Mentalism/Think of a card effect

Mar 19, 2011
52
0
California
I am in search of finding a book/dvd/a trick/ or whatever thing that can be a mind reading effect of "think of a card" effect.
I just hate the "pick a card" plot, and I really want to see something different. Like, a think of a card effect.

Ineski, a fine man from YouTube, is one of the greatest magicians that does it. He doesn't do the "think of a card" plot, but he knows that he is using that card. (If you know what I mean)

Here is one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0f0KTSEGT4&feature=plcp

Not trying to say how that is done, but I am trying to find that kind of trick. Any ideas?
 

Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
Expert Card Technique Dai Vernon's Psychological force pg. 271
Expert Card Technique Mental discoveries pg 324
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,186
16
42
London
derren brown does one called smoke. but it's insanely hard and relies on nothing but psychological suggestion.

Really? I think you're thinking of a different trick.

Dai Vernon's "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" is a classic in this area. Also check out the work of Dani Da Ortiz.
 
Mar 6, 2008
1,483
3
A Land Down Under
Smoke has no psychological suggestion at all, it is just Derren's take on a marketed effect.

I was actually thinking of writing up a few essays relating to thought of cards.
 

Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "think of a card" plot. Do you just mean mentalism with cards? Or do you just want the spectator never to touch the deck? I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. What's your criteria?
 
Nov 8, 2007
1,238
3
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "think of a card" plot. Do you just mean mentalism with cards? Or do you just want the spectator never to touch the deck? I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. What's your criteria?
"Think-of-a-card" usually refers to spreading the deck, or a a group of cards, and having the spectator just mentally select one.

The best version I've come across is Garrett Thomas's "Look-a-Card" from volume 3 of his "Inside the Mind" 3 DVD set. It's killer. So fair and open, and it's impromptu and can be done with a borrowed deck. I use it all the time. You spread through the whole deck--faces toward them--and ask them to look at any card and remember it. You then go through the deck and remove one card and hold it up. They name the card they thought of, you turn the card over you're holding, and that's it. Well worth learning.
 
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Dec 18, 2007
1,610
14
64
Northampton, MA - USA
The idea of someone simply thinking of a card and it being named is quite old and for this reason, there are numerous methods one can use for replicating it. To my mind, if you've actually studied the recommended texts pointed out to every novice that comes to the boards, you should already have at least two or three methods available to you; so rather than asking in the hope of receiving, it might be wiser to just do some digging and exercising that grey stuff resting between your ears when it comes to imagination and creativity. Frequently such effort will result in either developing your own method or at minimum, discovering a few of the methods others use.

I know I sound like a pompous azz for saying things that way but I hate pussy-footing around the truth; if you actually study you can find 90% of the answers to your questions before you ask them. The problem is however, magic is allusive and we get stuck in our head based on what we think we saw vs. reality behind an effect.

Given his love for it, I'm betting Derren Brown did a bit of pre-show that you never got to see or even incorporated a method that was deliberately edited out of the footage -- Derren does some questionable things at times, just so he can shine -- "Questionable" in that he's not being honest to the craft when it comes to "real time" delivery. There's an argument on this however, in that we, as viewers to his show, have just as much information as the audience who likewise is ignorant when it comes to any kind of pre-show work.

Ignoring Pre-show there are numerous billet related techniques he could have incorporated, including use of an impression pad, that were removed from the aired footage. Psychological & Ranged Force techniques alongside Progressive Anagram techniques are the other two favorites you'll find used in this sort of demonstration and that's before we get to the many forms of secret writing a learned Mentalist can execute without anyone catching on.

I've deliberately pointed you to several likely methods that were incorporated in the majority of demonstrations involving this sort of revelation, there are others; I have some very simple forces I use frequently that look totally clean and yet I can negate a full deck of cards in a matter of seconds, having the subject "freely choose" one card . . . and I emphasize, the participant as well as the audience see everything as being 100% free choice, not manipulation on my end. Yet, I can name their card or reveal it in any number of ways. I use this bit on Radio frequently.

One of the more dramatic versions of this effect is known as PREMONITION popularized by Eddie Joseph here in the States. There are at least two variations to that piece, including my own "Hermetic Truth" routine in which a merely thought of card manifests itself inside an inspected and quite empty envelop I never touch.

So stop chasing after the Numerous "How To" methods and sit down with a notebook and simple start thinking backwards; "How Would I Make This Happen Knowing What I've Already Studied?" You will find solutions with time.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,186
16
42
London
Given his love for it, I'm betting Derren Brown did a bit of pre-show that you never got to see or even incorporated a method that was deliberately edited out of the footage -- Derren does some questionable things at times, just so he can shine -- "Questionable" in that he's not being honest to the craft when it comes to "real time" delivery. There's an argument on this however, in that we, as viewers to his show, have just as much information as the audience who likewise is ignorant when it comes to any kind of pre-show work.

Smoke doesn't use any pre-show. It's on his Devil's Picturebook DVDs and it's just his "psychological" presentation of ideas from Tom Mullica and John Kennedy.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,186
16
42
London
I'm pretty sure it does. at least the first part anyway. thats why it sometimes takes a few tries.

It doesn't. Seriously. It's on his Devil's Picturebook DVD. I imagine you could create a variation which did use suggestion but the trick as described doesn't require any suggestion.
 
Mar 21, 2011
36
0
On a slightly unrelated note, before getting into magic, I remember watching a YouTube clip of Derren performing "Smoke" to Stephen Fry. It was, at the time, the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Now that I know the method behind it though, I still look back to that moment whenever I find myself falling into the trap of "thinking like a magician" - it always reminds me that laymen can have extraordinary reactions to magic that our own jaded minds fail to completely appreciate.
 
May 9, 2012
202
0
New York
It doesn't. Seriously. It's on his Devil's Picturebook DVD. I imagine you could create a variation which did use suggestion but the trick as described doesn't require any suggestion.

ok i just gave my friend who performs this a call and it turns out your right. however it is still kind of hard as it uses multiple outs and some guessing.
 
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