How can I read minds like Derren Brown?

This is a question we get asked a lot at the Merchant of Magic. Derren Brown is a world class entertainer at the top of his game so we can learn a great deal from watching his performance and taking that experience and using it as a springboard to generate ideas for our own style and presentations. Lets look at some tips, and tools that we know of that can help you on your quest for knowledge!

Firstly it would be wise to make it clear that Derren Brown uses a whole range of techniques, he is skilled in all types of magic and mind reading and has lots of toys at his disposal. However with a bit of thought and clever routining and good scripting you can create the illusion that you are nearly as skilled as he is!

The real secret of making people feel as if you have read their mind, in the way that Derren Brown makes people believe, is found within his performance. It really has nothing to do with the trick itself. You can perform a simple playing card force or even an elaborate chair routine with three climaxes, but if you do not present it in a way that is warm, well received and engaging, it will not get the desired results.

Here are some key points to help you master how to read minds like Derren Brown:

Speak clearly and at a pace that is calm and deliberate, DO NOT mumble and speak quickly.

Stand tall and proud, this gives off confidence and assurance

Rehearse your lines, so you do not get tongue tied

Research the phenomena you claim to be demonstrating, it always helps if you do actually know about what you claim to be a master of.

Remember that mind reading and mentalism doesn’t usually focus on props. It’s a conversation, an interaction between the performer and the audience. A full, balanced act could simply involve the performer, a note pad and a pencil. Because of this, it’s essential to make the presentation as interesting and varied as possible.

Many of the secrets of mind reading are very simple from a technical standpoint. This allows you to focus on the entertainment created by the routine, and that you are holding the attention of the audience. Performing a simple and easy routines like, for example, Any Word by Ben Williams means that you can, with NO SKILL whatsoever, predict ANY word a spectator can think of. Because Any Word comes with suggested patter, it’s designed to make you concentrate on delivering the patter in a convincing manner. Good mind reading magic tricks are structured to be as simple to perform as possible, yet their mechanics ensures the spectators really feel that you have influenced them into thinking of that word.

Another important point to remember is that mind reading needs to be frames within a greater context. A show that involves simply having people think of a word, then revealing it, over and over again would soon lose peoples interest. Even though the feat is impossible and incredible, it needs more that just a demonstration of mind reading abilities to keep people entertained. If you watch one of Derren Browns shows, you can learn a great deal about how to 'mix up' essentially the same effect (revealing a thought) in different ways. His show is carefully constructed to provide changes of pace, sections of comedy and serious demonstrations of apparent psychic and paranormal activity. The whole show is a presentation around a theme, rather than a collection of separate disjointed 'tricks'.

If you put thought into the construction of your act, and focus on entertainment rather than mechanics, you will find that mind reading and mentalism are one of the most rewarding branches of magic to explore and perform.

5 Tips and Ideas to get the most out of your Phoenix Prophecy

by Dominic Reyes 2 Comments

With the release of Phoenix Prophecy, we have been asked by a lot of magicians, for additional presentation and performance ideas for this useful mind reading tool.

The Phoenix Prophecy is a great update on a classic mentalism gimmick that allows you to perform some great mind-reading and mentalism but in a very magical way. The thought of word or spectator's initials appear in burn marks on your business card, or piece of paper, even on your spectator's own bank note!

Although these routines and more ideas are explained in full on the tuition DVD, the Phoenix Prophecy really is a tool that you can use to help improve your creativity. It only took a few minutes for me to come up with a few great ideas you can use with the Phoenix Prophecy, so I thought I’d share these ideas with you now.

Phoenix Prophecy Resizing

As the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick is a bit of a ‘One Size Fits All’ gimmick, there is a tiny chance that it may be too big for you. If this is the case for you, not to worry, it is a simple fix. All you need to do is cut a piece of foam and stick it on the inside of the gimmick so that it fits snugly. You don’t have to use foam, you can also use folded card to bridge the gap. It may seem obvious once you have read this, but nonetheless I believe it is worth mentioning.

