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The Magicians Secret Weapon: Master The Art Of Misdirection
by Gary McCaffrey
There is one thing in magic that is more important than anything else you do. Its more important than the tricks you do, its more important than who you perform for and its more important than any patter you had planned.

MISDIRECTION!

Its the one thing that takes the pro's to fame and fortune and leaves the rest behind. To really entertain your audience, you must learn to control everything going on during your performance. This can include where people stand, where they look and when, and what they are thinking about!

In basic terms, misdirection is making sure your audience stays in touch with the magic and doesn't drift off into thinking how you did this or how you did that. This can be difficult to do but just remember that you know the secret, they don't. Don't ever get nervous and think they are going to figure you out because 99% of the time they haven't a clue.

Various types of misdirection and how to use it

The magic wand is a great little misdirection tool. Personally, in my style of performing, a magic wand doesn't really fit in, but at times I do substitute a wand for anything else on hand. It could be using a pencil as a misdirecting pointer, flicking a coin into the air, or anything else to take the heat of the secret move or action. I'm not sure who invented the magic wand but whoever did was genius, its now an accepted magic prop. Spectators just think some magicians need it to make the magic happen, and they are right, because the magic is in the misdirection.

Another big mistake made by a lot of beginners is their eye movements. Never ever look at something you don't want your spectator to look at, if you look at something, then they will feel the need to look there too. If you point at something, they will look. I am not asking you to say "look, theres a monkey" then do your secret move. It has to be subtle, a funny comment towards a particular spectator will move attention toward them and off you. (Funny not offensive)

One of the simplest, most effective, and yet too often under used forms of misdirection is 'Time Misdirection'. This involves you allowing a sufficient amount of time to pass between the main deception and the final revelation. A good example here is the cross cut force, so simple most magicians overlook it, thinking that it doesnt fool people. It does, and its become one of my favourite forces. Used in the right conditions, and allowing enough 'time misdirection' to pass between the spectator cutting the cards and looking at what card they cut to, it is without doubt one of the cleanest and most deceptive card forces you can do.

Now you know what misdirection is and how and when to deploy it, start using it! Always think of ways you can keep your spectators interested in the magical side of your performance and keep their minds off any logical explanations.

Use stories and even make up 'facts' about how the human mind is capable of this or that and how we only use a small percentage of our brains. (If that suits your style)

GREAT POST NING!
I love misdirection because it's what a lot of my performing style comprises of. As Ning mentioned, many people look where they don't want the spectators to look. This can be translated to "The spectator looks where you look, so don't look where you're dirty". In other words. THE SPECTATOR LOOKS WHERE YOU LOOK. This is probably the most effective way to misdirect people.

"Huh? What if I wanna do a top change? I look at the sky?"
Nope. Well if your spectator believes in flying dead birds, then go ahead, but most of the time, it doesn't work. Moves like the top change require two hands. Such misdirection requires EYE CONTACT. Some people say that the specs just burn their hands. NOTE- They only burn your hands because you put your hands there.

SO HOW?

Drop your hands to your side and patter, raising your empty hand to about eye level, and tilr ur head up a bit. This will cause them to look up at you. As this happens, casually do your top change, or any other blatant move. You'll have ample time

How about "the larger motion covers the smaller motion" misdirection?
Ah, that's a beautiful style of misdirection, but over exaggerated by MANY magicians.

"HI!! HOW ARE YOU!?!?!?!DO YOU LIKE CARD MAGIC?"
-waves hand in a huge arc over head and gets a pinky break-

Not recommended.

Try making the larger motion something more subtle, like a natural hand gesture, or the slight reaching over the pick up a deck of cards. It doesn't have to literally be a LARGE motion, but one that grabs more attention, than the other little sneaky move you just did you little Bas****. For example, instead of jumping up and down to turn the deck over if you've halfpassed the bottom card for some weird reason, gesture like what you did was no big deal, and blatently turn over the deck at the same time. THEY WON'T SEE IT.

Here's something that you might like to know. Contrary to what women believe of themselves, all humans can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Well, at least effectively. Therefore, using that more prominent larger motion combined with a flawless sleight, you achieve your goal VERY effectively.

Ah, now to one of my favourite forms of misdirection... TIME misdirection. I'm not so sure if it's really even considered as misdirection, but it sure misleads the spectator. Basically, time misdirection strips the spectator of all ability to backtrack what just occured. Effects like Psychokinetic Touches by Banachek uses time misdirection to great effectiveness. Do purchase the manuscript to check out the awesome application. But what is misdirection? For those who didn't read Ning's post, to hell with you. :P

Nono, put in simpler words, it's just doing something way ahead of time, and giving the audience the impression that it JUST happened. Well, then come to think of it, a simple DL utilized in an ACR uses time misdirection. Why? Because the card never left the top of the deck. Ever thought about that? I guess many of us won't totally consider that as time misdirection, but not many of us ever thought of a deck as 52 dupe backs. Eh?

Still not sure about what I mean? Let's take Ning's perfect example. The cross-cut force. It's simple, bold, and works like a charm. Another effect is coin under watch. Wonderfully done. If you haven't seen that one either, please leave this forum. :D

Okay, one LAST example, is the classic Ash through Spectator's Fist. For your reference, people who like Ammar can find it in his Ice Breakers video. For people who just hate Ammar's giggle, check out Gregory Wilson's Lipstick routine in his On the Spot set. I can't recommend it enough.

It's 1.44 AM now and I have no idea how my post has reached this length. But for those who have read until here, I hope you've learnt something! At least I did. Typing in the dark at this hour in the morning is very difficult. GOOD NIGHT!!!

Huron

That was an AWESOME contribution Huron!!! Thanks for sharing that with everybody :lol:

Theres no better person to learn misdirection from than Huron the great. :D

There was once he was doing this ace routine to this guy(layman) and was misdirecting him like crazy.. and i was the bystanding MAGICIAN and got misdirected.

Excuse me while i go hide :ph43r:

He's just that good.

Since the "theme" of the next gathering is misdirection, here's an old thread on the topic.