F i..e/ d 1leport lJ Elsewhere /n th'.s book; /.s ~ headl/ne pred/d/on (rhe '4rt/de) that I u.sed to ./'ool the po//c.e and Journa//.st.s /n ~ re:J'on. 77?/.s .story be!J'n.s appro>(l'mately three ~.s a:l'ter the ./'eature ran the IOC!AI ne.tc.XSpaper. I had rece;ved a. lot ol'?ub/;c;ty as a. result ol'the successl'ul ?red;ct/011 a.11d 011 MY Wo/ to Meet MY ?r;11ter to ?Ut ;h a. 11ew order ol' bUS;11eSS cards, I saw the lla.sh;173 /;3hts ol' the local ?o/;ce ?u//;173 Me oVer. I had just ?a.t-f ed ;11 the courtyard ol' the ?r;nterS whe11 I saw the blue l1jhts ;h MY rear v;ew M;rror. I 3ot out a.11d waded bY the car to See what they wa.11ted. I ;nsta.11t!y reco3n;zed one ol' the ol'l?cerS as Ohe who was ;h atte11da.11ce on the do/ ol' the ?red;ct/011. >7"e reco311;zed Me a.11d I a.sfed h;M why I had beeh sto??ed. I ha.d11 't beeh S?eed;173 a.11d could11 't th;11f ol' a.nyth;173 as to why they would ?ul/ Me oVer. >7"e ?0;11ted to MY hUMber ?!ates a.11d told Me the S?a.6173 betwee11 the characters were ;//e3a./. It was at that MOMe11t that ;t had da.w11ed 011 Me that I had ;h /'a.ct jot I show j?lates \ Oh the car,. 11ot road le3a/· 011eS. !he show ?!ates were ?laced Oh whe11 I toof the car to the J<;Mbolto11 cha.r;ty car show ;11 Ca.Mbr;d3esh;re. I 30 011Ce a. year to d;s?!o/ the car a.!0173 w;th SoMe f'r;e11ds who also ow11 u11usua.I ca.rs. /he hLfMber ?!ates were fixed 011 w;th Velcro ?ads a.11d I had l'or3otte11 to cha.113e theM a.l'ter the show a.11d 11ow I was be;173 ?ul/ed over bY Noti;173ha.Msh;re 's 1 1?11est'. I was ho?;h:J they would show le11;e11cy s;11ce I had enteda/11ed ~heM a. l'ew weefs ?r;or, bur o/?a.t-e11t!y the ol'l?cer who was 1.01.
Tile 'Poti.ce &. Tile 'Producer there d/dh \t //fe be/17_3 .f'oo/ed aJ?d WCJ..:5 hOW lh the /Yl/d.St o.f' wrlt/17_3 Me out .So,/Y/e f?qperworf to 3et eVeh. Ih aJ? aiteM?t to reVer.Se his dec/.s/oh, I a.sf ed hlM /.f' they had e'(jayed the J?red/ctloh I did with theM a17d the heW.Sf?qper. Y/e loofed at Me .f'or. a /Y/O/Yleht aJ?d bacf dowh at his f?qperworf a17d reJ?lled 1 No\. I received a ?t-oducer, which .f'or tho.Se out.side o.f' the l!J<, MeaJ?.:5 I had .SeVeh days to taf e MY lh.SUraJ?Ce doCU/Yleht.S ?/us /dehtllicat/017 to MY hearest ?o//ce .stat/oh to J?l'oVe who I was. Y/e al.so 3a.ve ,/Y/e a Ltt,Q I Oh the .Sf?ot\ lihe .f'or ha.v/17_3 //le3al J?I ates oh the car. I thou3ht at Ii :-.st that he was jof/17_3 but the .sterh loof oh his .f'ace ?u/cfly 117.f'orMed Me otherwise, I toof the f?qperworf o.f'.f' h/M aJ?d a.:5 they 3ot lh their Car, he turhed a17d said to his Farther: "Mlhd ~ea.de:-, eh? Bet he d/dh \t .See that .f'ucfer CoMl17_3.' Y/ahahaJ'' I .stood there .f'or, :a .f'ew /JJoMeht.S as they drove o.f'I"; .sl1jht!y bewildered at th~. level of' ?t-o.f'e.s.slohall.s/Yl .showh to ,/Y/e bY e.:5.Sehtlal!y a3t:ot-<;P_-o.f' f?eo?!~,who.Se Wa.:Je.:5 I MaKe a Cohi:-lbutloh toward. I dec/ded to hot l~t lt:6othef jy,e.aJ?d ?ut It dowh to e><J?erlehce, eVeh .:5eel17_3 the .f'unry sld1 to h's·' ~/hd reader\ CO/Yl,/Y/eht. I was lh t/1e w:-017_3 .f'or hot ha.v/17_3 the Correct ?!ates oh MY car a17d re3ard/e.s.s o.f' his CoMMe;,tJ there wa.Sh \t MUCh I could do . .I locfed the car a17d went /hto the ?t-lhte:-.s, te/1117_3 MY .f'rlehd about what had ju.st oCCUrJ-ed. 0.f' course, J1e .f'ouhd It hy.sterlcal aJ?d by the ehd o.f' the vi.sit, we were both lau3hl17_3 a.bout the eVeht, eVeh thou3h .I wa.:5 Ltt,Q l1jhter lh MY ?ocf et. l<arMa (;.f' you believe lh It) MaJ?l.f'e.sted lt.sel.f' lh a rather .sweet aJ?d .sat/.s.f'y/17_3 way the /Y/Ohth I ate:-. I had received aJ? eh<f Ulty throu3h MY web.Site .f't-o/Yl O.f?ol/ce o.f'licer. >7"e waJ?ted to checf Fi.et d 1?.,eport MY a.va/la.b/l/ty .f'or ?et-.f'orMll?j at aJ? Uf?CoMll?j eVeht. ~Ubb/17_3 MY haJ?d.S to3ether, I called the/YI Uf? Oh the hU,/Y/ber :J'Veh to ,/Y/e. Jhe o.f'.f?Cer e><f?/a/hed that they had a .f'UhCt/oh CO/Ylll7_3 Uf? aJ?d waJ?ted .So,/Y/e ehte:-ta/h/Yleht, a17d a.Sfed /.f' I could _:J'Ve a <fUote. without he.sltatloh I added Ltt,Q ohto MY hOt-/Ylal .f'ee, to which he l/Yl/Yled/ately aCCef?ted. I J?artlcu/arly e'(jayed the war/YI .Seh.Se o.f' .sat/.s.f'actloh 3eherated .f'ro/Yl be/17_3 ?etiy, It \.:5 hot .SoMeth/17_3 I would reCoMMehd but lh this .s/tuatloh It .f'elt ju.st a17d rather reward/17_3. I re/Yle,/Y/ber .See/17_3 the o.f'li Cer who 3a.ve Me the Ii he Oh the h1jht o.f' the eVeht aJ?d th/hf/17_3 to /Yly.Se/.f':
R IN E I It has been widel.1' suggested in mentallsm literature that one shoul.d not appear to be proficient in the handling of playing cards. Many sources suggest that a competent hancller of playing cards may be perceived as a magician or sleight of hand artist. Whilst this argument appears reasonable, one must also consider the idea that as a professional mentalist who performs for a living, surel.1' one shoul.dn't appear clumsy and unfamiliar with cards. This is especially true if we use them in our act on a regular basis. Most groups that I have performed for have at least one person who can shuffle and cut playing cards, so if I'm utilizing them for a paid demonstration, I should at least be similarly proficient. This leads me into the selection of a card by an audience member - What should be accepted as appropriate? A ribbon spread'P Dribbling the cards'P Asking them to cut to a card'P In the context of a mentalism performance;. what is too fancy? Lets. take a look.
PICK A CARD II ANY CARD lTHE TRADITIONAL OFFERINGJ When we think of a card trick, whether it is being performed by a magician or an uncle at a family gathering, the traditional offering for selection of a card is usually the holding out of a partially (and often scruffy) spread of the deck. This approach is, in my view, the result of the general perception of how a card trick should be presented. It is embedded in our culture and entirely assoc:iated with a traditional magic performance. As a result, I would suggest to the mentalist to avoid anything that even resembles this offering. Leave it for the inebriated family members. We are a cut above. SELECTING FRO A FAN A card fan is an attractive way of displaying playing cards for selection but not something that should concern us as mentalists. We can (and should) strive to make our craft aesthetically pleasing, but flourishes like the fan should clearly be left to the magicians. We are aiming to present a level of ability with the use of cards that does not strike the layman as especially dexterous. This does not mean, as many have suggested, that we compensate for our prowess by proving how clumsy we are with the pasteboards. We should be fluid with matters of the mind but at the same time this does not mean that we have the physical dexterity of a caveman.. Below are a selection of methods that ought not to appear out of place when we as mentalists incorporate a marked deck into our performances.
DRIBBLING THE CARDS Sure, it's a more fanciful way of offering a card for selection, but at the same time it's a perfectly acceptable method for the professional mentalist. Why? Because it's a simple skill attained within a couple of hours practice. Just last night (New Year's Eve 2012), I was booked to perform for the patrons of a private party held at a country pub. In one of the corners was a small groupofchildren,agedapproximately 9 to 12 years. They were playing with a deck of cards and two of the boys were dribbling the cards and riffle shuffling with ease. , The benefit of d~ibbling the cards for a selection, with a ma~k~d ·deck is great; it allows ·a wonderfully direct peek of the mark in the open and without any suspicio.n. All eyes are"on the cards as they fall from one hand to the other. As someone ci::llls stop, the last card to fall is clearly seen. ( . In the moment that f'ollows,. the selected card is offered to the participant to remove and look at. In my· experience, th,is gives approximately two or three seconds to get a great look at the marking. Once you have spotted it, you can turn your head away as the ?ard is removed and remembered. As an afterthought, I have the participant sandwich the card in between their palms to avoid the chance that I may accidentally see something I shouldn't. At the time of writip.g, this is my favourite method of having a participant select a card. 1.0B Na.rK,ed C.a.rds i.n. Nen.ta./i.slrt THE RIBBON SPREAD Quite possibly one of the prettiest ways to having a card selected. The elegant Ribbon Spread is a favorite of magicians when seated at a table. It is a fancy move that requires smoothness and dexterity - but is it too much for us mentalists? I have to make a confession here; I'm guilty of using this in the past. It looks the part and in terms of catching a glimpse of the mark, it certainly allows a nice chunk of time to see it. If I find myself working a Black Tie event where there are tables, I wouldn't think twice about offering a card for selection this way. There is a time and a place for it as a professional.
HANDING THE DECK TO A PARTICIPANT This is an excellent ploy to use at cocktail parties and other walk around events. Have your participant shuffle the deck and remove one card before handing the remainder of the deck back to you. This could be a random choice or a particular favorite card of your guest. The card can either be placed face down on a table or a bar, or simply deposited onto their open hand. This is a wonderfully fair way of having a card selected and mark spotted. The focus shifts between the deck and the selected card before finally being directed to wherever you desire. I will take back the remainder of the deck and place it immediately into my jacket pocket - that way the focus of the group ultimately rests on the participant, the card and myself. One disadvantage to this approach is that you won't always have an opportunity to peek the ~ark, especially if the selected card is placed out of direct view. As a result, I will quite often have the participant hold the card face down_ i~ one· ~tlm whilst staring straight at me. I meet their gaze and am quit~ intent with fil.Y'eye contact, making it clear that I am being serious but not threateni,ng. · I NEVER look at ~h~ card until ·I h~ve simultaneously misdirected the group's attention to the part~cipant an~ the participant's attention to the card. The way in which I do this is as follows; I ask the participant to lOok down at the card and imagine the back of the card changing color, either black or red depending on which card they selected. The moment their eyes loolt down at the card, mine follow and spot the mark. I look back at the participant and continue by instructing them to name aloud Red & Black in any order they wish. Depending on the order in which they name the colors I can begin to reveal the color I believe the card to be. 1.1.0 1'1a.rl<,ed Cards i.n. 1'1en.ta.{i.sm This approach precludes the idea that I need to look at the card and most people won't be aware that I even glanced at it. This naturally allays suspicion and helps to create the impression that my focus was permanently on the eyes of the participant. DEALING THE CARDS INTO A PILE Another wonderfully fair and casual method of having a card selected is to take the shuffled deck and begin dealing one card at a time into a face down pile. When your participant calls to stop, you'll immediately stop and have them remove the last card dealt from the pile. This provides you with ample opportunity to spot the mark and commit it to memory. You even have the opportunity to ask the participant if they are satisfied with their selection of card. If not you can continue dealing cards until they once again stop and select another. Regardless of what they choose to do, it is a very fair process and should raise no suspicion.
