One of my friends asked me about misdirection and how he could learn it and I sent him an email which was meant to be short and to the point.  I started my reply and  kept writing and writing.  Perhaps what I wrote will get some of you thinking about this very important aspect of our craft.

Anyone can do tricks for magicians but entertaining the public is the true test because they often shout out what they think you have done. Every successful performer, having honed their technical skills and presentational approach, uses one other ally - misdirection.

The basic principle is that where you look is where the audience will look.  If you crack a joke or make a remark about one of the spectators then the audience tend to look at that spectator.  You need to make up some patter about your tricks and put a couple of simple gags in them that are not offensive or even particularly funny.  These remarks should coincide with the time that you make a move such as the pass.  The very best misdirection of this kind is to look at the spectator after he has selected a card and put it back in the pack for you.  Generally you are going to do the pass and you don't want it to be seen.  You’ve got your finger over the selected card and you are about ready to make the pass.  You don't at any time look at your hands because then the spectators will look at your hands.  What you can do is suddenly look at the spectator and say things like.  "You know that I am entirely in your hands. Right?  He will say. "Why?" and you reply still looking at him, " because if you forget the card you took there will be no trick at all."  Now before we continue I am going to ask you if you can remember your card?  Can you?"  I can assure you that you could actually cut the cards without even bothering to do the pass if you avoid looking at your hands and if you stare straight into the spectator's eyes.  You try it out.

I am sure that you will notice that very few people do card acts involving lots of sleights without indulging in this kind of innocent chat with a member of the audience in order to cover their moves.

So to summarise this:

Where you look, the entire audience will look because you are focusing your attention on your hands for instance.

If you crack a simple joke and they laugh as you look at them they will relax and look at you and if the joke relates to them forgetting a card sometimes they will also look at other members of the audience.  When they look at other members of the audience the focus moves even further away from you and the audience all look at the person the spectator is looking at as well.

And the second point to remember is that the best time to perform a sleight IS WHEN THE AUDIENCE AREN'T LOOKING AT YOUR HANDS ... AND HOW DO YOU MAKE THEM STOP LOOKING AT YOUR HANDS?  YOU TALK TO THEM AND MAKE SURE YOU LOOK QUITE SHARPLY AND DIRECTLY INTO THEIR EYES. THEY JUST HAVE TO LOOK BACK AT YOU AND WHEN THIS IS HAPPENING DO THE MOVE.

It also goes without saying that you should be able to do the move so well that you could do it perfectly in your sleep.  In fact you should be able to do the pass in pitch darkness.

If you can do the pass, a simple Hindu Shuffle force and a Double Lift you will be able to do as many card tricks as I can do.  I can just about to do the top change as well.  And with those moves you should be content.

As far as focusing attention is concerned.  Say you are doing the cups and balls and have an orange in your hand that you would like to load into the cup you are holding in your hand.. what do you do?  Well you are holding the orange in your hand and you have the cup in front of you.  The ball has vanished and you pick up the cup and the spectators see the ball on the table and they laugh.. they are focusing on the ball on the table so you have to lift the cup very dramatically and slowly and with lots of pauses ... you might say ...

AND UNDER HERE .. WHAT IS UNDER HERE?  YOU LIFT THE CUP, THEY LOOK AT THE BALL FOCUS ON IT RELAX AND LAUGH OR DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT YOU LOOK UP AT THEM AND LAUGH AND THEY HAVE TO LOOK INTO YOUR EYES AS WELL AND ZAP YOU MAKE THE LOAD RIGHT AT THAT POINT.

