A Experiment In Deception

AsherF · Mar 31, 2012

I assure you this isn't for publicity to my youtube channel. I don't care to have subscribers or likes. I'm doing this simply as an experiment that came into my head on a recent weekend retreat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzpzcw8UCpg

Josh Burch · Mar 31, 2012

Interesting I don't mind the idea, but it dragged on a bit. I think it would be better with patter.

AsherF · Mar 31, 2012

It felt necessary to throw in as much shuffling as possible to over prove fairness. I could've gone longer cause I love the music... but the music is 6 minutes long and that would have probably been over kill. What sort of patter would you have liked to have heard? I ask, because I still don't feel as though it is necessary under this context.

Josh Burch · Mar 31, 2012

I totally understand about the music

I like the effect but I'll explain what I meant concerning the shuffles.

I guess if I had to make a graph of effective shuffling it might go like this.

Too little- The spectator is left to believe the cards are stacked

A bit too little- Perhaps he's doing something to set up the trick

Just right- The cards are shuffled just enough to convince that the cards are mixed

A bit too much- It is clear that cards are shuffled let's get on with the trick

Too much- It is clear that shuffling is not part of the trick so let's look for something else that is suspicious

I hope that makes sense. I felt like the effect was performed well and it is deceptive but in this instance I felt like the shuffling took away from the effect. I hope I'm clear as far as that goes.

Randy · Mar 31, 2012

Ok that was boring and really there are way better ways to prove that the deck is shuffled. 1. A simple false over hand shuffle and false cut would do just fine.

Hell, watch Bill Malone's version. He doesn't shuffle the deck for 3 min straight. I kept sitting here like [video=youtube;dEtm_Q2LK9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtm_Q2LK9g[/video].

Another thing you need to realize is that most people's attention span starts to wane right around 30 to 40 seconds. So spending nearly 3 min shuffling is way too long and will cause people to no longer care about the effect anymore.

WitchDocIsIn · Mar 31, 2012

Agreed with the length and pace. Also, it seemed like there was at least one bit that was edited, somewhat near the beginning. The music is nice, but just watching hands (that frequently go nearly out of frame) fiddle with cards for over three and a half minutes is boring. I'll be honest, I only stuck it out to the end to see if I could catch any more glitchy bits that looked like edits.

What Goatears was saying is right. Too much shuffling becomes counter productive. Not only does it lead people to just assume something else is going on, but if they get bored they won't bother finishing the video. One or two 'solid' shuffles should do it. Maybe three or four, if you've already shown that you have prowess with cards. Like Ricky Jay's gambling demonstration in Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants, "Watch as I do what should be good solid riffle shuffles.."

I don't think a script is necessary, unless you want to shuffle for three minutes and twenty seconds. I don't know what you should say, it's your job to make me want to watch to the end of the video. Make it interesting.

Out of curiosity, what is the experiment? What are you trying to figure out?

JNGmagic · Apr 1, 2012

not bad

if your performing to real people, just do riffle, overhand, and cuts