Slydini’s Paper Balls Over The Head

Slydini’s Paper Balls Over The Head

by | Jan 31, 2009 | Slydini

In the video posted in this article, Tony Slydini demonstrated live to the audience how “Misdirection” could fool an audience. He did this by throwing the paper balls over the volunteer’s head again and again without him noticing it. All the rest of the audience could see clearly what happened except the volunteer himself.

Difference Slydini And Ourselves

You may want to watch it several times and ask yourself why did the volunteer failed to detect what Slydini was doing. Could you have succeeded in doing what Slydini did? Very often when I was taught a magic trick, I would have a lot of objections as to what if the audiences notice what I am doing? ‘What if the audiences do this or that? As I was watching this video, I asked myself, “Why the volunteer did not lift his head as Slydini flipped his hand upwards to throw the paper ball over his head?” These are the answers I came up with for myself after watching the video repeatedly.

  • Slydini had mastered the distance between the volunteer and himself where the angle of the volunteer’s vision had been greatly restricted.
  • Slydini had confidently got the volunteer fixated on his left palm where he had him believed the paper ball was to be.
  • Slydini successfully fooled him again and again causing the volunteer to doubt himself.
  • Finally, Slydini has mastered the art of misdirection; he knew what he was doing and what he was capable of. Thus, every movement of his body coordinated very well with what he wanted to accomplish. In the case if anyone else would try to imitate Slydini, they may not succeed because their lack of practice or lack of confidence may betray them.

Slydini’s Manipulation Of His Audience

Observe that Slydini had purposely put a lot of paper napkins on the volunteer’s lap restricting his body movement. The volunteer was unable to stand up or move his legs. Otherwise, all the paper napkins would fall from his lap. Slydini then said to the volunteer,

“Come closer. No, no, not your chair, yourself. Don’t stand up. Just come closer.”

What Slydini had done was to make the volunteer leaned forward and had him looking down with his head bent. Slydini further conditioned him by holding his hands in front of the volunteer at his chest level. Observe that the volunteer was bending his head and body very low.

For him to lift up his head to watch Slydini throwing the paper ball over his head would require a big body movement involving not just his head but his back as well. Lifting his head alone would not enable him to see the paper ball thrown over his head.

Next, Slydini had engaged him deeply with his hand movement and conversation drawing his attention to his left hand. Slydini’s head and body were all bent leaning towards his left hand suggesting to everyone in communion with him to focus on his left hand. As he threw the paper ball away, he did it in one swift motion. Only his finger did the job but not his arm.

Mistakes We Would Have Made

If I had taken over Slydini’s position, I might have lifted my right arm slowly because I would be afraid that by flinging the paper ball away with one quick fling, the volunteer would have suspected what I was doing. What I would have done next would be to throw the ball away when I was sure that the volunteer did not look up towards my right hand. This would precisely have given me away because the volunteer would have looked up when he did not see my right hand come down to put the paper ball into my left hand fast enough the way Slydini did it.

Slydini was able to fling the ball away swiftly because he had the momentum as he lifted up his right arm quickly. In my case if I were to lift up my right arm slowly (hesitantly) and stop, I would lose the momentum. And if I were to throw the ball away, my arm would most probably move also causing the volunteer to grow suspicious.

Densenstising The Audience With Repeated Actions

Notice again that Slydini repeated his routine again and again with slight variation each time. I have pointed this out in the earlier videos. Also notice that the first time he made the paper ball disappeared, he made the volunteer checked his breast pocket. So subsequently when Slydini put the third paper ball into his breast pocket, the volunteer did not suspect anything.

Conclusion

I hope that this series of Slydini videos illustrate how misdirection works. Continue to ask yourself everyday how am I to carry out misdirection to the people around me as to what I want to do. When you plan your performance for a magic trick, ask yourself what misdirection have I incorporated to improve the effect of my performance. Gradually you will find yourself becoming a master of misdirection yourself.

