Blink and you’ll miss it. No, seriously…
While most magicians rely on camerawork and paid stooges to pull off their insanely elaborate mindf*cks, celebrity conjurer Dynamo has a slightly different tactic up his sleeve – he just waits for the audience to blink.
By inducing a crowd into a relaxed state, and by lulling them into a false sense of security, the best magicians can predict when audience members will momentarily shut their eyes.
Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, a former professional magician and member of the Inner Magic Circle who has analysed many of Dynamo’s tricks, told the Mirror:
“Magicians know when audiences are allowing their attention to dip and that’s when they do secret things that are likely to go unnoticed. What’s surprising, and what even magicians didn’t know, is that the majority of the audience are blinking at those precise moments.”
Wiseman goes on to explain that whereas an audience may think each trick is a carefully-crafted and individual piece, in reality the tricks in an act will “flow together” allowing the magician to set up future illusions while we’re distracted by current ones.
So now you know. And knowing is half the battle…
