Misdirection (magic)

Misdirection is a form of deception in which the attention of an audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another.

The term is used to describe either the effect (the victim's focus on an unimportant object) or the sleight of hand or patter (the magician's speech) that creates it.

It must be noted that misdirection refers usually to a temporary shift of attention to cover a move, lasting about one second (visual misdirection : in that case visual effects are needed), for example looking one's watch while secretly cutting a deck of cards with the other hand.

Nethertheless it can be a more long-lasting one (mental misdirection, preventing the spectator from explaining what happens, by leading him on a false lead, it usually needs patter), which aims to prevent spectators from figuring out the trick or part of it: for example in well-known cups and balls trick, the magician says no trap doors are involved (which is true but raises suspicion on an unimportant point, thus preventing the audience from thinking of any other possible trickery).

Some tricks use that principle for the entire trick such as the "invisible palm", in which the magician apparently conceals cards in his hand without them being seen, even when the palm of the hand is exposed.

Use

The study of close-up magic is a good introduction to misdirection. Misdirection takes advantage of the limits of the human mind in order to give the wrong picture and memory. The mind can concentrate on only one thing at a time. The magician uses this to manipulate the "victim"'s idea of how the world is supposed to be.

Misdirection in magic may be as simple as a magician rolling up his sleeves and saying "nothing up my sleeve" and then producing an object that could never have been "up his sleeve". The audience instinctively scrutinizes the magician's arms, but ignores the actual location where the object-to-be-magically-produced is hidden.

Attention can be controlled in various ways. A magician will first grab attention with a coin, or another small and shiny object A shiny object captures more attention and seems less likely to disappear or to be manipulated. Then attention is directed away from the object (hence, "misdirection") through a combination of comedy, sleight of hand or an unimportant object of focus, thus providing just enough time for the magician to do whatever he or she wishes to do with the original object.

One of the most important things to remember when thinking about misdirection and magic is this: a larger movement conceals a smaller movement.^{[citation needed]}

Among the very few magicians who have researched and evolved misdirection techniques are Harry Kellar, Henning Nelms John Ramsay, Tommy Wonder, Derren Brown, Juan Tamariz, Tom Stone, Tony Slydini and Dai Vernon.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Magic (illusion)
• Optical illusion
• Secrecy

External links

• Learn Misdirection
• Misdirection Resource Center
• Misdirection methods
• Glossary about stage and platform mediums
• Official Website of "Misdirection" The Movie