Frixion Pen Routine

The Frixion Pen is a great tool. It is a pen with ink that turns invisible when heat is applied to it. This is perfect for the Phoenix Prophecy. I am sure you are already thinking ahead of me now!

Simply take a business card and write a four digit number with the Frixion Pen, place this down as your prediction. Ask the spectator to think of a four digit number, if they think of the number you wrote (it is 9000 to 1, but it could happen!) then you have a miracle! If not (which is more likely!) then simply turn your prediction around to show it is incorrect if you perform this correctly the breakdown of tension should give you ample misdirection to freely work your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick so you can simply say, ‘every now and then my mind reading skills fail me. However, my magic is always pretty good’. You can then hold the lighter under the business card and the ink from the Frixion Pen will vanish, and the burn marks will reveal the thought of number!

Pocket Change Routine

In this routine, you predict correctly three coins that are freely chosen by your spectators, from their own pocket change.

Have a spectator sign the face of your business card and on the opposite side draw three circles. Hold this in full view with the signed face showing to the spectators. Now simply ask your spectator to remove all the change in their pocket, they are to select three coins to use and place them in a row on the table. It should be noted that you are to make it obvious that you do not have a pen in your hand as you hold the prediction. When the coins have been placed down you can recap the process and how impossible it would be if you had correctly predicted not only which coins they would choose but which order they would choose them, how would you ever have known even what coins they had in the first place! This patter will give you ample time to use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to full effect and set it so that the value of each coin will appear in the burn marks inside the circles.

Predict Your Friend’s Time to Win a Drink!

Next time you are out with your friends in a bar bet them that you can predict the future and propose a wager if you can predict where your friend will stop their watch then they buy you a drink, if not then you will buy them a drink!

When you write your prediction you are simply going to draw a watch without the hands on the face. Draw on your business card at the top of the card, the card must be portrait and not landscape as it will give you more space to draw the watch.

All you need to do is have your friend wind their watch around to ANY time they like and stop. Ask them to click the button in on their watch so they cannot change their mind. Emphasize that you have made your prediction, again make it clear (without saying it) that you do not have a pen in your hand. As soon as they have selected their time use the Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to have the correct hands appear when you hold the lighter underneath the prediction. Reveal the time and claim your drink!

Business Card Symmetry

In this routine, you are going to get perfectly in sync with your spectator. Hand your spectator a business card and ask them to take the business card and place a tear in the business card anywhere they like. They can tear any edge they like, ask them not to tear any part off the card, but to simply put a small tear into the business card. As they do this you will use your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to prep that same part of your business card. Now when you hold the lighter underneath the business card a distinct mark will appear in the same place as where they tore their card.

You can of course use this idea with pieces of paper or borrowed bank notes too so it can be completely impromptu as long as you have your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick with you. And lets face it, when are you ever going to leave it at home!

So there you go, there are 5 tips and ideas to use with your Phoenix Prophecy gimmick to help inspire you! It really is a great gimmick which I intend on having with me for a very long time! Enjoy!

How to Introduce a Magic Trick – Advice from Dee Christopher

by Merchant of Magic 5 Comments

We often get asked for advice on how to improve the script or ‘patter’ that a magician is using to introduce a magic trick they are performing. So many magic tricks are presented with what boils down to a simple description of what is happening and what the spectator should do:

‘Here’s a deck of cards, pick one and remember it. I’m going to read your mind… 10 of clubs Tada!!!’

Your presentation of your magic tricks could easily be SO much better than this. I caught up with top alternative mentalist and magician Dee Christopher, who is an expert on the subject, to find out how we can make these introductions better.

Dominic Reyes: One of the questions we get asked often at the Merchant of Magic is how to improve the scripts or patter that magicians use to present their magic tricks. Do you have some advice you can share on this?

Dee Christopher: Garrett Thomas teaches that:

Every movement in a sleight of hand magic trick needs to have a purpose and a reason for it to happen.

But it wouldn’t stop there. The words you use can have just as much power at the sleight of hand you perform. You will improve your magic by making sure that each psychological action you take and every word you say will increase the impact of a magic trick on your audiences.

Dominic: So with that, you mean that even statements within your ‘patter’ that don’t relate directly to the instructions you need to give the spectator, could be constructed to improve a trick?