ALWAYS ALLOW THE DECK TO BE SHUFFLED One of the best ways in which to disarm a potentially troublesome group of participants is to relinquish control of the deck. Allow them to shuffle and check it to their heart's content. By casually allowing the deck to be shuffled and inspected by the group, any prejudices the audience may have had are precluded ~ subconsciously addressed and quenched before the demonstration has even begun. I have happily given marked decks to groups of participants countless times over the years. No one has ever spotted the marks. They don't know what they are looking for, so I am safe - but the act of relinquishing control satisfies and disarms them. In fact, I will encourage more than one person to shuffle and mix the cards. If I am working a table, I will try to have everyone who is seated around it handle and mix the deck. THE D CK OR RKS . ' A very bold ruse I, have used for 8: ~umber of years is allowing the participants to apparently check for ~arks; I say 'apparently' because although they don't physically scrqtinize the (;leek themselves. Instead, I demonstrate a , ·. .. . ,. . technique known as 'Going to the Movies'. ( ' This is also known as the .'Gamble.rs Riffle Test', wherE:; the pack is riffled by the performer to show the bac~s of the deck in a way that looks very much like an old fashioned flip animation book. The theory behind this is that as the cards are being riffled, the marks will dance around and become visible to those watching. To be fair, they do! However because the vast majority of people aren't accustomed to working with playing cards, "iet alone a marked deck, they don't know what they are looking for, hence, this test is a wonderfully bold way of disarming an audience. To 'go to the movies', simply hold the deck in your hand, with the backs face up. Start from the bottom of the deck and riffle the cards to the top using your thumb. Do this on the shorter end of the deck to show one half of the deck, then spin the deck around 180 degrees and riffle the other side in the same way. Basically, what the riffle test is doing is recreating one of those primitive animation books. You will be able to see the marks dancing across the backs of the cards, but I guarantee that your audiences won't. "You may be surprised how poorly trained most poker-room security personnel are; more than half of them have no idea what to look for. Some cheats can hardly suppress their amusement. For all we know, the riffle test may have even been invented by cheats, only to make the suckers feel in control of the situation.'' Anonymous Oard Cheat
USE THIS DECK lBEING HANDED A REGULAR DECKJ Every now and then, if you perform enough, you will encounter this situation; Groups who bring out a deck of their own cards and challenge you to be able to ac~omplish your demonstrations using their pack. I have experienced this a handful of times and if you are not prepared for it, they will rip you to shreds. One slight look of shock, surprise, or doubt and they will pick up on it and before you know they will be claiming a 'victory' and whooping and patting each other on the back. You must be prepared for this eventuality and be able to perform something that will satisfy their challenge mentality. Think about it - what would you do in this situation? One of my 'go to' solutions if confronted with this challenge mentality is to peek a card. There are many fantasti? ways in which you can secretly peek a participant's card but the one ~hat I find myself utilizing more often than not is a 'Step Peek'. One wonderful vari~rit ofthis,m6ve is the'Watch your Step Peek' in Richard Busch's book, Peek Perfo1"mances (Magic Inspirations, 2001). Derren Brown also has a lovely take on ~his iµ ~his brilliant Devil's Picture Book DVD. ' ' ( ' . In essence, you are able to have the . boisterous group of challengers thoroughly shuffle-and cut their own deck to their hearts' content. When ready, you can - without looking through the cards - have one person call 'stop' as you riffle through .the deck with your index finger. Upon stop being called, the group can peek 'at ~he c.orner of the card and remember it. The index finger is removed from the break and the deck is then apparently. closed. I say 'apparently', because without their knowledge, you secretly attained a pinky break at the bottom right corner of the deck at the same point where their card is located. By twisting your wrist 45 degrees and simultaneously pulling the deck up slightly with the fingers, you are able NarK.ed Cards i.n. Nen.ta!i.sm to create a small step in the deck. You can then obtain your pinky break. This break can be secretly peeked as the deck is passed back to the group. The back of your hand and fingers provide just enough cover to allow you to peek the card without others seeing it also. I would then proceed to reveal the thought of card in the same way as I normally would. (See; Body Language) REVEALING THE CARD IN PERFOR ANCE What follows is the presentation I've used (Body Language) for pretty much every walk around performance I have given over the past 10 years .. It has gradually developed over time and the subtleties presented appeared as a result of refining my ideas through countless performances. Some of these tips only exist because of the mistakes I have made over time - please, learn from them so that you don't end up making the same errors I have. This presentation really is something I am proud of. It appears completely genuine and when people witness it, they believe they are seeing an expert in body language. Take time to study and practice this presentation over and over again ..
"There's a way of playing safe, there's a way of using tricks and there's the way I like to play, which is dangerously, where you're going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven't created before/' Dave Brubeck (Jazz Musician) the information is what it's all about - it is the d.ifi"erence between as genuine or as a charlatan., It is also the moat dimcult of mental.ism to and teach., The following reveals are explained purely from the point of view of a "Psychological Entertainer". The illusion that you are creating is that of reading your participant's tells and body languagee To aid in understanding, I will break this section of reveals down into segments. One thing to bear in mind as you are revealing the information in performance is that this is jazz and you will constantly be adapting your approach and thinking on your feet throughout. I will teach you methods in which to reveal specific pieces of information but - depending on the reaction of yourparticipant - you will be expected to adjust your presentation at a moment's notice. Only by learning these techniques and experimenting with them through performance will you gain the experience needed to jazz and freestyle your way convincingly through to create the illusion that you are genuinely reading your participant's signals and tells. I have been using these techniques for the last decade and am at a point in time where my audiences genuinely believe I am doing what I am saying I'm doing. Even now, I am still learning and developing subtleties to help enhance the illusion.
You will be breaking your reveals down into bite-size pieces. This is for two reasons - first, to make the information easy to follow from the audience's perspective and second, to enhance the authenticity of the routine. Imagine it in your mind - If a performer announces the correct identity of a playing card in a single phase, it is somehow less believable than a situation in which that same revelation is broken down into segments and first the suit or colour is revealed and then the value. An air of credibility is lent to the performance, and the audience believes. 1.1.B THE FIRST PHASE: SUIT I COLOUR The majority of the time you ought to begin by revealing the suit. However, there are times when it is better and more convincing to only reveal the colour initially. You never know how your participant will respond to your questions so you will make your decision on which direction to go once they have responded. Making split second decisions and the ability to think fast on your feet can only come with experience. I cannot teach this to you. But it is an important and fundamental part of being a mentalist. My initial script begins; "As the cards fall, just call out stop anywhere you like. There? OK •.. " "Take the card and have a look at it, I'll keep my head away so I don't accidentally see it. Once seen, either place it in your pocket or sandwich it between your palms." "Done? OK. Now look at me, your job is to keep that card to yourself, my job is to try and work out what it is. The harder you try to keep the identity of that card away from me, the easier it should be for me to get it ••. " "We will do this in segments. Firstly, I'd like you to name the four suits in any order you want ••. do this now." (snap fingers) At this point, several different things can happen, let's look at each one individually. THE PAUSE When put on the spot, the majority of people will pause slightly if asked to name aloud the four suits. This is because they take a moment to recollect the names of them - we can take advantage of this pause because we know they already have a suit in mind from looking at their card moments earlier. Any pause given we can now attribute to them not wanting to state the suit of their card and use it to eliminate whichever suit they announce first.
Let's look at an example using the Five of Spades: "We will do this in segments. Firstly, I'd like you to name the four suits in any order you want •.. do this now." (snap fingers) "Erm .. •· Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades." We can instantly frame our participant's pause as an important 'tell'. As we know the card, the participant clearly doesn't have a Heart in mind, so we can eliminate that suit straight away. S T T This doesn't happen very often and, on those occasions when it has, it is usually someone who is very confident and is purposely attempting to be bold. When the guilty suit is named first there will be no pause. If this happens you w~ l?e able to instantly make reference to the participant being: · "A very co~fiderit per.son, and someone who is comfortable in their own skin. The sort of person ~old enough to try and catch you out from the start by naming the guil.ty suit Tirsp'. As this statement pl~ys, ~o y.our par:ticipant's ego, they will, in most cases, see this as somewhat of a compliment8 In these sitµations, you will probably get a smile or a chuckle. fr?m the participant. If the rest of the group have also seen the identity bf the card, they too may also react and confirm that our reference to their character is pretty much spot on. Sometimes however, they will continue to not give anything away - even if you have just described exactly what they have done .. In these cases, I recommend you continue by stating that they are exactly the type of person to do this and be bold enough to not give anything away even if they have been ousted. At this point, announce to the group the suit you believe (know) it to be. 1..tO THE SUIT IS NAMED LAST This happens the majority of the time, and there are two approaches to this situation. The order that the participant names the suits will determine which approach you will end up taking. Let's look at the first situation. Imagine that the participant has selected the Five of Spades and calls out the suits in the following order; "Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds and Spades." You can continue with the following: "Straight away you have split the colours. You said 'Clubs' first and everyone knows that Spades is the other black suit so why would you split them unless you were trying to hide one of them? There was a slight pause at the start before you said Clubs, so that clearly wasn't the suit you had in your mind - if it had been Clubs, you wouldn't have paused as it would already have been on your mind. Most people hide their suit at the end anyway, so I believe yours is a Spade - yes?" What can they say to that? You have correctly told them which suit they are thinking of and by confirming it is indeed a Spade they also indirectly confirm the rest of the script was correct also! A wiri/win scenario. Let's take a look at what you could do if the participant names the suit last but keeps the colours of the suits together, for example: "Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs & Spades." You can continue with the following: "I noticed a slight pause at the start when you named Hearts, so that was clearly not the ~uit you had in mind originally because that pause indicated that you had to think of another suit. You followed up with the next red suit, which is natural and what I would expect. So this leads me to believe your card is a black card ••. "
"So, a black card ••. Clubs or Spades .... Let's be honest, this has to be a Spade, people always say the guilty suit last to try and hide it!" THE SUIT IS NAMED SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE This happens quite often and it is useful to have a couple of strategies to help with your presentations. Let's take a look at some examples of what may happen. Again, we will use the Five of Spades as our target card: "Hearts, Diamonds, Spades & Clubs" "There was a slight pause at the start when you named Hearts, clearly not the suit you had in mind. You followed up with the next red suit which is natural and .what I would expect, so this leads me to believe your card is a black card ••. " "So, a black card •.. Spades & Clubs ••.• Let's be honest, if you wanted to hide the suit from me, yciu .would:p't put it at the end, its far too obvious and you're smarter than that~.~ This is a Spade isn't it!" Subtly complfme.nting the participant and immediately following up with the revelation of ~he suit· is ~ wc;mderful ploy that will help build rapport with your audience wpilst simultaneously reducing the possibility of the participant trying to :µte$~ with you. "Hearts, Spades, Diamonds. & Clubs." "Let's see - there was a slight pause at the start when you named Hearts - clearly not the suit you had in mind. You then broke up the colours. Most people would follow a Heart with a Diamond, but you didn't ••. You followed with a Spade ••. " "You would only do that if you were attempting to hide something. Without a doubt, the card you are thinking of IS a Spade." THE SECOND PHASE: VALUE Once you have correctly revealed the suit of the card, you will now proceed to read more of your participant's signals and successfully determine the value of their card. To do this you will ask them to simply count from Ace up to King (Ace, two, three, four and so on). By paying attention to them as they count, you will apparently be looking for subtle tells or micro expressions. This is a fun part of the routine and there is plenty of scope for humor and building rapport. Before you ask your participant to begin counting, you should apply a sprinkling of psychological 'pressure' in order to entice them to become more animated than would be normally. Here's my script: "So, at this point we know it's a Spade but we don't know which one. I am going to try and work this out - so what I would like you to do is to count, slowly and clearly, from Ace all the way up to King •.. " "As you are getting nearer the value of your card, you may feel yourself acting awkward or unnatural. Please try and keep a Poker face and whatever you do, don't feel guilty ••. and don't give anything away, okay?" Give your participant as smile or a cheeky wink; it will usually make them smile or gi~gle. It's at this point that you immediately regain control of the situat~on and have th~m begin counting. "Okay, so look at me ••. Remember - Poker face! Take a deep breath and begin counting ••. look at me as you do!" You'll now wait while your participant counts aloud from Ace to King. As you already know the value of your participant's card, all you need to do is pay attention to how they count. You are going to look for a unique idiosyncrasy that you can claim allowed you to successfully deduce their card. You then highlight this 'tell' after they have finished their counting
and end by successfully naming their card. Let me explain some possibilities; THE PARTICIPANT BEGINS BY COUNTING SLOWLY AND SPEEDS UP TOWARD THE END. If we continue to use the Five of Spades as an example, this particular counting pattern could be used to explain the following 'tell': "Interesting •.. You counted slowly, and methodically for halfthe numbers but sped up towards the end. This tells me that you were clearly concentrating initially. You were trying hard not give your value away at the start but then became less intent. You lost concentration after about six. Your card must be below that then. Look at me please. Now, can I get you to slowly repeat four, five, and six?" In this situation, qu~te a lot 0f participants will subtly nod as they count. I try and use thi13 t~ my advantage and after fact might point out that their nod was somewhat·· more pronounced when they said 'Five', allowing me to deduce the value· of their ·card. Any physical motion ought to be noted and used - whether it is a n~d, a ~Illlle? a blink, or whether they've crossed their arms or touched their face .. The .tim~ng of the action is what is important. . ' ' ( . There are some times when_ you. might be working with a challenging participant or even someone who will amuse themselves by trying to throw you off the scent by purposely nodding when they call out a different number. These situations provide you with just as much opportunity for cover as does any other. In fact, as you already know the value of the card selected, it can be an excellent opportunity to provide some very convincing pseudo explanations. The rule remains the same - watch for any pronounced change in tone or movement. For instance, if this challenging participant emphatically nods when they say 'Six', you might instantly follow by saying; "Ah! That's interesting - did anyone else notice that? You said 'Four •.. ', then 'Five ••. ', and then there was a big nod on the 'Six', clearly trying to make me think that was the number you have in mind, which - of course - it isn't. The nod wasn't important, but its timing was extremely telling - this is a Five, isn't it?!" As you master the art of 'attentive opportunism', you can take the little things like this and - when they do occur - turn them into strong underlining arguments for the authenticity of your skills and abilities. THE PARTICI TS BY CD G QUI AND S AR THE D. If we continue to use the Five of Spades as an example, this particular counting pattern could be used to explain the following 'tell'; "Interesting •.. You counted quickly through the first series of numbers, but slowed down toward the end. You were clearly rushing through those numbers as if you were trying to hide something, but· then you slowed right down and acted much more natural in the latter stages - telegraphing that you felt that the heat was off. Your card must be one of those that you rushed through. Do me a favor and please count from one to five again; but this time moderate your pace and look straight at me." By asking them to count from one to five again, your participant will feel an increased pressure on them not to give any signals which could indicate their card. At the same time, you are giving the audience a window into how this apparently works. As your participant counts again, look for something you are able to use to attribute towards a 'tell'. Many times during this 'recount', the participant will do something to give
it away. You'll get a a smile, a nod, a change in speed or emphasis, something that you can use to your advantage and point to as a 'tell'. Even if they don't display any obvious tells, you can say that they did! Trust me, this works. Here's an example from a recent event I was booked to perform at. The gentleman I was performing for kept a good poker face and gave very little away. When I asked_ him to recount a certain section of numbers, his eyes flickered to the side about half way through the counting. His friends were watching and spotted the eye flicker and started to react. I immediately announced the card correctly without mentioned the flicker but they attributed it to the method and said that they also spotted his tell! The guy tried to plead with his friends that he didn't give anything away and to be fair, he didn't. I just took advantage of the opportunity and made it a part of the method. The real reason why his eyes darted to the side and back was because someone had joined the group to watch the demonstration. The guy who joined the audience appeared at my side and I could see him in my peripheral vision. At that exact.moment, my participant glanced over to see who it was and then bftck to-me. It didn't matter ho'! ~uch the gu! tried to plead with his friends, they were convinced that 1;he_y had seen his 'tell' arid had a lot of fun with it - which, of course, made the whole exper:ience memorable and entertaining for the ' ' . /:" group watching the demc:n:1stratiort. THE HMICA This happens fairly often, especially with those who are quite confident in themselves or have a passing interest in Poker. They will count methodically, smoothly and usually to a steady rhythm. They will tend not to look directly at you during the counting sequence and will keep a calm yet emotionless expression throughout. You may think this type of participant is a nightmare to work with but nothing can be further from the truth. Mention their poker face and compliment their ability to stay calm under pressure. This will make them feel good about themselves and create the impression that you will now have to adjust your approach with the participant. By doing this, you increase the concentration of the whole group, making the subsequent revelation even stronger. At this point, have the participant count again, but this time in reverse (King down to Ace). There will usually be a slight pause before the participant begins counting down at this point, as they become clear in their minds as to what they have to do. As they begin counting, you have 2 choices - either go for the instant reveal or break the counting down even further segments.
