SO many people trying to go into mentalism are going to fail and wonder why. Spending money on a whole bunch of stuff that they will later on never use in life. Well it's because you can't perform it and don't understand it. Now obviously mentalism isn't necessarily to look like magic but to be as real and impossible but possible in your audiences head.
You need to understand that magic and mentalism are on two different levels. Not saying one is above the other but it's like playing a different game, where the actions you do and how you go about them result in much different experience for everybody. Going into this thinking that your idle patter will pass is not going to work, neither is fancy work with your hands. This is as direct as it can get, understanding that you are the reason behind it working is the first step.
Work on everything else first, your coins and cards, everyday objects, all that is just a preview, a warmup before you get to mentalism. Understanding the performance and presentation behind it and everything you need to do to make it look real is just overlooked by so many. Mentalism is a different step and will require more than just answering the question I wrote before, it will require time, effort, and maturing of age to be looked at and judged by others as "the real deal."
A few things to add, if you are getting into mentalism then review your performance. If you are the patter magician and say as you do, "I'll place your card in the middle, I'll snap my fingers, and the top card is your Blank of Blank." If you perform like this then don't get into mentalism, because you certainly aren't ready for something like mentalism. Mentalism is all about you and the spectator, not necessarily the effect itself.
Secondly, do not get into mentalism expecting to be like Derren Brown. You may believe that his effects are a whole ton of psychology but in fact he uses an incredible amount of basic effects. His performance though and his presence is just so real, which is exactly what you want. Yes he does have great skills forcing certain things on people, cold reading is fairly good. Yet what he is really known for in his shows is his basic mentalism effects.
Lastly, read praetoritevongs post Aim High, that is exactly what spectators should experience with magic and mentalism. More so mentalism since it's that sort of "effect." That is what you want you want to do e-v-e-r-y single time you perform, you want to make it an impossible situation.
You need to understand that magic and mentalism are on two different levels. Not saying one is above the other but it's like playing a different game, where the actions you do and how you go about them result in much different experience for everybody. Going into this thinking that your idle patter will pass is not going to work, neither is fancy work with your hands. This is as direct as it can get, understanding that you are the reason behind it working is the first step.
Work on everything else first, your coins and cards, everyday objects, all that is just a preview, a warmup before you get to mentalism. Understanding the performance and presentation behind it and everything you need to do to make it look real is just overlooked by so many. Mentalism is a different step and will require more than just answering the question I wrote before, it will require time, effort, and maturing of age to be looked at and judged by others as "the real deal."
A few things to add, if you are getting into mentalism then review your performance. If you are the patter magician and say as you do, "I'll place your card in the middle, I'll snap my fingers, and the top card is your Blank of Blank." If you perform like this then don't get into mentalism, because you certainly aren't ready for something like mentalism. Mentalism is all about you and the spectator, not necessarily the effect itself.
Secondly, do not get into mentalism expecting to be like Derren Brown. You may believe that his effects are a whole ton of psychology but in fact he uses an incredible amount of basic effects. His performance though and his presence is just so real, which is exactly what you want. Yes he does have great skills forcing certain things on people, cold reading is fairly good. Yet what he is really known for in his shows is his basic mentalism effects.
Lastly, read praetoritevongs post Aim High, that is exactly what spectators should experience with magic and mentalism. More so mentalism since it's that sort of "effect." That is what you want you want to do e-v-e-r-y single time you perform, you want to make it an impossible situation.