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It’s not what you’ve done that’s important; it’s what they think you’ve done.
by Robert Fox
You’ve centre torn; they think you’ve just applied your years of research
into psychology and NLP (which you happened to mention prior to the trick) to
pick up on their signals and decipher the word you asked them to repeat in their
mind, concentrating on specific letters throughout, but trying not to give
anything away.
Therefore the importance of any trick is this: what do you want the audience to
believe has happened at the end of it. What they believe has happened will
affect how much they appreciate the trick, in what context, their questioning of
the method and ultimately their opinion of you as a performer. Let us take the
classic Invisible Deck:
Imagine the simplest of presentations, the performer asks the spectator to hold
the deck and merely name a card. The named card is the only card overturned in
the deck. The reaction will no doubt be good, due to the fact that the Invisible
Deck is an excellent invention, not to mention one of the greatest outs to ever
exist (one obviously only imagines as having never required the use of an out in
one’s career!).
After the trick the audience are left with the following predicaments: is that
just a special deck of some kind, did I just name an obvious card, does he just
do it on people until someone chooses the right card (television audience).
However, imagine a varied approach to proceedings.
The performer introduces himself in his usual charming manor and establishes
rapport with his spectator. He offers his hand for greeting and places the
participant into an instant induction (for any oblivious, this is an apparent
state of instant hypnosis induced by the performer but nothing more than the
spectator merely sitting with their eyes closed and their hand over their face –
but hey it’s not what you’ve done that’s important; it’s what they think you’ve
done). Whilst the spectator remains in such a ‘state’ the performer explains to
them how such a state enables him to more easily gain rapport and influence
their decisions. After a reasonable amount of spiel, throwing in a little Wonder
Words (by Kenton Knepper) if one so wishes, the performer asks the spectator to
hold a deck of cards and focus on a childhood memory that elicits all the
emotions of safety and security enabling enhanced responsiveness. He explains to
the spectator that he will count from one to three and snap his fingers, at
which point a card will enter their mind; they won’t know where it came from or
why they chose it but it will just feel right. One, two, three – snap. What
card? Excellent, just felt right yeah, good. He brings the spectator out of the
‘state’ and ensures they’re ok. Amazingly, unbelievably, extraordinarily, the
card named is the only one overturned in the deck.
After the trick the audience believe that you have cleverly, possibly with the
aid of hypnosis of some kind, placed a desired card into the spectators mind in
a very engaging manor. They certainly won’t be deliberating the prospect of a
special deck or a popular card (believe me).
Alternatively, another approach:
The performer is half way through an enthralling set at a table and turns to one
of the spectators (usually the most attractive female – purely for rapport
purposes) and looks them intently in the eye and says ‘Ok since arriving at the
table I’ve been trying to implant a card into your mind, this has been purely on
a subconscious level and you shouldn’t really have been aware of it. Now this
doesn’t always work, so don’t dislike me if that’s the case, but just now
without thinking just look me right in the eye and name a card, without
thinking, it will just feel absolutely right to you…’ The card selected is the
only overturned card in the deck. Again, the last thing on their mind is special
decks or popular cards.
Genuinely, I’ve received some of the most moving and astounding reactions from
the previous presentations of the Invisible Deck – essentially an easy,
self-working (and brilliant) gimmick deck. Purely, the reasoning is entering the
perspective of the spectator and asking yourself what you want them to believe
has happened at the end of the trick.
It’s important to note that approaches discussed are performance choices I’ve
decided to adopt and develop because they work for me and my style. I would
encourage beyond comprehension that performers should only adopt approaches and
methods that fit their style of performance.
An additional note about the Invisible Deck and one of which I take no credit,
however, its origins are not of my knowledge, is to place an X on every even
card. The result is that if an even card is selected I would say “I not only
overturned a card in the deck, but I also placed a cross through it.’
Alternatively, if an odd card’s selected I would announce ‘I’ve crossed out all
the ones I didn’t want you to choose, see, all except for one which I left
overturned and didn’t cross out.’ It works well, trust me - I’ll now leave you
to scamper for that marker pen.
© Robert Fox, June 2005