INST ANT REVEAL This works well if you feel the group's attention isn't 100% focused. As your participant counts down you either nod in rhythm to the count or slightly tap your hand in time like a composer. As soon as they count the number immediately after the guilty one, you repeat it firmly and point at the participant. This will nearly always stop them in their tracks and confirm you are correct, for example: "King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, B, 7, 6, 5, 4" "Five!" (Point at participant) This usually generates a powerful group response from those watching, especially when the participant's card is shown. You will get two reactions - one from the participant themselves and a second, more powerful one, from the group upon the physical validation of the card being shown. RE ING IN TH G s This is recommended for those times when you have a particularly difficult participant to reado'. On?e t:h.~y -have counted in reverse from King down to Ace, you will want to narrow ?-t .down l?Y eliminating those numbers that you are confident theirs is noti ' "King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, B, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace .. " "Again, very smooth, very rhythmical and gives little away. The very fact that you stayed so focused through~.mt both counting procedures tells me the value of your card must be somewhere in the middle." "I think we can safely eliminate the lower cards and the higher cards. Lets focus purely on those from five to eight." "Repeat after me: five, six, seven, eight." "Five, six, seven, eight." "Again ••. five, six, seven, eight .. " "Five, six, seven, eight." "Five, six, seven." "Five, six, seven." "Five, six." "Five, six." "Five, six." "Five, six." "Five." "Five." "Five, five, five, five." "Five, five, five, five." "This IS a five, isn't it? The Five of Spades!" This option .appears authe:r:itic and is remi:r;iiscent of interrogati~n. styles the police may use when questioning a suspect involved in a crime. Having. said that, it shouldn't be too stern or intimidating, it should be carried out in an authoritative but playful manner and with a few smiles thrown in throughout. One final note - one of the reasons that this approach is so highly recommended is that you are bringing the spotlight around onto your participant. By directing the focus of the group onto one of its own members, you are an entertainer, rather than a vain and attention-seeking show off. As a result, you are viewed favourably and come across as likable.
I can't emphasize this enough - little things like this are the key to your success in the industry as they allow you to be accepted into your group of participants. Being interested in others actua]J_y demonstrates your own value. This ability to be a social chameleon is instrumental to your success as a performer and will repeatedly generate you work - If you make your participant feel special, they will remember that feeling and will want their friends to share that experience. ING THE EFFECT You will nearly always have someone else in the group request that you try the same demonstration on them. Now we all know the Golden Rule in Magic - Never repeat a trick. Is this a 'trick' though? In mentalism we are . dealing: with a different animal, especia]J_y with apparent psychologictl .. demonstrationse We certainly should feel comfortable repeating this type of demonstration. In these instances, we need to b~ rn~ndful of a few subtleties that we have at our disposal to fq.rther enhance the demonstration. The group will have just witnessed you revealing which playing card their friend was thinking of by apparently reading body 1anguage.. It will only be natural for some of the audience to have paid enough attention to your presentation to now try and outfox you by doing the complete opposite of what they have heard you discuss. · In these cases, you simply state this fact! Remember, you know the identity of the card throughout - it is simply a case of reacting to what the participant does and says and responding accordingly. If your previous participant named the guilty suit at the end, and your second participant names it at the start you can immediately begin to reveal something along the lines of: "Remember the first time we did this? I said the guilty suit is always the one at the end. Well there is absolutely no way you would do this now. You will try to catch me out, and the only way in which you could do this is to move as far away from the end as possible ••. therefore, your guilty suit will be at the start - Yes?" The key to this routine is the ability to 'Jazz' your performance. Know your basics, react and respond accordingly and, the more you do this sort of work, the more fluid and natural you will appear. I think the great Bill Evans sums up my point below: "You can't explain jazz to anyone without losing the experience because it's a feeling, not words." When discussing my thoughts on the use of Marked cards in mentalism performance, Peter Turner offered to share his insightse There is a little overlap between our ideas, but I'm sure you will agree it's often good to get the perspective of others.
Instead of outlining an effect, I thought it would be much nicer to share a host of small principles that you can apply to any of your effects using a marked deck of playing card::;. It's my belief that if a participant is going to choose a card in mentalism, the performer should not be touching the cards at all. They should let the Ll=d, participant mix the deck up while their back is turned and the participant should choose one at random, look at it, and leave it face down on the table. This is the advantage of having a marked deck - just simply hand it to the !;'c:1 participant to do whatever they please. This leads us to the first principle: if you're a mentalist, how do you justify the participant selecting a playing card? You will probably read this and think that it's a strange question to ask. It might well be, but I think logical justifications for your actions are essential if you want a strong and convincing presentation for your routine. JUSTIFIC ION 11 The first justification is to ask the participant to merely think of a playing card. Don't even have the deck present at this point. Then give the person this reading (or something similar). "Before I make an attempt to guess the playing card, let me make a few
deductions about you. I feel with you, you are the sort of person that has had something happen in the last six months that has completely made you change the way you feel and think about the world." "I would say you have a small circle of real friends or people you can trust and a number of acquaintances outside of that. You are the person that people turn to in times of crisis and you often feel that you carry the burden of other people's problems." "Recently you have been thinking of taking a break because things have felt a little much. You are also very, very cautious with what you say to avoid offending the people you really care for. You are a good-natured person that wouldn't want anyone to look stupid." Let them confirm this to be true. The reading doesn't really matter as long as it ends on the following note: "You are a good-natured person that wouldn't want anyone to look stupid." This is where the most important few lines come into play. "In fact, because you~are such a. good-natured person, I don't want people thinking that when I make an 'attempt to guess your card that you are just agreeing with me. I ~ould like y~u ~o ~emove from the deck the card you are thinking of and pl.ace it. face.down· there for me." Point to where you would like tb.em to piace the card on the table. "This will just act as a con~irmation for later." Then you would proceed into the 'rou~ine. As you can see with this justification, it's ostensibly because of their nature that the card is being pulled out and placed down to confirm whether you were correct. Inserting statements about the person is an art in itself, but I think it serves as a beautiful convincer. By convincing the participant that you Addi.ti.on.a./ T llou. f.li ts on. Usi.n. f. a. f'1 ar K,ed Dec/(, b ~ Peter Turn.er are genuinely reading things about them - before you make any attempt to divine their thoughts - you breed an air of credibility. This leads me to a very important point; The markings on my cards are huge! I frequently get asked by performers who see them if I ever get called on them. The honest answer is 'no'. This is because the participant believes I can genuinely guess the things that they are thinking of and in the face of that conviction, they don't scrutinize the cards. I think this is the main difference between magic and mentalism - most magicians want to prove the deck is regular and that there is nothing to hide (which can suspicious in itself), whereas a mentalist focuses on the process after the selection and thus the process shirts attention away from the cards. I will, however, outline a couple of ways to sneak a marked deck into your performances. I will also explain how to display a marked deck as a regular one, should you want to verify the deck is normal. STI C 12 This is a simple justification that relies on the fault of human memory. If you are performing an 8:mnesia type routine, where a participant forgets a playing card .. It would be logical if after they have thought of the card to remove card from the deck so that: A) They can, at any point, check the card should they start to forget it; and B) Use it to prove that they were not just agreeing with you because they have forgotten the card they were thinking of.