Slydini’s Cigarette Tricks & Coins Through The Table

Slydini’s Cigarette Tricks & Coins Through The Table

by | Jan 28, 2009 | Slydini

In the 2 videos posted in this article, Slydini performed a total of 3 magic tricks. The precious thing in this video is Dick Cavett’s introduction to Tony Slydini and his ingenuity in performing magic.

The introduction is a little long and Slydini only appears at 1:42. So if you are impatient, you may want to forward the video to 1:42.

Modification Of The Paper Balls In The Hat Trick

The first magic trick that lasted until 4:30, is some sort of a modification of the “Paper Balls in the Hat” trick using cigarettes. Notice the hand movement and body gesture are somewhat similar to those when he performed the “Paper Balls in the Hat” trick.

The difference here is that the paper balls are replaced by cigarettes and there is no hat or box. What you see here are cigarettes appearing and disappearing from one hand to another. Apply all the principles that I have discussed in my earlier articles “Tony Slydini – The Master of Misdirection” and “Slydini’s Helicopter Card”. Try to figure out for yourself and do it as an exercise. Just like back in school, the actual learning takes place only when we do our homework.

Slydini’s “Coins Through The Table Magic” Trick

The second magic trick from 4:50 to 6:30 presented to a lady was the same magic trick Tony Slydini performed to Dick Cavett in the earlier posting “Tony Slydini – The Master of Misdirection”.

The third magic trick from 0:08 of the second video (Part 2) to the end of the same video at 2:31 was the “Coins Through The Table” magic trick using 7 coins.

At the end of the trick you will see Tony Slydini put his right hand holding the 4 coins below the table while he put his left hand holding the 3 coins on top of the table. Tony Slydini slammed his left hand on the table and the 3 coins ‘penetrated’ the table and dropped into his right hand that was under the table. Slydini opened his left hand and there was no coin in his right hand or on the table because the 3 coins had supposedly penetrated through the table. As he brought forth his right hand from under the table, there were 7 coins in his right hand.

For the rest of the video, Tony Slydini performed variations of the same trick using different number of coins, but the same principle of the 7-coin trick applies.

The “Coin Through The Table” magic trick using 7 coins could have been done with any number of coins, say only 6 coins. However, by having 4 coins in one hand and 3 coins in another hand creates a stronger misdirection that no coin have been passed from one hand to the other while he showed the 3 coins in the left hand the first time (7:54) and 4 coins in the right hand the second time (8:08).

Coins Through The Table Explained

I will make the explanation of this magic trick here short.

The first time he revealed his left hand completely opened with 3 coins still in the left hand (7:54) was genuine. That was meant to convince the audience so as to make them let down their guard. The second time when he ‘dropped’ the 4 coins from the right hand (8:08) involved a sleight of hands.

Notice that he did not turn his right hand faced up like he did previously with his left hand. 3 coins were clipped with his thumb in his right hand while the one and only unique coin (the English penny among the 7 coins) was dropped onto the table from his right hand. The other 3 coins that appeared on the table were dropped (slid through the bottom) from the left hand. The one coin from the right hand and 3 coins from the left hand totaled up to 4 coins on the table.

Upon seeing 4 coins on the table, our minds deceive us that ALL the 4 coins are from the right hand. Right from beginning of the magic trick, Slydini had emphasized to the audience to watch the English penny (that was meant to fool them). He was setting up a mental trap for his audience. So when Slydini picked up the 4 coins from the table with his right hand (palm faced down hiding the 3 coins clipped in the right hand), he then have all the 7 coins in his right hand.

Conclusion

As a concluding statement, I would like to refer you to the movie “Swordfish” . John Travolta played the role of a ruthless terrorist when in actual fact he was a special government agent. He had fooled the police and the FBI agents time and time again, and in his final act, he faked his own death. Somewhere in the middle of the movie when he was driving in his car, he said something like this (pardon me because I can’t remember the exact words):

“I love Houdini. He could make an elephant disappear from the stage. The keyword is – MISDIRECTION. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.”

Types Of Magic

Types Of Magic

by | Oct 27, 2008 | Learning Magic

In this blog, I intend to share what I have learned about magic. The types of magic, where to learn magic, the process of learning magic and how to perform magic.

