mentalism Archives

Derren Brown – Revealing the Secrets of Derren Brown

Derren Brown presents his mind reading skills much the same way that historical entertainers demonstrated psychic and paranormal abilities. However, he often states to the audience that the secrets to his powers are, in fact, a combination of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship. The revelation of a method hides the true secret and heightens the interest of the spectators.

A refreshing presentation of traditional mentalism.

Derren Brown often gives the audience a false explanation for his tricks, whilst delighting in debunking the psychics and mediums, who claim their powers are real.

In doing this, he often provides an equally fictional revelation of the magic secret. By claiming, he is using skills to predict and control a spectators mind with suggestion and manipulation of their free will. He often attributes his powers to reading physical and psychological indicators. One of the most popular methods he reveals is the use of body language to predict what an audience member is thinking.

Mentalists often argue that much of that IS possible. We wouldn’t argue with that at all, but the interesting point for us, is not his actual methods, but rather his use of a revelation of the secret to cover the true method.

How can that be applied to your magic?

When you perform your magic, what explanation do you currently give?

You have magical powers.
Your props have magical powers.
The spectator has magical powers.
You are using trickery.

The source of your power’ that you choose to build into a tricks presentation will greatly change the way your spectators view and interact with you. It will also either increase or decrease the strength of the magic trick you are presenting.

If you are inspired by the approach Derren Brown takes, experiment with the source of your magic. You can turn a stale trick, that you don’t seem to get great reactions from, into one of your strongest routines.

You can’t have your cake and eat it

A word of warning: You need to be consistent in the source of your magic At least within each act you construct. If you attribute your skills to sleight of hand, then claim magical powers for the next trick, it just won’t wash with your audience. Equally, presenting yourself or an object as magical, as you demonstrate sleight of hand techniques won’t be very effective either.

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I Want to Be Like Derren Brown

by Merchant of Magic 26 Comments

Derren Brown is at the top of his game at the moment, and quite deservedly so. His shows are well produced, entertaining and generally awesome. From the perspective of the magic community, they are one of the best things to happen to magic in many years. Inspiring a whole new wave of future magicians and mentalists to start the journey into magic and mentalism. But where do they start?

There is a huge range of material on the market promising to teach you the techniques and secrets of Derren Brown. Most can be quite low quality, with more hype than content. So we are often asked which training books and DVD’s are the best in our opinion, to get a beginner started. This is what we usually suggest:

The first step:

13 Steps to Mentalism by Corinda

This is the core source for starting to learn mind reading and mentalism tricks. Perfect for beginners, the book requires no previous knowledge and will show you the fundamentals as well as the presentation and performance skills to get the best from them. This belongs on every mentalists hands.

Banachek PSI Series DVD

A great series of DVD’s teaching mentalism for both the casual performer and the seasoned professional. For those of us that prefer to learn from a DVD, this is great material that is easy to perform and teaches you the core principles you will need, along the way.

Reality is Plastic – Ebook

If you want to dive into the world of hypnosis, but designed for magicians rather than stage shows, then this ebook by Anthony Jacquin is highly recommended. Derren Brown is know for his extensive use of impromptu hypnosis, and this ebook is probably one of the best ways to begin to learn these techniques.

Mentalism is general is very much presentation based. Often the props are simple, sometimes no more than a pen and a sheet of paper. The power of the tricks comes from how they are performed, and the interaction between the performer and the spectators. Knowing the secrets, is a very small part of the learning process. We strongly suggest that you seek out every opportunity to watch other mentalists as much as possible. Go and watch how Derren Brown performs magic in his latest show and pick up the DVD’s of his previous shows. They don’t teach how he does the tricks, but they will teach you the way he presents them. His showmanship is world class, and priceless tuition for you.

Official Site for Derren Brown Show information

Use a Magicians Change Bag – A Secret for Mind Reading Beginners

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

Here’s a little secret for anyone starting out learning mind reading. A magicians change bag can be one of the best tools a mentalist can add to their working kit.

HANG ON.. For mentalists… Isn’t that something for kids shows?

If you already use a change bag, you will understand just how useful they can be for your show offering an easy and effective method for forcing, predictions and many more psychological tricks such as those performed by Derren Brown. If you don’t use one, or if you think your bag may need updating, then read on as I tip you off, to the best change bags on the market.

The traditional use:

1) Show the change bag empty. Then put an item inside, turn it inside out and the item has totally vanished!
2) Now, turn the bag inside out so you can show it empty, just before you reach into the change bag and the item re-appears!

Now for Mentalists…

1) Write a batch of numbers on bit’s of paper and throw them into the magicians change bag

2) Now fill the second section with bit’s of paper that all have the same number on them.
You now have a great self working force device. You spectator can examine the paper to see they are all different, yet when they reach in to choose one, they can only come out with the number YOU want them to pick.

I’m sure you can think of a million different way’s you can use this force in your routines.

Or this…

Have audience members write a word on a bit of paper and put them in the bag.

Invite another audience member to reach in and choose one of the contributions. (They can only choose the one you want them to select) You then go on to reveal a prediction that matches their selection.

The problem with change bags!

Lets face it, they look corny for mentalists. As they have been traditionally designed for kids magic shows, they tend to be finished in bright colours and scream PROP at the top of their voices.

The good news is that there is now a range that look professional and would fit in with the corporate context that many mentalists like to present their work in.

Bags that don’t look like a clown owns them:

There are a great many magicians change bags to choose from, and they really range in quality and price. We have picked a few of the best that tend to be chosen most by professional entertainers.

Recommended magicians change bag for mentalists

Do you use a change bag for mentalism? If so, please let us know about it and any tips you would like to share, in the comments section below.