you must look to yourself and see how you perform. It is not about changing your behaviour to suit a move, it is about suiting a move to you. For example, if you re sat at a table and have a glass of water which you regularly take a sip from, then it would not arouse suspicion when during the moment a spectator is signing a card, to take a sip of water. During this action you could load another card under the glass. However, conversely, if you had a glass of water and
did not touch it at all through the routine, and then suddenly at the end tried to load a card beneath it, the action will likely rouse suspicion. Again, this is not about changing your style; it is simply ensuring that your style suits the move you want to do. Remember, we do not want our audience to suspect anything! Principle 4: Justification of Moves Using your own style ensures that you have a reason to do something. Whether that is taking a sip from a glass, dipping into a pocket, moving a card box, even turning your back, there must be a reason. Let s take an example. Assume you have a deck of cards in your left hand. Someone has selected a card and signed it. You have had it returned to the deck and controlled it to the top, and then palmed it into your right hand. You want to load it into a wallet in your left breast pocket. You could simply put your right hand, with the signed card, into your jacket pocket, load it, and then come back out. If you done this, even the most inattentive audience will know you done something untoward. However, if you also had the pen they spectator used to sign the card in your right hand finger tips, and used returning the pen to your pocket as justification, then there is a logical reason for doing so. Your audience will simply see you returning a pen to your pocket. If you are loading a card under a glass, combine it with moving the glass out of the way for something, i.e. spreading the cards across the table. If you re wanting your audience to look to the other side of the stage, ensure there is a reason why you want them to look away. For every movement you want to pass unnoticed, all you have to do is find a stronger action to counterbalance it that is logical and motivated, but remember that there must be a reason for your move.
Putting It All Together Misdirection is an art in itself. It is an acquired skill that takes practice. You will not pick it up overnight, so start out small by applying the principles to routines you already know and use well. Test some ideas out. See whether your audience looks where you direct them to. Look out for the moments of relaxation and try out doing something, not necessarily related to the trick, in that moment to see if you get away with it. If it doesn t work, don t worry, simply try something else. The key to applying misdirection successfully is not to confuse it with trying to distract. You must control your audience. Use the 4 principles of the eyes, the offbeat, your style and justification of moves and have fun with it. The more you use it, the more you ll understand how to maximize its potential in your own routines. Final Thoughts Be prepared to get caught out. As I mentioned above, it is an acquired skill and will take time and practice to get right. Misdirection will enhance your magic and will make you a better performer, so I hope you ve enjoyed understanding its key concepts. I have deliberately not gone into too much detail as it is important to find your own style based on the key principles involved. LIKE WHAT YOU READ? CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ADVICE NEWSLETTER
Credits, Useful Resources & Further Reading The following resources have helped in compiling this book, so my full recognition and appreciation goes to the following. If you would like to continue your research into misdirection, they are a good place to further your own knowledge on the subject. Books of Wonder, Tommy Wonder Carneycopia, by John Carney The Annotated Magic of Slydini, by Lewis Ganson The Best of Slydini...and more, by Karl Fulves Visions of Wonder, Tommy Wonder Magic by Misdirection by Dariel Fitzkee I would also like to give a special thanks to David Gemmell for his help in sourcing references and further reading.