Do they let us get away with more than we think?

No way...

What makes you think that?

Why would they want to tell a performer that, yes we can see the break in your cards or I think you were just peeking at the torn pieces? Is it because, some spectators are sometimes good hearted or sometimes they just want you to go away...

Hmmm...

The very first thing wrong with your statement, in my opinion ofcourse, is dividing humans into us and them. Most humans have same IQ , if not more than the performer.

- Harish Always a believer in the school of commonsense Jose

Harish I agree with you.
I have always considered my audeances to be well read and intelligent and treat them acordingly.

If you catch the vibe that they are just letting something slide I would say you need to rework the presentation.

J ack

H.O.A-X

There is that famous Annemann quote -- "Audiences are far from being as dumb as some performers think they are."

(I may be off by a word to two, but that's basically it.)

Good advice to bear in mind!

Be well, all,

Rory

Yep...don't take them for granted.

Mark.

Oh wow, some of the published effects I have read and seen on dvd or at a dealers stand TOTALLY underestimate audience intelligence.
It is also true that most people, when seeing a performance by a magician/mindreader who is underestimating their intelligence, will not say anything to the performer, but they will tell all their friends that the person was terrible and they will expose what they noticed.
This is why a centre-tear is not a technique worth learning, as it assumes the paricipant is an idiot. Everyone with half a brain assumes the billet is read while it is being torn, other wise why tear it?

So yes, many performers DO underestimate the intelligence of their audiences.

When I was a teenager, two girls at a restaurant pulled a 1A trick on me and it blew my mind. When I learned how it was done, I thought it was ingenious. And I never forgot the feeling I had when I saw it performed with no idea how it was done.

Later, while watching a mentalist show, he did a similar effect and I instantly recognized what he was doing. I’m not the kind of person who would give such a thing away so I just watched and admired his presentation. I found myself absorbed in watching just to see how he had adapted it for himself. I learned a great deal about how to make an effect fit your own personality and I learned a great new force.

I would never do anything to ruin someone else’s show but I didn’t find knowing how it was done to detract at all from the performance. Where it lessened the effect, it made up for it with an opportunity to study someone else’s work.

The way I see it, the only real problem is when someone wants to be a jerk and ruin your show.


Holly

This is what I thought, but then how come Mr. Osterlind gets the reactions he does? (see mind mysteries volume 1)

Presentation is the key which is blended into creating your "climate of trust"/alliance building from the get go - you have to respect everyone and treat them as intelligent or even the best effects will be analyzed (wrongly or rightly)... in a good atmosphere - people want to have fun and will have an increased suspension of disbelief as well as wanting to "play" that the effects go over much better...

Its really as much about emotional connection as it is intellectual connection. Its "wise" connection!

If you think the centre tear is see through then your an idiot.

I agree about the centre tear tho I'll be slated for it.I first learned the ct 25yrs ago as a teenager and it didn't feel right then the only one worth learning imho is the Punx/Mier version from 13 steps.You can come out with any blarney you like in an audiences eyes you are still writing on a piece of paper and then tearing it up.Why ?

Are our audiences cleverer than we think?

Sometimes YES!

About a center tear. For me this is very easy thing. If I don´t like some routine or technique, I don´t use it. If you think about Richard Osterlind who´s using center tear all the time, I think he´s using it because it works for him so good. Richard was here in Finland a few years ago and did center tear many times and got very good reactions. I don´t believe that finnish people are so dull that they´re clapping their hands together just because everyone else does. No, they do that because Richard´s routine with a center tear works so well. It´s not just that you know what is written on that piece of paper. It´s also that how much you know about that person and finally you also know his/her name.

Pete

A word about Mr. Osterlind’s PCT:

When I first saw it on a DVD, I knew he was going to do a CT. I was watching very closely and couldn’t see the p**k until I went back to watch it.

On his new DVD series, No Camera Tricks, there’s a sequence where at a restaurant he does the PCT and his hands are completely burning. I mean, there’s a guy staring right at his hands the whole time. Richard’s p**k is lightning fast. It’s not just his technique, it’s his super fast p**k, too. Even knowing what he’s doing, it’s mind blowing. I just can’t imagine someone who doesn’t understand how it works being able to figure out how he gets the information.


Holly

One reason I never pursued Mentalism is because of some of the methods and the amount of presentation involved to convince. It's just not in me.

I do think that some folks will know what you're doing and "let you get away with" it without saying anything to you. That's not to say that they don't mention it to others.

Some of the simplest methods can fly by while others won't.

To me, the biggest danger in mentalism is not audiences figuring out the gaff - instead I worry about spectators creating methods in their own imagination that don't contradict what I've shown them.

No matter how implausible, far-fetched, or impractical their solution, once they arrive at it, they will have 'solved' the mystery and tell their friends and/or disengage from the performance.

The art is not coming up with complex, labyrinthian methods but rather pre-empting your audience's thought process with sincere, believable presentations as you perform bold, direct, and clean deceptions. Like the Center Tear.

It all depends on the audience members. If they want to find a rationale, they will, true or not.

Several years a go, a friend of mine competed in the New England Close-up Competition. He did not finish well although his performance was flawless. Several of the judges later told him that the simplicity of his act is what cost him points. The coin-work he did, using gimmicked coins was well within the reach of many magicians. The thing was, he did not use gimmicked coins. Everything he did was done with normal coins and sleight of hands. In Bill's case, he made the routine look so flawless that the audience (magicians) made an assumption on how it was done, and wrongly so.

It is the job of the performer to interest the audience in the presentation so that the thought of "How did he do that" does not occur during the performance. Otherwise, he is just presenting puzzles.

Tony

Yeah, what Tony said.

Sorry Malchat, I was typing when you posted, had I seen yours (which makes the points much better than mine) I would not have posted.

Tony

It is human nature to want to find an explanation - it is a reflex - that is why many people build into the presentation all sorts of subtle to not subtle things that seem to negate many possible explanations- the key is selling the experience of bewilderment as something to savour versus something to totally fear...

I wrote an essay on this very topic earlier based on what occured last night at an event I was working. http://psychiclife.blogspot.com/