JUSTIFICATION 13 lTHE 'NO JUSTIFICATION' JUSTIFICATIONJ Don't justify anything! I personally believe there should be a justification for everything you do, but as with all aspects of magic and mentalism, there are no right or wrong answers - just personal opinion. All I am offering here are my views. PEEKING THE MARKING ON THE CARD Let's imagine we have used one of the justifications above and that the participant has placed a card face down on the table and we are about to turn around to face them. Our first instinct is to look at the card for the marking. Don't! Leave it. Address the partiCtP.ant fiioat. "No matter how many wrong, ·or right elements I pick up on, do not say anything out loud.: Do p.ot sbake~your head, do not say anything. Do you understand?" If they nod or say ~Yes' aloud, remind them not to say anything at all. "Ignore each detail of the .pnysical aspect of the card and just focus on the specifics mentally. Focus 'on the colour, the suits and value, use all your senses in symphony to culminate and create a vivid image of this card. Forget the physical 'card' for now as that's merely a tool for confirmation and at this point is irrelevant." The moment you say the word 'card', tap their playing card and look at the marking. Add i.t ion.a.{ T llou f.ll ts on. Usi.n. f.. a. N a.r K.ed Dec/(, b ~ Peter Turn.er This is very easy on my playing cards as the marking is so big that it takes me less than a second to find and read it. As I get to the words 'for now', I am facing them again. Another technique I used with a marked deck was in "The Portugal Video". I asked the participant to hold the card face down on their face up palm. This is particularly good in a scenario where there is no table. You have the participant remove the card they are thinking of and place it onto their palm. You can look away while they are doing this (it really doesn't make a difference). When you turn back around, instead of looking into the participant's palm, take their wrist and lift their hand up into your line of vision while still looking at the participant (seemingly paying no attention to the card). "Place your hand onto the top of the card like this for me." Place one of your hands over the top of the card being careful to never actually touch the card. While doing this, you have all the time in the world before your hand is being placed over the card and after your hand is coming away from the card to peek the marking. Essentially when reading markings, you are looking for a logical time within a na~ural movement, to peek the marking instead of creating a forced and contrived moment. SMUGGLING IN A DECK CARDS This is essentially the art of seemingly borrowing a deck of playing cards - even though they are in fact, yours in the first place. To begin this section, I will tell you a funny story that took place when I was a student. I used to go into a pub called 'The Horse and Groom' and have
a swift pint on my lunch break. One afternoon I was carrying a really cheap packet of marked playing cards because we would get together with friends and play a card game called 'Chase the Ace'. The marked deck always gave me the upper hand (yeah, I used to cheat at cards). There was a particularly large group of us that afternoon, and the staff behind the bar were asked if they had a deck of playing cards - this meant we could split into two groups and play the game. The staff did, but was apprehensive about lending the deck out to us and we were lent them on the provision that we didn't damage, deface, lose or steal the deck. I remember that halfway through the game, someone as clumsy as me knocked over a drink and spilled it all over the borrowed cards! Being students, we started to panic that we were going to get banned from the pub. Everyone decided that the best thing to do was put my pack of cards inside their box and give them the cards as their own. I couldn't really refuse because that would arouse su.spicion as to the deck's properties, so I obliged. It wasn't until two-weeks later 't;hat I realized I had stumbled upon something! I was in the same pub .·and by cha~ce it was the same night as 'Play Your Cards Right' (A traditional game pl,ayed in many pubs in the UK, often for a prize). Guess which pack of card~ the; were using? That's right, my marked oards! ( . Our team won severt?]. pints of lage.r that night! I neve.r mentioned anything about the deck and if I ever vy-anted to perform any type of marked card reading routine, it was perfect. I could just borrow the deck and nobody suspected a thing. I learned something from that experience and after that, I decided to leave several decks of marked playing cards in the pubs I drank in. All you need do is simply leave them on the bar near where the staff will see them. Be careful not to let the staff see you playing with the cards as you may get the line "You left these here the last time you were in." Addi.ti.on.a{ TliouilUs on. Usi.h.f. a NarK.ed Dec/(, b)J Peter Turn.er Another simple yet effective way of doing this (if you are with a group of performers at a gathering) is to switch one of their decks for yours. It will mean losing a marked deck (Don't worry, I will outline how to quickly - and extremely cheaply - knock up one for this type of scenario). This means that with a time delay, you can perform incredible routines (such as remembering a full deck of playing cards) and the routines will fry everyone! 0 NG THE CK T MA ED Should you want to prove the deck is not marked, there are several techniques that you can employ. T E .. 1 This is a very simple yet elegant technique that involves not marking two cards (One red card and one black card). You should also make these cards short cards. When you pull the deck out and show that all the faces of the cards are different, you can turn the deck over and mix the cards up (retaining the two cards on the top) and then hand the top two cards out for inspection. Due to the short cards, you can have someone cut to a random position and ' . ' . inspect the card they cut to. This really does ensure the participant thinks they have a completely free choice and that they could be inspecting any card. In the unlikely event the participant happens to pick one of the cards with no marking, you can ascertain its value by guessing the colour (which is 50/50) you will instantly know the value of the playing card that they have. It is worth noting that I've often found that performing a routine as though the cards aren't marked - only handing out the two cards should anybody ask
- is a great plan of attack for a technique such as this. TECHNIQUE .. 2 This is very bold and entails handing out the deck of cards with markings on and letting people try to find them. This works as most people don't know how to find markings and don't know of the 'Gambler's Riffle Test'. One of the reasons this works is that you have handed the cards out so nonchalantly that people will not suspect or inspect them very thoroughly. This is because your behaviour has psychologically suggested to them that you are confident that the deck is genuine, and they ought to be as well. There is also a part of their mind that thinks, "Why would you hand out a marked deck?" T , QUE .. 3 This works if you mark~t_he.oa_rd§ as I do mine. The markings are in.the middle; of the deck, and on one side, this is because some people will be. used to checking for markings on the edges of the deck. As a result, they will oft~ned~~ r:i,ffle the deck. . .· .. :. . ( .. . . Having the deck printed with, the markings on just one side of the deck and in the middle, you can also hand a ,participant the deck with the markings facing toward them. That way; if they do execute the 'Gambler's Riffle Test', they will only see the blank, .unmarked side of the deck. M UP A QUI MARKED DECK This idea was given to me a long while ago and I cannot.remember the exact source. I remembered thinking, "Wow!" This technique is not in print and these types of markings are not marketed. To quickly make up a marked deck Addi.ti.on.a/ Tllouillts on. Usi.n.i a NarK,ed Deel<, b)J Peter Turn.er is very simple, all you need to purchase is a 'Tippex Pen' or a 'White Gel Pen'. Separate the cards into the four suits and, just like on the back of my playing cards, (mine were prepared with Acetone) mark them individually by writing the playing card value and suit in the same position on every card. Try to be as neat and small as possible. If you are confident that you can make your playing cards seem invisible in an effect, this marking system is an ideal solution and will cost next nothing to make - meaning that you can leave them wherever you please. co SION Even though the ideas I have shared are not particularly ground-breaking, they are important principles to add to your existing routines. I hope you find use out of some of them. 'J;'hank you for your insights Peter - I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us. Now, let's move onto something that, although it; still uses a marked deck, is quite different. to.
Narl<,ed Nem.ori.2,ati.on., I RI I In all honesty, this was the first effect I developed for a marked deck. I came up with it with a friend of mine by the name of Radford Quist, who performs mentalism at private parties. It was sometime in 2004 and I was staying the week with him in his London flat. I include it here to show how a marked deck can be used a little differently and not just to reveal a single card. This effect creates the impression that you have memorized the order of a thoroughly shuffled deck of cards. Handing my participant a deck of cards (usually after showing them clean using the 'Gambler's Riffle Test'), I request that the deck be thoroughly shuffled and mixed to ensure a fair test. Once the deck is back in my hands, I will usually give the group a final chance to mix the deck further. Once they are suitably happy that it's mixed, I ribbon spread the deck face up in a wide arc on the table in front of me. "I'm going to attempt to try and remember as much as I can in regards to the order of this deck, I probably wont be able to do all of it - but I'll see what I can manage. If anyone has a stopwatch or a timer on their Mobile Phone, can you tak~· it out and time me?" The performer waits for a few moments until someone pulls out their phone and gets the timer ready. "Ready, go ••. " The .performer focuses on the face up spread from left to right moving his head and eyes slowly over the cards as if committing them to memory. He takes an estimated twenty or thirty seconds to do this before looking up at the person with the timer and asking them to stop timing and to call out how long it took.
"Twenty-four seconds." "Not bad. I'm not sure how many I'll be able to do but let's see." The cards are carefully scooped up - ensuring that the order is retained - and flipped over so that they are now facing down. The cards are again ribbon spread into a wide arc so that the backs of the cards are facing up. "Please reach forward and pull out a card from the spread, but leave it face down on the table for a moment." The participant reaches forward and draws out a card, leaving it about six inches from the rest of the spread. This gives you ample opportunity to secretly peek the marking as you continue: "OK, wait until I've turned my head away and then pull the card towards yourself and take a look at it, but please don't show anyone. I don't want to accidentally catch of glimpse of it." Openly turn your head,away for a few moments during this period so that it 0 f is clear that there is rio way,. you will have seen any part of the face of the card. Arter a few se9~nds, turn·l?ack and square the cards, careful to keep them in the same order. Flip.themface up and again quickly fan them on the table. This time, look throug)i the (Dpr~ad quickly from left to right, as if you are going through the memorized order and checking for which card is missing. This sequence shoul¢1 take' approximately five seconds at the most. Immediately look up towards· the' sky as you once again scoop the cards into your hands. You will, of course, know the missing card because you secretly peeked the marking whilst it was being removed from the face down spread earlier. Depending on which· card you peeked, you will continue the effect with a similar script to the one outlined below: Na.rK,ed Nemori.~a.ti.on. EXAMPLE .. FOUR OF CLUBS "OK, as I was looking through the spread the second time, there were twentysix Red cards, but only twenty-five Black ••. " "The Royal cards from both Spades & Clubs were present, as were the Aces ••. " "The two through ten of Spades were all present, but a number card was missing from the Clubs ••. " "The high numbers - six, seven, eight, nine, and ten - were all there •.. It's one of the lower ones." "The two was there, as was the five - I believe." "I'm not sure if the three or the four was present •.. " "The three, I believe was there ••. it would have been around here ... " The performer indicates with his finger approximately where the Three of Clubs was in the spread. "Yes, it's the Four that was missing - the Four of Clubs?" The participant flips over the card showing it indeed· is the Four of Clubs.
THE 'CARD OFF' SUBTLETY If you wish to be bold, you could very easily just make up where you apparently saw the Three of Clubs, pointing to a random area on the table. Generally, most people will believe you. If you'll be guided by me, you'll actually take the time to do the following: When you scan the deck the second time - already in full possession of the value of your participant's card - you'll look for any adjacent value of the same suit. Once you've found it, you'll note the cards immediately next to it. Using the Four of Clubs as an example again, you'd say something like: "I'm not sure ifthe three or the four was present ••. " "Was the three there? Hmmm ... Actually, I remember now - Yes, the three was there! It was san~wiched between to the Jack of Diamonds and Eight of Spades." . . . As an added convinoe-~ ·.at t:he end, you are able to spread the cards once f -· ' more and point out that t~e Th;ree of Clubs was, indeed, between the Eight of Spades and the Jack o:f: Diamonds.-. This works particularly w:ell.(ifyou hav~ a skeptical crowd. DEVELOPMENT SKETCHES L .., I (
I I Some years ago now, I received a. phone call from a. TV producer in London whowa.s me to be the front man for the which had quite an interesting premise. The title for this proposed show was 'A Fa.cebook Sea.nee'., It was to involve a group of students who were all active online through various social media channels. The producers and researchers would collect as many details about each student from the posts those people had made on their Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace pages. This information would then be given to me in secret and I would develop a "seance" in which I would reveal specific details about each student, with the information fed back apparently originating from "beyond the grave". At the end of the seance, the students would be given a debriefing in which they would be informed of the true reason for taking part in the show. It was designed to educate and address the general pub~ic about the dangers of being part of an increasingly online society. The aim of the show wp.s to warn the public about just how much information could be collected about them from social media. I liked the concept and back in 2008 there was (and still is now) a genuine concern for identity theft and cloning of personal data. However, the problem I was faced with then was being trapped between two ethical walls, so to speak. On one side, there is an important current issue to address and on the other, I would be exposing a genuine technique that some performers use for gathering information in preparation for performances. I spoke to a few trusted peers who advised me against taking part in the show - the last thing I wanted was to be associated with exposure of any kind.
