How to Improve Your Prediction Routines by Making One Presentational Change

This really got me thinking deeper about my magic

Recently we had magician Mark Shortland come to lecture in Sydney and the stars aligned so that my kids weren’t sick and I was able to come out for the lecture.

The material taught itself was great and there are a few things that I plan to try out at future gigs but in between the teaching of tricks were little nuggets of theory that I found quite profound, in particular Mark’s thoughts on mentalism when it comes to predictions. I’ll share the thoughts and then delve deeper into them with how I’ve performed mentalism in the past and how I’ll look to adjust in the future.

David Ung (that’s me) and Mark Shortland after his wonderful lecture!

The Method Is So Obvious!

Using Mark’s AmazeBox to demonstrate an example routine, he had someone pick a slip of paper out of many papers from the box, which said Vegemite and then revealed that he had a bag hanging in the side of the room since the beginning of the lecture and inside it contained a jar of Vegemite!

Normally one would think that’s a good and decent routine, but Mark asked us to think about it from the participant and audience’s point of view. They would very quickly come to the conclusion that since there was a prediction of the item in play, then they could only ever choose that item. Despite the illusion of a free choice of paper slips to pick from, deep down the participant would intuit that there was something suspicious about the other paper slips and the illusion would come crashing down.

Mark’s point was that if the solution to the effect could be worked out easily like a straight line from A to B, you need to reframe how you present it. The same routine described above should no longer be a Prediction effect, but as an influence effect instead. You tell them participant that you’re going to make them pick a slip of paper that matches the object you have predicted, and start to weave a path that is no longer straight but filled with bumps and turns so by the time you reveal the prediction, backtracking and trying to work out the method is a lot more difficult.

This lit a bulb in my brain and got me thinking about how much more we need to be thinking about our presentation in magic.

My Journey in Mentalism

Mark’s illustration with the Vegemite prediction reminded me of a time I did a prediction effect.

I enjoy mentalism but I have my hesitations regarding it, namely how to pass off to others that I can “read their minds” or know things that seem impossible. So I end up performing a lot of Mental Magic effects as oppose to strictly Mentalism.

But many years ago our church had a Fete and as part of that asked me to perform a show for it. This allowed me to try out new material as it wasn’t a paid gig, so I decided to do a prediction routine, involving superheros and lots of people on stage being eliminated until there was one left, who was holding an envelope with Batman’s logo inside, matching my prediction envelope, and as a kicker my shirt changed into a Batman shirt.

This was a very fun, if not chaotic routine to do but at the end of the show a friend said to me “So…Batman was always going to be picked at the end right?”.

He was right, since that was my prediction, that was always going to be the ending. But I never thought more about it at time, and just responded in a deflated tone “…yeah..”. So how would I change it up now so that the presentation hid the obvious method?

I could present as a magician vs audience routine, where I announce that I have a prediction, which matches one of the envelopes held by a participant, but even though I don’t know who has the envelope and the audience doesn’t as well, I’m going to do everything in my magical power to make it so they match. Then it becomes a game of risk, each elimination could see me lose, and the audience is wondering who might have the envelope.

Or I could make it so we’re all working together, I tell the audience that I know who has the envelope, but I want the audience to work out together who they think has the match, so they are also influenced by me as I make comments about each participant holding the envelope to psychologically sway the audience building suspension to the final reveal.

Both of these presentations are better than my initial one

• Here are the participants with their envelopes

• Lets battle it out to see who wins

• Oh look. I knew who was going to win all along!

The Art and Appreciation of Mentalism

The exercise above in presentation is why I love magic so much. The method and overall trick is pretty much the same but being able to paint over it with such different presentation that it changes the vibe of the routine makes me all giddy inside.

I have many more routines that I can do this routine with, from close up effects like “What’s in a name” to Stand Up material like Sneak Thief. I’ll always start by performing the effect how the creator intended, but then through repetition, make changes that fit my style and now, make the experience more fooling for the participant.

I encourage you to do the same, look at your mentalism routines, specifically your prediction effects and put yourself in the participants shoes as they experience it from start to finish. Would you come up with the a solution that runs straight from A to B, or are you taken on a unique journey that would seem impossible to replicate?