In theatrical illusion, misdirection is a method of deceit where the performer attracts attention of the audience to a certain object to divert attention from the other. The ability to control attention from the audience is the main goal of any performances, and the most important requirement of all magic acts. If the magic is of the “pocket trick” variety or a large stage production, misdirection is the central element. The term refers to either the result (the observer’s focus on the unimportant object) or the sleight-of-hand or patter (the magician’s speech) that causes it.
It’s hard to pinpoint who coined the term, but an early reference to misdirection appears in the writing of a renowned illusionist and writer, Nevil Maskelyne. it is a method of distracting the viewer’s senses to hide from being aware of certain information in which confidentiality is essential. Around the same time, magician and artist Tarbell noted, Nearly all the art of illusion relies on the art of misdirection.
Some magicians who have researched and refined techniques of misdirection are Malini, David Blaine, Juan Tamariz, Slydini, Tommy Wonder along with Dai Vernon.
Henry Hay describes the central act of conjuring as a manipulating interest.
Magicians divert attention of the audience in two basic ways. One causes the audience to turn their attention away for a short time, so that they aren’t aware of a trick or movement. The other approach re-frames the perception of the audience, lulling the audience into believing that something else has much to do with the success of the trick when it really does not have any bearing on the result in any way. Fitzkee explains that the true skill of the magician is the ability of his performance in changing the minds of the viewers. Additionally, sometimes a prop like the magic wand can aid in the misdirection.
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Lacking misdirection, even most adept sleight-ofhand or mechanical prop is unlikely to make an impression of true magic. In truth, misdirection is the heart of compelling magic.
Misdirection uses the limits of the human mind to create a false picture and memory. The mind of a typical person in the audience can only concentrate on one thing at the time. The magician utilizes this to influence the viewers’ thoughts or perceptions of sensory input which leads them to incorrect conclusion.
A few magicians have debated over the usage of the term, “misdirection,” causing a great deal of discussion about what it is and how it functions.
The distinguished magician Jon Finch
made a distinction in misdirection from direction. One is a negative word, while the other is a positive. Ultimately, he equates the two as one thing. If a performer, through some means, has directed the thoughts of the audience to the conclusion that he’s done something he hasn’t done, he has wrongly guided them into that belief; hence, misdirection.
Tommy Wonder has pointed that it’s more efficient, from a magician’s point of view, to concentrate on the positive aim of directing the attention of the audience. He writes that misdirection implies wrong direction. It implies that attention is diverted away towards something. By constantly using this term, it eventually becomes so embedded in our minds that we begin to think that misdirection is directing attention away from rather than towards something.
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Slydini explained that if the magician believes that, the public will believe in it, and the magic they can’t observe. The trick is to accept what the magician says and then follow the magician. resource on misdirection