It would be hypocritical of me, especially considering that I myself have resorted to harvesting information online to enhance parts of an effect. This chapter will deal with the pros and the cons of utilising outlets such as social media to research information that could be fed back within the context of a mentalism performance. I will be joined in this chapter by my good friend Atlas Brookings, who also shares some very similar thoughts to my own when it comes to this sort of thing. For now, let's deal with one of the most important questions that comes up regarding this sort of work. HO UCH IS TOO UCH? There have been times when I have been booked for an event and I have pasted the booking party's email address into either an online search engine or a social media site such as Facebook, etc. I have looked at what information has been returned in the search and ·wondered what, if any of it, could be used in any way in the show~ The ~ey thing when using any online search for information is strik:l.ng·a·balanceo We should never 'be .so blatantly. obvious with the harvested information that it becomes clearly apparent that it has been gained from an online ' ' t /;' - sourceo Any inform~tfon :fed back should be subtle and very well hidden. One tip that I would recommend when searching things like Facebook is to check whether you can gain 8:Ccess 'to the person's photographs. If so look through for something interesting, don't just reveal their latest profile picture - that's far too obvious. ,Be sneaky and creativeo For example, see if you can spot several photos of the person in their own house and pay attention to the details in the background. Scan the image for photographs, posters, signs, entries on calendars, etc. Look for something unusual that might be sitting on a shelf or in a corner. Basically, you are looking for peripheral content that is not the focal point of the photograph being taken. People don't notice these details and 1.50 revealing something like this will seem impossible to your participants. I once performed an apparent "Remote Viewing" effect of a Yellow Rubber Duck that I spotted in the background of a photo for a contact of mine who works in the print industry. I looked him up before our first meeting and was able to mentally direct him into his living room where I felt this object was there. He still talks about it five years on whenever he introduces me to a new contact. STEREOTYPING AND THE KITTEN WORD Wherever possible, try to avoid revealing anything that the person has written online. For instance, don't go straight to their hobbies or favourite things on their profiles. This falls into the "blatant" category and will do nothing for your group apart from telegraph that you're an online stalker. Again, it's all about striking a balance and being subtle. Take the information you've gleaned and instead, use it in a nuanced way. For example, imagine someone who lists their favourite bands as: AO/DO Led Zeppelin Black Sabbath It's fair to say that this person likes a type of music that could be classified as rock and heavy metal. Wouldn't it therefore be smarter to include a statement that serves only to enhance a presentation as opposed to blurting out the person: "I sense you're a huge fan of AC/DC, yes?" Let's take a look at the subtler way to include this information (if indeed you decide that it is situationally appropriate to use it - it won't always be, and that's fine, as it is decidedly better not to force a point). Imagine that your participant has been asked to focus on a memory from when they
were younger. As you begin to describe their thoughts (thanks to a peek), you might say something along the lines of; "I see you surrounded by friends in this memory; it's a good time, yes? Did you have friends with long hair? I'm sensing a lot of longish hair but not necessarily female hair, what is that?" I am merely using a stereotype associated with rock and heavy metal fans from years ago, and relying on the fact that many grew their hair longer. I have made no reference to any form of music yet, but quite possibly generate a big hit that my participant will make fit to their memory. We are often told not to stereotype, but in this case it can serve as a psychological peek into the characteristics of the particular person. What other stereotypes can we draw upon in this case? ff EA ST T Like loud music .. Less than AV<Bt'E!Jle :.n.e.~p.OSJ.liY Lower self esteem (acco~g to a stUdy at the university of Westminster) A preference .for the colour black Like a drink A need to be individual Anti-authoritarian More lik~ to have piercings 1.5.t Now, by revealing a piece of information based around a stereotype you will always be running a risk that you might be incorrect, but you have stacked the odds in your favour and the vast majority of time, you will hit with your comments. There's a time when I recommend using this approach more than others and that is when the person you are performing for has made a large change of appearance, and no longer looks as though they are a stereotypical portrayal of whatever piece of information you have researched. For example in the case of the Rock/Metal fan, they may have changed into a professional who wears a suit and has an office job. The reactions hit harder because the participant isn't giving any visual clues as to the type of person they are. Again, don't try to force situations to fit the information you've found about a person - this will seem contrived and you will be deemed a fraud. Instead, pepper your revelations as you are naturally able, and you can elevate the strength of an effect dramatically. When discussing the use of Social Media with my friend Ken Dyne, he suggested using Linkedin to harvest information on corporate clients. Whilst this is a useful alternative, especially in ·the corporate world, Linkedin allows profile users to see who has viewed their account in the last few days. This is clearly an unwanted situation: a client books you for E:l-n event and within a :few days of the booking they can see you, a mentalist/ mind reader has accessed their or their colleague's online profiles •. A possible work around solution suggested by Ken would be to create a false account on Linkedin and use that account to harvest information. I haven't used this approach, but could see that if you created a convincing generic profile, it would work fairly well. This brings us on to the question: is any of this really needed? Well, as discussed earlier there certainly are advantages of having this
"hot" knowledge prior to performing. It, however, must be used effectively and incorporated correctly into your performance. Being able to see what places of interest a person has recently visited - or been 'checked' or 'tagged' in - can lead to some very strong, direct examples of mind reading. But subtlety is the key. I recall being booked to perform a parlour show a few years back by an estate agency in Cambridgeshire. The director who spoke with me on the phone asked what information I required for the show, I explained that I needed an open area in front of the group with no obstructions that could block the sight lines of the guests. The director interjected and said something along the lines of; "No, I mean what KIND of information do you need about my staff? Names? Ages? Marital status? Kids? Etc.?" I was taken aback a little at this point; he clearly had preconceptions of how a mind reader works and how I achieye the effects in my show. I explained to him that no information woulq be necessary. I requested that for the show to exceed his expectati9ns + m~st not be given any prior knowledge of any attendees or the:ir .~etails .. I mentioned this story b.ecause it highlights possible thoughts or preconceptions that .clients m.;ight have when booking an entertainer such as ourselves. This then puts ~he use of social media for gaining information . .. ... into perspective - should we use it if our clients already think we do? Well, sometimes we can eliminate the concern by making reference to it beforehand. Being this frank is not only bold but can be very disarming if done correctly. Let me relate another brief story from back in 2013. I was attending a wedding show wher.e suppliers in the industry exhibit and advertise their services to couples that are planning their weddings. I had booked a stand and was giving out demonstrations to couples and passers by. One couple approached and took a brochure. They asked what exactly I did and I offered to give them a demonstration. They looked at each other and smiled before accepting my offer. I asked them their names but they refused to give them: "We filled out names and email addresses out on a clipboard when we arrived at the show. How do we know that you haven't just looked down the list and found out information online about us?" This is another example of how the public can think we accomplish our effects. I learned an important lesson from that exchange and now actively promote the disarming of this kind of thinking within my scripting. When I exhibit at shows now, I often use the following line when giving out a demonstration: "Now I haven't even asked your name, and that's not to be rude let me explain. I don't want either of you thinking that I have simply been given a list of names that are attending today's show and that I have then looked online for information about those names. If you don't mind, I'll ask you your name at the end? Is that okay?" It completely disarms the couple and I've found it increases their cooperation and overall involvement in the demonstration. Preconceptions of online trickery have been dispelled and you display an element of openness that the couple will be looking for with their future wedding entertainment. Does it increase the chances of them booking you? I can't say for certain, but the majority of couples that experience a demonstration tend to book, or at the very least react extremely strongly and take my business card with them.
BIRTHDAYS & IMPORT ANT DATES One useful advantage of using social media is being able to find birthdays or dates of importance. Dates that I have found useful over the past few years have been: Birthdays Wedding Anniversaries Deaths (caution) New pet / loss of pet Graduation. New job / last of work test (bar mitzvah etc.) As mentioned ea+lier.·oh in thi,s ·chapter, you must be subtle when utilising this kind of information. You do not want to be obvious about it, but at the same time you ca.n put these'~facts to good use if you think of them as "additives". ADDITIVES Several times when I have been hired by a company to perform at one of their forthcoming events, I have found out dates of interest and made a note of them in my diary. As I have sat in the car park waiting to enter the building to perform, I have quickly reminded myself of one or two pieces of information and have used them as "additives" within an existing routine for example; 1.56 ~econ.n.a.i.ssa.n.ce a.n.d tie Art o / Ha.rVesti.n.f. Ont i.n.e /n. jorma.ti.on. A DRAWING DUPLICATION WITH BIRTHDAY ADDITIVE When duplicating a participant's drawing (again, peeked) if I know their birth date, I will often utilise a script such as this one. In this example, we will imagine performing for a young lady in her twenties who's secretly drawn a "sun". Her birthday is July 12th. "As I have been stood here talking to you, I get a sense that you are an outdoors type of girl, the kind of person who, when younger, would have spend hours playing with their friends outside. Your parents would have to call you in for dinner over and over; this is a typical summer child trait. I bet you're a Cancerian aren't you?" "Yes! I am." "So with that in mind, this image will be something that reflects that in some form •.. " I then take the pad and duplicate the drawing of a Sun. Using a harvested piece of information in this way will never raise any suspicion from the audience - it seems totally natural and the reveal of the star sign purposely makes no reference to the specific birth date. You are therefore not raising any suspicion from an "online" perspective because you never revealed an incredibly specific piece of information out of nowhere. 'Thoughts neve'r move to a Facebook profile or anythihg of the like. Imagine if you stripped all context from the presentation and asked someone which would be the strongest demonstration: Reveel.in.g someone's star sign.1> Reveel.in.g someone's exact birthday? The vast majority of responses would be the exact birthday - and knowing that, you'd be tempted to do it.
If you did this however, it wouldn't take very long before the participant began to think through all the ways possible for you to have known that information. It won't take long before your group makes the connection that this piece of information was available online, which may subsequently make your participant feel a little awkward and unsettled about you as a person. By weakening the effect and reigning in the information to reveal it in a less impactful way, you will take the heat off that detail and enhance the air of authenticity to your work. I know this may appear counter intuitive, but by purposely performing something weaker, you end up increasing your credibility as a 'Mind Reader'. People will sense that you are intuitive, and not attempt to reverse engineer something that was impossible due to the fact that it was so specific. OP U STIC EN ALIS Opportunity is ,eve.r;fwher~·, a.~a opportu,nistic mentalism is having the presence of mind to spot :what 1nformation is already freely available to you and using it to l?ols~er i:tn~ ';enhaJ?.ce your performance. There are two points I'll make, which Lbel;ieve your success with this method hangs upon. . . ( . . The first point is that ifyou~ve already.established credibility with your audience, you will -find that you have a lot of leewg.y to use information freely to hand to create effects 0n the fly. And the second point is that less is more. Know as much as you possibly can, but only use it so far as it is organic to the conversation you're h.aving. My friend Atlas Brookings told me of an event he was recently performing at, and he said a lady who had watched him perform had expressed an interest in booking him for her daughter's wedding. The day after the event, he received an email from her. Atlas has been kind enough to allow its inclusion below, along with a few more examples of his thinking on this topic overall: 1.5B Hello again Atlas! Trust you are well? My daughter & I met you at Emma's House party on Saturday night - won't be surprised if you don't remember us (Eileen and Ka.t (Kathryn) in green dresses) but just wanted to give you some information which you may or may not find interesting/useful. We did the word challenge with you f.fall" & 'kitchenware") and you seemed to assume Ka.t was my second daughter not my eldest. We did correct you, but later on you referred to her again once or twice a.a my second daughter for some reason (we didn't mind). When Ka.t did the colouring challenge with you during dinner she chose the green pen initia.l.l3 a.a her favourite which I a.a her Mum was a.ma.zed at a.a she is a. purple & then blue girlH Blue was available. For some reason you thought it "wasn't working" with Ka.t & moved on to Katy and that task went well. When we arrived home Sunday lunch we lea.mt that my second daughter Helen had had a. bit of an emotional personal crisis Sat eve and had tried to contact us because she had to make some decisions a.bout her future. She's okay now & back here at home with us. BUT Helen is my green girl-always ha.a been from being little ... green toothbrush/hairbrush/swim towel etc!· · Just a. coincidence perhaps, but we are :fair~ Close the three of us. Just thought you may find that interesting. Ka.t gets married next year ... to a. sceptical Army Oa.pta.in though .... so if she can persuade him we may be contacting you for the reception a.a we enjoyed your "show" immens~. Hope to meet you again sometime. Love Eileen x 0 0 H,