If you intend to learn magic, you will first have to choose what kind of magic do you want to learn and perform. Weird as it may sound, there are people who only intend to learn but not perform them.

These are merely curiosity seekers who are merely interested in the know-hows, or perhaps worse, people who seek to expose tricks where professional magicians spend their time and money to learn, and perform to earn their living.

mysterious woman practicing magic using candlelight

On the other hand, it could be hobbyists who love magic but are too busy to put in the necessary time to master the tricks well enough in order to perform them. Enough said! As an introduction to those who are new to magic, magics are categorised into the following:

  1. Stage magic
  2. Close-up magic
  3. Parlour magic
  4. Street magic
  5. Illusions

Stage Magic

little rabbit in a magician hat

Stage magic are magics performed on a stage to a big audience easily from a number of 50 to hundreds. We are largely familiar with such magic when we first watched magic shows broadcasted on television. Such acts rely heavily on props and more often than not, require a stage assistant. Some common magic props are the magic wand, hats, doves and rings. Hypnotism followed by levitation and sawing of a lady assistant are common stage magic we have witnessed regularly since childhood.

Close-Up Magic

Close-up magic are performed to a very small number of audience most suitably on a one-to-one basis. Unlike stage magic where the magician is kept at a distance high up on a stage, far away from the audience, there is a lot of interaction between the magician and the audience in a close-up magic.

A close-up magician is usually engaged by organizers of dinner-and-dance or a cocktail party to entertain the guests. The magician would have to walk around and mingle with the guests, strike up conversation with them and entertain them with magic tricks. This is the kind of magic that non-professional or hobbyists are interested in learning after all they are not professionals given a stage to perform their magic.

man showing tricks with cards

Being a hobbyist myself, we are not seeking to perform magic for a living except to entertain ourselves and our friends. However I would not deny that at a certain point in time, a hobbyist may have refined his/her skills well enough to perform them in public. One such type of close-up magic is card magic as playing cards are easily accessible and affordable too.

Having said so, this does not exclude the very fact that card magic is a type of magic that can also be performed on stage. Conventional stage magicians usually performed a few standard routines of card magic because the effects of these card magic routines are more suitable for audience sitting afar to view them and they do not require personal interactions.

Parlour Magic

Parlor magic is quite similar to close-up magic except that it is meant for a slightly bigger crowd of 10 to 20 audience.

a pair of hands showing tricks with cards

The magic tricks employed could be those used for close-up magic as well. The difference depends very much on how the magician manage his/her audience. Parlor magic is suitable for small parties such as children’s birthday parties. It is a mixture and also somewhat a magic performance between close-up magic and stage magic. The audience size is relatively smaller so it allows interaction with the audience occasionally like close-up magic does.

The magician also has a small and perhaps even elevated stage for him to stand upon for the audience to look upon.

Street Magic

Street magic as it is called are magic tricks performed to strangers on the street. In performing street magic, you may approach just one stranger one-to-one or perhaps a group of people. In the process, you may even attract a big crowd. The magic tricks employed are usually that of close-up magic. In the event that you manage to attract a big crowd, make sure that you are not performing tricks where the execution of your sleight of hands are proficient enough where it cannot be seen from all angles.

young man gazing at the glowing crystal ball

Illusions

magic hands fingers wooden squares with letters

Illusions are magic tricks usually involving some disappearing act followed by some reappearance somewhere else. As the name implied, an illusion act is merely an … illusion. Famous acts such as “The Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty” and “Crossing of the Great Wall of China” by David Copperfield are examples of illusions. However, the employment of camera tricks in an illusion is frowned upon by professional magicians.

Illusions are magic tricks usually involving some disappearing act followed by some reappearance somewhere else. As the name implied, an illusion act is merely an … illusion. Famous acts such as “The Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty” and “Crossing of the Great Wall of China” by David Copperfield are examples of illusions. However, the employment of camera tricks in an illusion is frowned upon by professional magicians.

The famous escape artiste, Harry Houdini, is an illusionist. He made an elephant disappeared from a stage and he escaped from many endangered situations. Such performances are examples of illusions.