Dee: Yes, but it’s important that you first ensure that you have a proper understanding of your character and the abilities you claim to have. This is important so you can create justifications to support those abilities in the mind of the spectator. Once you understand who you are and how you are usually perceived, this is a great way to instill belief in your spectators.

Dominic: Can you give us an example?

Dee: Sure, we can use ‘power statements’ to assume implied belief in the magic we are presenting. It’s creating belief through the acceptance of belief. This technique can easily be added to the start of any magic trick or metalism routine. Let’s look at adding a question in your introduction of a Mentalism effect:

The Definition = Creation Idea & The Sheep Concept.

It was Kenton Knepper’s work that introduced me to Definition = Creation, the concept is that by defining something, you’re giving it weight to be accepted as reality in the spectator’s minds.

The Sheep concept is what I’ve called the strange fact that people generally act like sheep. Not in the literal sense, but on a whole, people let the majority’s thoughts influence their thoughts. Social convention, norms, etc. If everyone else thinks and acts in a certain way, I should too.

The basic idea of creating belief through accepting belief (CBTAB) is that you will subtly introduce your spectator to a belief that most other spectators have about you or your work.

This is done in an offbeat way, so you don’t draw much attention to it.

Here’s an example, so you can see the concept in action:

“People often ask me after I do this, if I have to make contact with the participant to read their thoughts. It’s not essential, but sometimes it does make things a little easier.”

A simple little statement, that’s delivered almost like a question and an answer.

You’ll notice that I start with:

“People often ask me.”

This suggests that the question is asked often. It implies that other people assume what I’m claiming to be true and ask a further question about it. Another way to create a similar effect is to say: “Most people ask.”
Why it works: Using this kind of sentence can be very powerful for two main reasons; firstly, we can only answer questions when we have the answer. Secondly, the answer isn’t just spoken, someone has to ask the question, for it to be relevant.

After this little contextual ‘power statement,’ I move on and say this popular question in simple, direct terms:

“… After I do this If I have to make contact with the participant to read their thoughts.”

This part of the statement is extremely powerful for a number of reasons:

It assumes that you have the ability to read thoughts; people apparently ask you this after you’ve read their thoughts and you hear it often, therefore you must read people’s thoughts often.
It puts a timing of the action of reading thoughts, like Banachek’s ‘witch doctor principle,’ it gives the ability of receiving the thought a physical element and its own moment in time. For all the spectator’s know, you could be receiving the thought as they write it down or at any other time. You’re taking the heat of the moment when the thought is written and placing it at the moment you touch them to apparently steal the thought. While this doesn’t remove the action of the writing the name down from their memory, it gives it a lot less importance. The importance is in the moment you touch them.

“It’s not essential, but sometimes it does make things a little easier.” The final part of this sentence gives an answer to the question, which shows your authority on the subject. By saying that it’s not essential for you to make contact doesn’t necessarily contradict the witch doctor point, but can potentially strengthen it, there will still be a point in the trick in which you will receive the thought, but this now allows you to turn this action from having to be a touch, to being able to be whatever you like, perhaps a strong stare directly through the eyes or something even more theatrical.Saying that “…it does make things a little easier,” implies that it’s not an easy task to do this, if it was easy to do, you wouldn’t even mention this action that could make it less difficult to perform.

Dominic: Thanks Dee, That’s a really useful technique. Where can readers find out more about techniques like this, if they feel that they would like to develop their ‘patter’ to have more of an influence on the magic they present?

Dee: It’s worth checking out Kenton Kneppers work, also if they are interested in further developing their characters, I would suggest reading How to get away with murder. It has a lot of advice on creating justifications and building your persona.

DO THIS: So there you are, a really basic use of the CBTAB principle. Dee shows us that every word we say really can be made to have impact and can help create a fantastic tool to enforce belief and strength in our claims and abilities as performers.

Look back on the magic tricks that you already perform and see if there is an opportunity to add in an introduction that will add belief through the acceptance of belief. It’s a very small addition to your ‘patter’ but you will be amazed at the reactions that this can have.