'H 0 0 I noted that Eileen's last name was somewhat unique, and so I hopped on Facebook and did a bit of research before responding. It didn't take long to find both her daughters, and to do some research on this Helen. Her profile picture depicted her alongside a young man, who was obviously her boyfriend. I then scrolled through Helen's friends list and identified the gentleman based on his picture. His initials were T. D., and it was my suspicion that whatever had distressed Helen had to do with him. I subsequently sent the following email: Hi Eileen, Of course I remember you and Kat - you were two of my favorites! And the a.bout your daughter Helen is a.ma.zing, but not without rve seen like that happen in the pa.at in my own life. I have a. sister that I am quite close and once at school, I we.a and warm indoors, but began to shiver like mad. my sister we.a outside without a jacket in the rain time I ca.me over all cold. I shivered for a.bout and she we.a out in the rain for fifteen minutes. for Helen now! I got the feeling that your daughters best .friends, and I'm sure you must have been distressed at the thought of her not being able to get hold of you when she needed you" And I'm sure the choicea were tough for her - When people contemplate the future, there a.re el.waY-e ~any tough decisions. Odd, but I just thought of 'tough decisions' a.a TDs - it is a strange question, but is that relevant in any way to her? And yes, if the pair of you can convince Kat's .tia.ncee, rd be more than happy to be a. pa.rt of her special. day! I tully understand - it isn't easy to be a pa.rent. At any rate, it we.a lovely to have met all of you and I am glad you took the time to tell me about Kat and the color green. Best, Atla.a Eileen mentions in her first email that I was unsuccessful attempting something with Kat on the night, and I had to switch and work with someone else. This 'opportunistic mentalism' was partly driven by a motivation to redeem myself (even though it was evident that in her mind I didn't need to), and in this format, isn't something I generally do. This is partly because I don't present as a shuteye, and partly because I personally have issues with the moral implications of such revelations. But in this situation, I felt comfortable making an oblique reference to Helen's boyfriend's initials. Eileen's response is below: Hi OMO a.a the kids say these days! Pa.rtl:y the ca.use of this crossroads she had reached is her boyfriend with whom she lives in Ea.at Yorkshire., All'tJ.""~'.,""" His name is Timothy D-------im TD! You've certa.irl:cy' picked up some 'vibes' or whatever the term is from Kat & I Atla.af Coincidence? Maybe but with the green meaning SO ·much Helen to me, I don't think sol Hope this is informative & educational. for your Love Eileen xx Now, this is just one example. 0 0 H,
'H 0 0 Social networks can be a gold mine of information for those who know how to search them. I recently met up with Sophie - the leader of a local business networking group, and I wanted to make sure the meeting went well. A brief look online gave me her husband's name, his birthday, their wedding date, where they went on their honeymoon, what he was studying - tons of information. But, as anyone who uses this technique will quickly realize, the trick isn't in gathering information about people, it is in establishing a premise in which it is subsequently possible to reveal those details as a convincing piece of mind reading. I knew that if I met this lady and instantly told her that her husband's name is Mark, that they went to Mexico for their honeymoon, and that they were just coming up on five years of marriage, she'd begin to question how I could have possibly known those things. It wouldn't take a clever person much time to work out that all of that information was available online. I needed to be careful to weave this information into a tapestry of more conventional techniques. • f Again, when you have info;rmation that has been shared by your participant publicly, it is defin;j..~ely a·trutt: that less is more, and subtlety is needed. For instance - in this. case, when I went in for the meeting, I made a point of stating that I had forgo~ten h~r nitme, apologized for that oversight, and asked it. This suggest~d tb, s·ophie that I did not know her first name,· much less her surname and, when-contemplating things later, she would remember that fact and determine that. I couldn't have checked· up on her on social media. When I met her, I asked her to describe. for me, in a single word, her focus for the week. She said 'Skills'. While I chatted to her, I pocket wrote that word and sealed it behind my cell phone case, along with another card that I had prepared earlier. That card had numbers on it. I then deposited my phone on her desk and we had a long chat before she finally asked me to do something for her. I explained my skill set and then pointed to her wedding ring. I asked if she was married, and she said nodded. I said that she looked too young to have been married more than ten years and asked if I was correct. She nodded again, and then I asked her to count from one to nine for me. She did, and I pointed out that her voice checked somewhat between the numbers four and five. I asked if she was married four years, coming up on the fifth year. She was surprised and confirmed my assertion. I then asked her to think of the first letter in her husband's name. She nodded, and then I asked her to say the alphabet aloud for me. I stopped her at the letter M, and then went through male names that began with that letter, careful not to name 'Mark' straight away. 'Okay, so this could be Martin, or Matt, or Mark or Mikem' She was astonished. I then asked her to think of his birthday for me, and used a similar process to name his birth date as the middle of November, either the 13th or 14th. Again, she was enthusiastically impressed. But I wanted to make sure that I also did something with Sophie that was real time, and based on her choices in the moment. So I used ProMystic's real die to get Sophie to select three numbers for me (forcing her choices using Michael iyrurray's Springboard principle). I then pointed to my phone, and asked Sophie if she had noticed that this phone had been on her desk the entire time we'd been chatting. She had noticed it. I told her that before I left home that morning to meet up with her, I'd put two cards behind my phone case. One had a word I'd hoped I'd be able to get her to say, and the other had a number I wanted to get her to .think ofe She opened the case, saw the contents, and lost all professionalism. It was a great meeting, enhanced by opportunist mentalism, performed in a way that made it appear as though I was extracting information from her in real time, influencing and reading her in turns. I II t-3 t-1 P> m b:I ~ 0 0 pg '~ z 0 m
H She has subsequently proved an excellent asset and has been the gateway to several valuable introductions for me. Oh, and she booked me in that day to perform at the network's annual awards dinner. One final example from a gig that was actually sent over to me by Looch. I worked a wedding the other day. I got there about twenty minutes before the wedding party arrived, and as I took in my surroundings, I noticed that the name place cards around the table had both first and last names of the attendees. There were three Sarahs, one Pete, and one Helen. Rather opportunistically, I memorized their last names. Anyone who has performed in a close up mix and mingle situation knows that you'll quickly draw a crowd. As the evening progressed, I made sure that I asked people their names. In each instance, I found the person whose name I had memorized, and, in the midst of the group, I asked them to think of their 0 surname and call out all the letters of the alphabet for me. I then took the 0 jumbled letters I'd picked up and gu~ssed their last name. This went over extremely well in each case. Again, I believe that . this .is down to routining and subtle nuance. For instance, I never ri~tly stated a person's surname after meeting them. I worked for it. And, in each case, I pe~fo'~med. ~. similar effect with other members of the . . . ( . ' group that had gathere·d around m·e. · I had with me the pocket version of the Mother of All Book Tests, and used two people, getting one to select a short word and another to choose a iong word. I then revealed both, and to any onlooker, the process looked identical to that in which I'd divined an individual's surname. Anyone who might have suspected the book, or the table place settings was then flummoxed when I turned to another person and performed a branching anagram, asking them to think of any superhero of their choice, and I divined that using the same procedure. 1.6'4 r 11 Ii At the end of the evening, that audience believed that my process was authentic and essential. In each case, opportunistically gleaning information can allow you to flesh out what is already an impressive display, turning the amazing into the impossible. I . r I' w I' I I r ~ i ii 0 0 H,
F i..e/ d · 1?.eport (~ (JI u One of' "'1Y .f'a;oar/te venue.S to perl'or/>1 at wedd,'n:JS Crier the last .f'ew years u>a..s the beaut/.f'ul Stanc!l/.f'.f'e 'I/all /n l>arletj l>ale, l>er/ysh,'re. It's a yaJe 2 l,'sted property set /n aroand soo acre.S of' pr/vate land. zt's a lt::Nely and u;e/6::;>/J1/n:) place, one where z've yawn to be.eo/)'fe .f'r/ends Wl'th the owners and perf'or/J1ed .f'or the/>1 pr/vately at part/e.S and !Jather/n:JS. /he owners recently toof the deds,'on to sto? hoSt/n_:J wedd,'n_:JS there .f'roM the end o.f' 2014. I ?er.f'orMed MY last wedd,'n:J at 5tancl,'.f'.f'e ;n 4L13Ltst o.f' that Same year and fnow I w,'ll M;Ss ;t dearly. !he Very last e.f'.f'ect I ?er.f'orMed there was .f'or the br,'de and 3rooM who had watched Me ?er.f'orM throL13hoL1t the dr,'nf s reCe?t/on. It was a ref LteSt, wh,'ch was f Lt;te LtnLISLtal, ;n that they wanted to have a 1 30 \ at the body I an5Lta:Je read,'n:J w,'th ?lay;n_:J cards. When ?eo?le watch the roLtt/ne, they start to latch onto tl1e ?atiernS and 1 tells\ that ?eo?le 3,'ve away dLtr/n_:J the reveal and they had dedded that they wanted to See ,'.f' I CoLtld 1 read theM '. I had the C:ards M;xed LI? by the 3rooM and o.f'.f'ered the cards .f'or Select/on bY dr;bbl;n_:J the/YI .f'roM one hand to the other. We called sto? and ·z fLt;cfly read the Marf;n_:J, wh,'ch /n th,'s ?art/cLtlar case was the J<,'n:J o.f' 'l/earts. I rejJLteSted h,'M not look: at h,'s card and also not shou.J a.ntjone, ,'nstead he was to. sandw,'ch ,'t ,'n-between h,'s ?al MS as I tLtrned to address h,'s w,'.f'e. I o.f'.f'ered a card .f'or Select/on ,'n the Same way and Ll?on her call;n_:J sto? j I read the Marf;n_:J o.f' her card, wh,'ch to MY CoMf?lete $Llr?r,.Se, was the C(Lteen o.f' Wearts. I had .f'oLtnd Mysel.f' ,'n a rather Lln;?Lte ?red,'cament. 4 br;de and 3rooM on the;r wedd,'n:J day had both randoMly selected cards
that just hqp?ened to be the J</n3 & queen of' >'leads. whc¢ a ?er-l'ee.-t o??oriun/tyf I e.-ould 3raS? th/s o??oriun/ty and atie/Yl?t to if'anS.f'or/YI /t /nto S0Meth/n3 S?ec_/al and Me/Ylorable .f'or the C-ou?le. 5o /nstead o.f' 30/n:J /nto the 1 Body Lan3u°!)e \ rout/ne, I o?ted to sto? and talf. I told theM that I attend More wedd/n:JS ?er year than MoSt ?eo?le and that nearly all MY ?reV/ous c_l/ents have told Me that the/r b1':J da; .flew by So ?u/c_fly, that they o.f'ten stru3:/ed to th/nf bae.-f and re/Yle/Ylber the deta!ls o.f' the da;, alMoSt as /.f' /t was one b1':J blur. I asfed theM /.f' they would sto? just .f'or one M/nute and tafe /n eVeryth/n:; around theM. /hey were surrounded bY .f'r/ends, .f'aM/ly and loved ones and everyone has C-oMe to3ether on th/s do/ to C-elebrate the/r love .f'or one another. I asf ed the/YI /.f', /n the/r t//Yle to3ether had there been /YIO/Ylents where they just /nst/nc_t/vely 1 fnew \ what the other ?et-Son was th/nf/n:;. /hey both s01'd there had, and f u/te o.f'ten they would -l?n/sh each p~her \S ~ent~nces w/thout /YIUCh thou3ht. I told theM that. sc:;,,,_e. ?eo?le bel/eve th/s to be a >sye.-h/c Connee.-t/on \' whef-ea..:5 oi(lef.;5 ?t-e.f'er to bel/eve /t to be a natural rqp?ort between -~~U?les tJiat have S?ent a S1':Jn/-l?cant aMount o.f't/Me to3ether. WhateVei- ;~was, /t\S Cef-t01'nly a S?ec/al bond that Very .f'ew e.-an :t,(n~~r6tOJ?C/ ·ant/I they e><J?er/enCe /t. ' . ( . ' I C-ont/nued bY_ so//n:; ~that "on the~·r wedd/n:J da;, that S?ec_/al bond Should be ·at /ts· Sif'on:JeSt, and SoMet//Y/eS, that bond e.-an Man/.f'est /tsel.f' /n the Most unusual o.f' wa;s. I had the lady turn her card oVer to :eveal /ts /dent/ty, she d/d and we all saw the queen o.f' 'l/earts. I SM/led and sa/d that /t was a very o/?f'o?r/ate card .f'or the da;, and that toda; she should real/st/e.-ally .f'eel l/fe a fUeen /n love. I turned to the 3rooM and SM/led, I told h/M that /.f' I was h/M, MY luc_f would ?t-obably dle.-tate I\d have Selee.-ted the Jofer or SoMe other s/lly e.-ard, but I was w/ll/n:J to bet that all da; he had e><J?er/ene.-ed an unusual .f'eel/n3 /n h/s heart and that .f'ate o.f'ten has a we/rd F i.e/ d 1?..eport I asf ed h/M turn h/s e.-ard over and he was utterly 3obSMac_f ed, h/s w/.f'e SC-reaMed and he ?ut h/s arM around her. Both the/r Mouths were C(;iar and they J·ust stared at Me /n C-oM?lete aMa2eMent. 4.f'ter a .f'ew /YIO/Ylents, they f/ssed and he S?Un her around, they thanfed Me ?t-o.f'usely and I le.f't the Venue. :Or/v/n:; bae.-f hoMe, I thou3ht about what had just hqp?ened, /t was ?t-obably a onC-e /.n a l/.f'et/Me ever/enC-e and I a/YI very 3lad to have had to ?t-eSenC-e o.f' M/nd to be able to just Sto? and steer the d/ree.-t/on o.f'the rout/ne /nto a new area. /he odds I bel/eve were 1/ 52 MUlt/?l/ed bY 1/ 51 wh/c_h /s 1/ 2(o52. I had tafen advant°!Je o.f' a e.-o/nc_/denC-e and turned /t /nto a M°!J/c_al (not Mental) /YIO/Ylent. It was C-oM?I etely OjO!'nst the ( /Yl/nd reader\ charae.-ter that I had S?ent years ?ortra;/n:J but the reae.-t/on o.f' the e.-ou?le Meant /t .f'elt .f'antast/e.-.
Tile Su.b{ i.mi.n.a.{ Force BACKGROUND Years ago my good friend and mentor Roger Ourzon shared a lovely idea with me that consisted of forcing a participant's thought using a simple pad of Post-It Notes. Roger had hit upon an unusual and clever idea that I hadn't previously seen published. I have experimented with Roger's idea on and off for years, and with his permission I'm excited to share that idea with you. THE EFFECT Using a pad of Post-It Notes you draw a circle on the uppermost sheet explaining that it will act as a 'focal point' for your participant's thoughts. You ask the participant to close their eyes and to clear their mind. After a few moments you ask them to open their eyes again and focus their attention on the circle, allowing an image or thought to pop into their mind. You are able to force the image or thought that pops into their mind in· a very subtle and simple way.
THE ETH OD Take a regular square pad of Post-It Notes and draw a simple doodle like a 'Smiley Face' on the second sheet down. On the first sheet draw a large circle. Pull the first sheet up slightly, as if you were removing it from the pad, but don't pull too much. You only want a tiny portion of the adhesive to peel up. Let go of the first sheet and you will see that it no longer lies flat on the pad; it will be raised up slightly. This is imperative for the method to work. You need to ensure that the first sheet lies just above the second sheet at a slight angle as shown to the left. If the first sheet is too far away from the second sheet, the method will not work properly. You may :qeed to.push back down on the first sheet slightly, manipulating it so that. it -lies( ev~r so slightly above the second sheet. . To use the pad, hold it in your hand with y01:1r thumb on the left side and your middle, ring and little finger 9n the right. Your index finger supports the back of the pad in the middle. Hold the pad facing you and stare at the circle. Slowly begin to apply a little pressure to the back of the pad in the middle with your index finger. You will begin to see the image of the 'smiley face' on the second sheet starting to come through and become visible. The pressure applied by your index finger pushes the pad forward so that the second sheet contacts the first sheet. Post-It Note paper is quite thin, and because of this you can see the image on the second sheet through the first sheet. To make the image fade TK.e Sub{ i.mi.n.a{ Force away, relax your index finger and very slowly release the pressure on the back of the pad. This causes the second sheet to slowly separate from the first sheet making the image fade away and eventually disappear. Through experimentation you will quickly learn how to hold the pad showing just the circle and with the slightest of adjustments make the force image on the second sheet show through, before fading away in a ghostly fashion. The key is to be delicate; don't push or release too keenly. Sorter handling achieves a subtler and more convincing visual effect. INST ANT STOOGING? · If you were to simply ask your participant to stare at the pad as you make . . . the image appear and then disappear, you would be.doing a massive injustice to this fantastic little prop. You would essentially be 'Instant Stooging' the participant, which pardon my French, is a shit thing to do. I hate 'Instant Stooging' with a passion, so to combat that whilst still being able to incorporate the method, I experimented with lots of different handlings and scripts. What follows is my favourite way of using this force.