There is one other form of misdirection that I recently learned from the wonderful DVDs on Tommy Wonder. Tommy wants to have a card selected and he wants it to end up inside an egg that mysteriously appears on the table.  Right he palms the egg in his left hand as he stand behind the table.  He has the pack in his right hand.  He just places the hand holding the egg on the table and lets it rest there as he moves the pack of cards in his right hand over his still not moving left hand.  He reaches his right hand out to a member of the audience sitting on his left and he does a riffle force of the cards.  As he does this all attention is on the pack of cards being held out to the spectator and being riffled in front of his eyes.  Everyone is looking at this small almost spotlighted (in their mind area). Now all you do is just leave the egg on the table as you lift your left hand to join your right hand which is offering the riffled pack for the spectator to see.  All attention is on the card you have forced and you speak to the spectator.  His eyes are on you and the audience will be watching you and the spectator and the pack of cards.  Now you raise the card that has been selected with its face facing the audience and raise it up and again say something like ...do you all agree that this card has been fairly selected?  You put it back in the pack and they will be watching you.  You do not do any sleights at this precise moment but suddenly you look down at the table and appear suddenly to see the egg.  It will take a  moment before all eyes now focus on the spot where you are looking.  You turn to a spectator on your right and ask him or her whether he or she put the egg on the table.  Everyone looks at the spectator you are talking to and while all eyes are watching the amusement of the spectator who has no idea where the egg came from you then make the pass. 

IN OTHER WORDS YOU MAKE THE PASS WHEN NO-ONE IS LOOKING AT YOU OR YOUR HANDS.

As far as patter is concerned the patter should appear to come out of the situation that you are in.  Silly questions asked of a spectator whilst you look at them not only give you cover for moves but also relax the audience.  Ask someone if they have ever chosen a card from a pack of cards?  They will laugh and come up with a reply and it might be ... yes about 100 times! Everyone gives a slight laugh.  They relax.  You might say: When a magician picks up a pack of cards and fans them out to the audience, what do you think the magician wants you to do?  Take a card they reply.  You laugh and say, No I want you to take the card I want you to take.  Nothing very funny about that either but I can assure you that it makes them laugh.  You go …  on well if I don't make you take the card I want you to take how will you know if you have taken the card I want you to take.

Misdirection also includes making it difficult for the audience to follow what you are doing by moving one hand in one direction and the other in another.  The best way to switch a pack of cards is to have a switch deck in say your right hand pocket and the pack you want to ditch in your right hand.  I am going to need a pen/handkerchief/coin/magic wand for this experiment you say and you start to reach with the empty hand into the empty pocket as that hand goes into the pocket and probably a split second later you reach into the other pocket with the cards you are holding ditch the pack and grasp the other one there.  Then perhaps having made the switch you reach with the empty hand into your inside jacket pocket.   It is quite natural when you are holding something in your hand to reach into the pocket for something else and if you cover this move by reaching into the other pocket more or less at the same time you are almost making it impossible for them to concentrate on what you are doing other than searching through your pocket for something you need for the trick.. whereas you might have ditched a fairly shuffled pack and got yourself a stacked deck or a fake deck out of your pocket.

Another form of what might be logical misdirection is when you need to get a gimmick out of your pocket or you want to ditch something.  What you do if you want to ditch something like a coin is to say I am going to need a coin for this effect.  You reach into your pocket ditch the palmed item and bring out the coin.  If you need a pen for a trick and you want to get rid of something you simply reach in with the palmed object and ditch it and bring out the pen.  If you put your hand in your pocket merely to get rid of something they would know just what you are doing but logic tells the brains of the spectator that you are taking an object such as pen out of your pocket.

Now this evening or when you have time ... do a card trick for someone you don't know well.  Not your son or your mother or your partner because they know you too well and can often spot from your expression that you are up to no good.  Just show a pal a card trick that requires you to do the pass for instance.

Get the pass so perfect that you can do it without thinking and that might mean doing it over and over again for a couple of hours a day for a week. I mean it.  Then show the trick to friend and look at his eyes and ask him a silly or even sensible question when you make the move.  I can assure you if you do it well you will see how powerful misdirection can be. Malini could put a solid block of ice on a table from under his hat by using the misdirection of doing a simple coin trick.  Go for it.

Regards,  Martin