Modern Misdirection & Illusionists
In theatrical illusion, misdirection is a method of deceit in which the performer draws audience attention to one object to divert attention from another. Managing audience attention is the goal of every theatre, and is the primary requirement of all magic acts. It doesn’t matter if the magic is an “pocket trick” variety or the stage is a major production, misdirection is the central element. The term refers to either the effect (the the focus of the observer on the unimportant object) or the sleight-of-hands or patter (the magician’s speech) which creates it.
It’s difficult to determine who was the first person to coin the phrase, however an early reference to misdirection can be found in the writings of an influential author and performer named Nevil Maskelyne. it is a method of distracting the spectator’s senses, to hide from noticing certain aspects in which confidentiality is essential. Around the same time, magician, artist and author Tarbell noted, Nearly everything about illusion relies on the art of misdirection.
A few magicians who have researched and refined misdirection techniques includes Max Malini, Derren Brown, Juan Tamariz, Tony Slydini, Tommy Wonder, and Dai Vernon.
Henry Hay describes the central act of conjuring as manipulating interest.
Some magicians misdirect audience attention in two basic ways. One leads the audience to look away for a fleeting time, so that they don’t detect some act or gesture. Another approach alters the perception of the audience, lulling them to believe that something else is a significant factor in the success of the trick even though it does not have any bearing on the effect at all. Fitzkee says that the real talent of the magician is in the talent of his performance in changing the spectators mind. Sometimes, a prop like a magic wand aids in distraction.
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Misdirection is the foundation of nearly all successful illusions. Without misdirection, even a mechanical prop or the most proficient sleight of hand is unlikely to manufacture the illusion of real magic.
Misdirection makes use of the limitations of the human mind to give the wrong picture and memory. The brain of a typical spectator can only focus on only one thing at a given time. The magician utilizes this to influence the audience’s ideas or perceptions of sensory input and lead them to make false conclusion.
Magicians have debated the use of the term, misdirection, creating plenty of debate about what it is and how it operates.
Renowned magician Jon Finch
drew a distinction in misdirection from direction. One being a negative term, while the other is a positive. In the end, he sees the two as one thing. If a performer, by any means, has led the minds of his audience to conclude that he’s done something that he’s not done, he has wrongly led them to believe this; hence, misdirection.
Tommy Wonder has pointed out that it’s more efficient, from a magician’s point of view, to concentrate on the positive aim of directing the attention of the audience. He writes that misdirection implies an untrue direction. It suggests that attention is directed away from something. When we keep using this term it becomes embedded in our minds that we may begin to perceive misdirection as directing attention away from rather than towards something.
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Slydini explained that if the magician believes that, the public will believe in it, and magicians are something that they cannot observe. Misdirection is true when they believe what the magician does and then follows the magician. misdirection site