ALTERING A PARTICIPANTS PERCEPTION OF REALITY Wouldn't it be incredible to actually create a moment where your participant believes they freely thought of something (i.e. an image, a number, a word), when in reality that thought was implanted by you the performer? Wouldn't that be 'influence' in its purest form? I wasted many hours reading pipedream Mentalism effects using methods that claimed to do just that. In the real world though, I've never found those methods to be practical or consistent. This is what I set out to achieve by utilizing this force. With the correct timing you have a devastatingly strong method to subliminally force a thought. The participant is never consciously aware that they have been forced into thinking what you want them to think. They will genuinely believe that their thought is entirely their own. I call this force, 'The Subliminal Force' because essentially that's what it is. ING Timing is absolutely CI'.ucial .for the correct application of this method. • ,I ••• At a key point in the-handling .you are going to act as~ a silent metronome, counting smoothly and rhythmically 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4. You will be counting one number at a time in your head· at ~ rate of approximately ! of a second per number. With minimal practice it is very easy to do. If you use ! of a second as an approximate guide you will be fine. ANAGING THE PARTICIPANT Have your participant stand at a 90 degree angle to yourself and request they close their eyes. Ask them to scrunch their eyes up closed tight so that they block out as much light as possible. You explain that by negating any visual distractions it will assist them in clearing their mind. In reality you want their eyes scrunched up tight (no longer than five seconds) because it will take longer for their eyes to focus and readjust when they are asked to open them again. It is during this brief moment of refocusing that you will show the force image to participant. Once your participant has their eyes tightly closed, bring the pad up towards their line of sight. You want the circle on the top sheet of the pad to be their focal point when they eventually open their eyes. Arter their eyes have been tightly closed for about five seconds ask them to open their eyes on the count of three; this is where your timing is crucial. As you count 1 ... 2 ... 3 out loud you will allow the force image to be seen at the exact moment you count three. In your mind continue to count to 4 and then slowly begin to relax your index finger to make the image fade away. If you time it correctly the image will flash up for a split second as their eyes are focusing. Their subconscious mind will see th.e force image, but before they become consciously aware of its existence it will have faded away. Try it yourself now, it really is rather spooky! DYING THE PAD A AY To assist with the visual illusion of the image fading you have this wonderful optical convincer at your disposal. When the participant opens their eyes and their eyes are refocusing, slowly move the Post-It! Pad away from them slowly by approximately 6 inches as the image
fades. This enhances the illusion that it really does fade away into nothing and helps increase the success rate of the force. RECAP The forcing sequence can be broken down into the following crucial steps: Have your participant scrunch up their eyes as you instruct them. Bring the pad up to their line of sight. Instruct the participant to open their eyes on the count of three. Count to three - the participant opens their eyes on three. In your mind continue your count to four then move the pad a.way from the participant by about six inches. Relax your index as you do the to fa.de sway. I S T YOUR RTICIP T Whilst your participant has th~ir eyes tightly closed, you will instruct them as to what you want them to do~ 'Wording is important, so please use the .. '.. ' following as a template: · · "Please take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it for a second and let it out through your mouth. As 'you continue to breathe in this deep relaxing way, I'd like you to slowly close your eyes and relax. That's perfect. Now, I want you to clear your mind of outside interference, so if you could close your eyes a little tighter for a moment to completely block out any light that would be great. In a moment I will ask you to open your eyes and stare at the focal point on this pad. When .you open your eyes the creative part of your mind will suggest an image to you. If you do this correctly, when you open your eyes Tile Sub{ i.mi.na{ Force you should be able to see something in your mind's eye. It is important that you don't pre decide upon an image. Let nature take its course as you open your eyes on the count of three. One •.. Two ••. Three." The participant will open their eyes and see the subliminal force in action. Correct timing is crucial, so practice this over and over on yourself in front of a mirror (or on a trusted friend) before you attempt this for real. APPLICATIONS FOR 'THE SUBLI INAL FORCE' I have successfully used this force in a variety of different effects. It is versatile and can be integrated into a larger routine, or it can be stripped down and presented as a simple demonstration of mind-reading or influence. Here are a few ideas to get your creativity going. Some of them I have used, others are ideas I have had that I want to try in future performances. A 1 Imagine a sealed envelope given to an audience member for safekeeping. Three participants are brought up on stage and are asked to clo.s~ their eyes. Each participant stares at the focal point on the Post-It! Pad .and visualizes an image: Participant One visualizes a Boat. Participant Two visualizes the Sun. Participant Three visualizes a Heart. The envelope is opened to reveal the following;
"Although participants one and three will utilize their creativity and produce vivid images in their minds, it is participant two will be most successful in this game. He and only he will succeed in correctly visualizing the Sun!" The focal point (circle drawn onto the Post-It! Pad) will be shown to all three participants but the force will only be engaged on the second participant. IDEA 2 Imagine being able to create a variation of Bob Cassidy's phenomenal 4DT routine by using The Subliminal Force to get one ahead. The force could be used to suggest an image drawn in chalk on a blackboard in a classroom. For consistency, make sure you use the Post-It Pad 'focal point' for all three participants when asking them to visualize names, places, etc. Only utilize the force when you want. the par~icipant to see an imaginary drawing on the blackboard. Once all .thr:ee-p8:rticipants have looked at the focal point you will be able to reve~ the th,ree separate thoughts using a 'one ahead'. A 3 If you use the 'focal point' idea throughout your show as a means of have your participants focus the'ir . thoughts, you will be able to engage the Subliminal Force for a variety of different effects. Think along the lines of utilizing a range of Post-It Pads. with different pieces of information hidden in each one. You could use one pad to force a two digit number that could then be used for a Magic Square routine where the participant doesn't verbally reveal his number until all the numbers have been written on the board. This would add a nice level of mystery to a solid routine that seems to have become somewhat of a throw away item in many Mentalists sets over the years. IDEA 4 Writing an open prediction that states: "Please draw a House." Show this to the audience or group of people you are performing for, but ensure you isolate one member of the group prior to showing the open prediction. Force the outline of a 'House' on the participant and have them draw their focused image onto a sketchpad with a marker pen. This idea has shades of 'Influence' in it. IDEA 5 The Subliminal force can be employed to force a three or four digit number. This number can be the sum total of a series of two digit numbers that had been switched in via a switch pad or Kozar pad. This would make an interesting Add-a-Number routine where your participant correctly intuits the correct total of numbers generated by the audience.
I had been h/red bY her to )?er-l'orM at her wedd/n:; rec__e?t/on /n a. M/x & M'n:;le c__qpa.6ty. I don't LISLla./ly a:Jree to ta.fe 31js -l'roM relat/ves o-1' ?eo?le I Ci.frl c__/ose to, bLlt he a.sfed Me to do /t as a -l'a.voLlr. !hat, M/xed w/th a.II h/s ha.rd worf over the yea.rs, and I .f'elt obl1jed to a.c__c__e?t the boof/n:J, eSJ?eda.l!y a-l'ter he had J?retty MLlc__h told her I was a.va./lable on the date and 3ot her all exc__/ted w/th eMbel//shed star/es o-1' MY M/nd read/n:;. /he bLl//d LI)? to the )?er-f'orManc__e went as SMooth aS MoSt 31js 30, the de?os/t was J?O/d on 6Me and a.II the relevant J?qperworf was c__oM?leted J?rOM)?tly. A -l'ew days be-l'ore the wedd/n:;, I Sent a Jina.I c__oLlrtesy eMa// to enSLlre a.II the deta.//s were c__onec__t and to d/sc__Llss any la.st M/nLlt~ c__han3es -l'roM the c__//ent 's end.· . I a.rr/ved /n ?lenty o;:' 6Me at the VenLle . and Md the J>J, who was sett/n:; LI? /n the Ma/n ha.II. We wa.S?ol/te and c__oLldeoLIS and allowed Me to leave MY ba:J near h/s efL11f;Ment So that /t woL1/d be sa.-l'e throL13hoL1t the eVen/n:;. /he est/Mated 6Mel/ne -!'or the wedd/n:;, l/fe the Va.st M~,ior/ty o-1' theM, was o-l'-1' and the ?hoto3rqphs were st/// be/n:; ta.fen oVer an hoLlr later than sc__hedLl I ed . . !he 3L1ests be3an to sr'll /nto the ha.II nearly qo M/nL1tes late. I had been boofed -!'or a 2-hoLlr ?er-l'orManc__e, a.rr/Ved on t/Me,
At pia Nate I Drun.l<,en. arseR.ot e and was ready to be:in at the tlfr!e stated on the f?qperworf. D: ac_c_ordance to fr!Y c_onirac_t, I hadjust 30 fr!;nutes le-f't be-f'ore I was scheduled to leC?Ye. In s:tuat:on.S /;fe these, I would usually hC?Ye Sf?ofen w:th the eVent c_oord:nator or wedd;n:J Flanner, however, th:s ?at-tlc_ula.r wedd;n:J d:dn \t hC?Ye one and as a result I .f'ound /Y/ysel-f' :n Sofr!ewhat o.f' a ?red:c_Q.frlent. I waJ'ted -!'or a -f'ew doz.en ?eo?le to enter the hall and tafe the;r Seats be.f'ore frlaK;n:J frly Wo/ to one o-f' the tables and :ntroduc_:n3 frlysel-f'. I ?er-f'orfr!ed frly d:c_e routlne ( e><,Plalned I ater) and was ha.I-!' Wo/ throu3h a dra_w;n:J du?/;c_at:on routlne when the J>J announc_ed to the 3uests that there was a Sf?eda/ ?er-f'orfr!anc_e and asfed everyone to stand Lt? and 3:ve thefrl a war fr! we! c_ofr!e. ,W;th:n a -f'ew Sec_onds, the 3uests ?at-ted /;fe the red Sea as a 3r0Ltf? o.f' Q.boLtt 25 3:r/S and yoLtn:J WO/Y/en danc_ed the:r Wo/ :nto the c_entre o.f' the hall. /he danc;e trou?e had arr:ved. I was -f'orc_ed to tafe a Ste? .bc:-c__f -f'J:ofrl frly f?er-f'orManc_e as the 3uests c_lqpf?ed and whoo?ed~the/r. W'o/ throu3h the;r deMonstrat:on. I 3/anc_ed at MY waic;J: and .I h~d 15 fr!;nutes o.f' frly ?er-f'orfr!anc_e reMa:n;n:J· I had ?~r/"'orMed 'one e.f'-f'ec_t -!'or one table, and there was no Wo/ I wc:uld. be. le.:C?Y':n:J at frlY c_onirac_ted tlMe. I wanted to fr!af e . Sare. ·I ,Per'.f'orfr?ed -!'or as frla.ntj 3uests as f?OSS;b/e and onCe th~· 'ic»!.t'-e·lt~oa?~ SK;?f?ed o-f'-f' throu3h the c_uf'ta/ns, I ;fr!fr!ed:ately ·c_a.rr:ed .on ?er-f'orfrl;n:J w:th the table I was ?rev:ously at. 4t the c_onc_/us:on o-f'the dra~;n:J du?/;c_at:on, the table were :n 3ood Sf?;r:ts and wanted to See fr/Ore: One frlefrlber o-f'the 3r0Lt? c_a//ed to the table next to /Y/e and asfed ;-{'they had Seen what I was do:n:J? !he next table oVer turned and -f'ac_ed /Y/e and I c_ont/nued ?er-f'orfr?;n:J -!'or both ta.bles at the Sa.Me tlfr!e. !here was an e4Pty seat :n between both tables and I asfed ;-{' I c_ou/d s:t there and 3:ve another defrlonstrat:on. !hey ?a/led Fi.et d · 1'eport the seat out -f'rofrl under the table and :nvHed frle to s:t as I ?a/led out a dec_f o-f' c_a.rds. /he dec_f was shu-f'.fled and no Sooner than :t was ?lac_ed bac_f :nto frlY hands, I .f'elt a hand on to? o.f' frlY head abru?tly 1 ru-f'.fl;n:J \ frlY hair. I turned to loof at the ?er.Son and ha.I-!' e><,Pec_ted /Y/y ?r:nter -f'r:end to be stood there. Instead, :twas a rather drunfen 3uy :n h;s L./O \s stood rLtbb;n:J h;s hand :nto frly -f'ac_e. I stood and -f'ac_ed h;frl, e><,Pec_t/n:J h;frl to e:ther rea/:ze he had frl;stafen fr!e -!'or Sofrleone else or at least refr!oVe h;s hand -f'rofr! frly now c_on-f'used -f'ac_e. Y/e d;d ne:ther, o?tln:J :nstead to a.sf the rest o-f' the 3r0Lt? who th:s I r.;f-.;f--lf-;n:J C-lf--if-t \ was. 4.s I asfed /Y/ysel-f' that Sa.Me <fLteStlon, the 3uy 3t-abbed /Y/e around frlY throat and stared at fr!e. It\s well fnown that I was one o-f' the c_ountry\s youn:Je.St 5hodans :n 5hotof an Ka.rate. I was trained bY Master Enoeda and ac_h:eved frlY I? rSt 1 Bl ac_f Belt\ two weef s a-f'ter frlY 10th b;rthdo/. Every I? bre o.f' frly be;n:J wanted to wrqp th:s 3uy Lt? /;fe a Chr:stfr!a.S ?re.Sent, but I d:dn \t. I ~as there as a ?aJ'd ?ro-f'ess:onal entertaJ'ner and was re?re.Sentln:J frly own c_ofr!?an.;, a c_o4Pa.ntj I had Set Lt? and was exirefrlely ?road o-f'. I ?o/:tely asfed the 3uy to reMoVe h;s hand -f'rofr! frly throat; Y/e /oofed at frle -f'or a sec_ond be-f'ore the re.St o-f' the 3r0Ltf? . be3an to 3et on h;s c_ase and re?r;,/J1and h;frl -!'or h;s unc_outh c_C{J/efr!an style behC?Y:or. I turned to the 3rou? and ?ol:tely thanfed thefrl -!'or the;r t/frle, headed SiraJjht -!'or the J>J booth, 3rabbed frly ba.:J and I e-f't. /he journey hofrle I ?I o/ed bac_f the eVent and I wondered what, ;-{' anyth;n:J, I had done wron:J.
At pita Nate I Drun.Jlen. arseltot e lo-this day, I hCIY'e no idea. a.nd hCIY'e ?t-d it down to a.n inebriated) al?ha. Male who had Mo.St ?roba.bly toof a. .SeVere di.Slife to Me /"'or hCIY'in:J the audacity to sit in what he ?erceived to be ' his\ cha.Jr. F' i.et d 1leport 1.35
I AN UN ANTED ONSTER? OR A LESSON FOR EVERYONE? Mentalists first learned or me through a brier 2 minute 39 second video clip entitled 'Inf.Luence' that I uploaded to YouTube in June 2008. The 'Influence' video clip can be found here: In that video clip I invite a participant to draw an image. As he does so (and unseen by him) I openly write down in full view of the camera what I want him to draw. The participant reveals his drawing, and it matches what I had previously written down. I have only shared the method for 'Influence' and the story behind its conception with a few close friends. At the back of my mind I always knew that 'The Black Project' was the only place I would discuss it publicly. This chapte.r details the story behind 'Influence'. I will describe the filming of the clip, the method I used, the 'monster' the effect became and the lessonS' I learned a13 a result. At the end I will explain my stage .version of 'Influence' which I subsequently developed. Firstly, 'Influence' for me isn't· simply the effect as seen in the video. In a broader sense it consists of the following elements. The filming or the clip. The ertect seen in the clip. The method used in the clip. The reaction or the online community to the clip.
THE FIL ING The main reason for filming the 'Influence' video in the first place was that I wanted some new performance footage for my website. I had absolutely no idea that the video would create such a stir when it went live online. It was only afterwards that I realized I'd created something of a 'monster'. Here's the story. Back in 2008 (seven years ago at the time of writing this) I contacted my close friend and fellow Mentalist, Jack Curtis, to see if he would be interested in filming some live performance video of me for my website. Jack has an extensive background in acting and was a well-known character at the Central Television Workshop in Nottingham. He has experience on either side of the camera, and since he's a fellow performer I knew he would be ideal for what I had in mind. We bounced ideas around and finally decided to hit Nottingham City Centre and perform for members of the public; Guerrilla Style Mentalism as it were. ' - . Our aim was to capture as mti?h strong performance footage on camera as we could; focussing Primar-lly on' th:~ Teactiomi of the participants. We would take those reactions and cr~ate a 'showreel' which I would use to advertise my entertainment servi9es on my' webs,ite~ I had four solid effects prepared which I would rotate thr~ug~out the day. . ( ' The day of filming arrived and everY:thing was going great. We had filmed maybe half a dozen routines, and j'µ.st before lunchtime we found ourselves outside the courts on the waterfront in -Nottingham. A guy, moored up on his narrowboat, saw us approaching with a couple of cameras and a boom. His curiosity was obviously piqued, and he asked us what we were doing. Introductions were made, and the guy was eager to see what I did. Jack started filming and I asked the guy to think of an image, something he could draw quickly and easily, and personal to him in some way. I handed him a pad and a pen, and asked him to secretly draw his thought of image whilst was I turned away. When he had finished I instructed him to tear the sheet of paper off the pad and hide it on his person. I was using an impression pad, so when he handed the pad back to me I was able to peek his drawing. He had drawn a Oat. As I began to duplicate his drawing, Jack interrupted the filmin
That's-how 'Influence' was born. Afterwards, Jack briefly interviewed the guy to get his thoughts on camera. We still had an afternoon of filming ahead of us, but I was absolutely buzzing with excitement. Jack was thrilled with the footage we had filmed, and he was confident that the final edit would look fantastic. We decided to take a break to reflect on what had just happened and we went for a coffee. Strangely, the caffeine did nothing to calm me down. We continued filming throughout the afternoon and deliberately used the 'dead battery' ploy to see how it played. It succeeded every time and created some fantastic reactions - people were completely baffled. So, I must credit Jack Curtis's dead camera battery as being the catalyst for me creating 'Influence'. An unfortunate circumstance created an opportunity, which I seized and ran with. It wasn't planned, there was no nefarious design; it just came into being fully formed on the spur of the moment. EC So, what effect do people pe:r:6eive wheh they watch the video? What mental ability am I demonstrati~g?Wellr' the eff~ct could be perceived in two ways. Either I predicted ahead of time what the participant was going to draw, or I in some way influenced the· participant to draw what I wanted them to draw. In hindsight, I feel the routine in the ~ideo would have worked better as a real time prediction effect, because of the lack of 'influence' present in the routine. Modern intel~igent audiences like to think they have some idea as to how you do the things you do. If you're going to take the 'influence' approach then it is imperative that the audience perceive some form of faux 'influencing' behaviour on your part in order to make the presentation 1..9.t believable. Immediately after we filmed the video, two lines sprung to mind, both 'Cat' related. I could have asked the participant to think about how the image he was drawing made him 'feline' (feeling). Or I could have asked him to get an image in mind and to try and send that image to 'meow' (me now). Using suggestive language and including words with embedded double meanings in your script is a nice approach to take. For example, if you wanted your participant to draw a 'House', you might say; "Build an image in your mind, from the ground up, step by step. Focus on the little details until you've constructed a clear, solid image." Anyone hearing this might infer that you're using verbal suggestion to subliminally influence the participant. Thinking along these lines I began developing scripts for a variety of drawings. After a few months of experimenting, my friend, the incredibly talented Joshua Quinn, released a booklet entitled 'Duplicity', which takes an in-depth look into this sort of scripting. It is highly recommended for anyone wanting to create the illusion of influence in their scripting. HOD VS APPROACH Speculation in the online forums about 'Influence' focussed primarily on: trying to. figure out the method I had used. It'.s possible that .some of you might feel disappointed to learn that what you see in the video wasn't achieved using a single method that can be applied to every performance situation. Please don't be. Clearly, the method I used in the video is not a workable solution when performing without a camera crew. However, it illustrates how you can (and should) control events and your environment to create your own performing reality.
If you are working with a camera crew then the 'dead battery' ploy has merit. Imagine how something like MOABT would look on video if you used the 'dead battery' ploy. For me, 'Influence' isn't about 'method' in the conventional sense. It's more about having a particular 'state or mind' when we perform, and how we should 'approach' our performances .. 'Influence' is a prime example of thinking on your feet and taking advantage of circumstances and events that arise when you're performing. It's about being confident enough in your abilities as a performer to make extraordinary things happen with every tool at your disposal. It's about being able to jazz and adapt on the fly to create something bigger, something more memorable, something more entertaining whenever the opportunity presents itself. R ACTIO When I uploaded the 'Influence,' video eight years ago my goal was on promoting myself to prospeqtiv.e .·clients,. raising my public profile, establishing MY brand, and achieving (a,nd maintaining) an exemplary reputation. I've been doing that to the:best·of.in_Y_ ab_±lity, with success, and I imagine I'll continue to do so for as lo~g as I remain a 'Mystery Entertainer'. . -· ( . . The video has been a just o~e small part of that. Members of the public who see the video get an idea of some qf the things I do, especially if they want to book me in a 'Mix & Mingl~'. capacity. In that sense the video has been hugely beneficial. In terms of our online community the video became something of a 'monster'. EET DR FRANKEN· OCH There was a real buzz and rampant speculation on the Magic and Mentalism forums regarding the method behind 'Influence'. This surprised me greatly because I felt it was pretty obvious how something like 'Influence' could be achieved given the context of the performance. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who contacted me directly regarding the effect having seen the video. I quickly realised that the excitement and impact Mentalism has on our audiences also affects Mentalists in a similar way. A few people saw the video for precisely what it was. Although they didn't know the actual circumstances regarding what had occurred on the day, they had an idea as to how the effect seen on the video could be achieved. They recognized that it was a promo video about me, not a product video for something I was trying to sell. I wasn't selling anything or trying to entice people to part with their hard earned cash and buy into some 'pie in the sky' effect. I was interested in receiving feedback about how the video looked and its viability as a showreel clip, nothing more. Far more people though were fooled by 'Influence'. This made the effect 'desirable' and I was approached countless times by people wanting to buy the effect. My refusal to part with it only served to increase its desirability. I never intended to sell the effect, because as you now know, there is no real method to sell. The status and buzz generated by the video was understandably gratifying, at least initially. In a very short time though, the video took on a life of its own. The speculation about the 'method' intensified, and the attention became increasingly disconcerting and distracting. I had unwittingly created a 'Monster', one which was in danger of becoming a 'Legend'. I have no interest in becoming a 'Legend' within the Mentalism community, and I'm quite baffled by those who strive to attain that dubious goal. In my opinion J.t's an entirely egocentric endeavour which isn't
worthy of my time; I none to spare anyway. When I'm not performing, I'm actively looking for my next bookings. When I'm not doing that, I'm working on material for my show, practicing, scripting, rehearsing, etc. Mentalism is my passion, but first and foremost I'm a businessman. My business is that of being a 'Mystery Entertainer' and my thinking is driven first and foremost towards attaining my business goals, not by pandering to my own ego or creating 'Legends'. An early lesson I learned is that oftentimes ego and business don't mix. When they don't, then business trumps ego every time. INFLUENCE 2.0 The attention the 'Influence' video clip received prompted me to experiment with real -time methods of achieving the same effect on stage in front of a live audiencee Dead batteries NOT included. You could very easily us.e pr~-show to gain the impression and change the . •' presentation once on stage~ I. wanted a routine though that didn't rely on pre-show; something· tfo1t . was -e~tirely self-contained and standalone. After many frustrating attempts and false starts I revisited the original video and I realized that P.art of. th~ solution had been staring me in the face all along. In the video you will noti'ce _that. I give the participant a dry erase whiteboard to draw their image. ·Although the whiteboard has no special significance with regard to the method in 'Influence', I was aware that certain types of whiteboard exhibit .an annoying 'problem' which people routinely have to fix. I knew I could take this 'problem' and turn it into the 'solution' I needed to bring 'Influence' to stage. Imaginatively enough I've called it 'Influence 2 .. 0' because it uses two participants. I I HITE BO D GHOSTING Although dry erase whiteboards wipe clean and are reusable, after an extended period of use the dry erase ink will start to bleed into the surface of the whiteboard. When this happens it becomes harder to fully erase the writing on the whiteboard. You'll start to notice that even though you have apparently wiped the board clean, you can still see a faint image of what you wrote. This is called 'Whiteboard Ghosting'. The remedy is to periodically clean the whiteboard with a speciality whiteboard ~leaner, or a common household 8.iternative like a glass cleaner, alcohol; even water will do the trick. This wili shift any dry erase ink that has penetrated the surface of the whiteboard, which is the cause of the 'ghosting'. To create a 'ghost image' take a whiteboard and thoroughly clean it with a cleaning spray (glass cleaner works well) and dry it with a microfiber cloth. Make sure that the whiteboard is completely clean and dry. Using a dry erase marker, make a simple drawing on the whiteboard. After an
hour or so, very lightly wipe the drawing off the whiteboard using a clean dry cloth. Despite wiping the whiteboard clean, some whiteboards retain a faint 'ghost image' of the drawing. It is important not to wipe too hard as you will also remove the 'ghost image'. With a little practice you will be able to reliably leave an image on the whiteboard even though it looks like you wiped it clean. Some whiteboards wor~ bette:r" thap. · oth~rs. _I get the best results from an 'Expo Dry Erase boar<!' arid an 'Expd Dry Erase Low Odor Pen'. This combination . . . ( . . has worked very well for me ov.er the year.sand they are readily available on eBay and in stationary or· of~iCe (3Upply stores around the world. Please note some pens and boards will not work, it. will take some research and experimentation on your part to find the right combination for you. From my own experimentation older, worn in, "':hiteboards produce the best results. Utilizing this sneaky principle we can create quite literally the cleanest 'Spectator as Mind-Reader' effect imaginable. I've never seen this used before in a Mentalism routine. It's the mixture of ingredients together that creates a wonderfully clean and direct effect. You are essentially going to motivate a participant by giving them an 1..91 incentive which appeals to the basic human impulses of Desire and Greed. ST AGING & SETUP On stage you have two chairs (about 6 feet apart) with two small side tables next to them. One table has a Red Gif't Box on it with the word 'DESIRE' printed on the front. The other table has a Black Gif't Box on it, with the word 'FEAR' printed on the front. The Red gif't box contains a Red Rose and two tickets to one of your future shows. The Black box contains a signed photograph of you and one ticket to a future show. The chair next to the table with the Red Gif't Box has two whiteboards resting on it, one in front of the other. The whiteboard to the rear has a ghosted image of a 'Cat' already drawn on it. In your pocket you have two dry erase markers and a dry cloth which you will use to wipe the boards clean during performance. You address your audience; "One of the most common questions I'm asked is: 'How ·are you able to do the things you <;lo'? Unsurprisingly, I spend a great deal of time studying the psychology of human behaviour. Understanding HOW people think' and the motivation behind that plays a big part in work. One of the best ways to demonstrate is to look at one area that you might be familiar with, and that is, how 'positive' and 'negative' impulses influence our behaviour. Imagine this. If you present someone with a task and tell them that if they are successful they will receive a girt, they are more likely to strive to