Derren Brown

Chinafoot

The episode of trick or treat with the pianist was fantastic. She really believed she couldn't play the piano. Oh and the one with the really bad driver that thinks she died in a car crash.

I could watch him all day. I don't care if it's illusion or psychology, he has a wonderful presentation style.

Bob the Builder

Has anyone read his book "tricks of the mind"? well worth 8euro. goes thru memory effects as well.

marvellous book, gives great insight into his effects. have a few of his EBooks, most of which i paid for, but a few which I got off friends.. about 100euro i out into it.

he's very down to earth in real life, interviews and his writings... admits he isn't pure leather, but rather a very well polished shoe... I admire him very much...

whilst looking at what he does, always remember there's a method in the background behind wat he does...

robbingood

did u see the one where he collected money at the dogs wit d losing docket.why does he bother working he shud just do that full time

Dun laoire

r3nu4l wrote: »

Here's a response to that video above, explaining how he 'tricks' her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMaZzL_a90

Very interesting but while some people would fall for it, I'm not sure many would!

I didnt bother watching how he tricked her because i'm 100% sure it was set up. The tote is computerised. It would have said LOSS on his ticket when it was scanned. You cant trick the machine i'm afraid. Nonsense Derren nonsense and as for that whole pyrimid horse racing muck that somehow got onto t.v??? What a complete and utter joke.

pH

Dun laoire wrote: »

I didnt bother watching how he tricked her because i'm 100% sure it was set up. The tote is computerised. It would have said LOSS on his ticket when it was scanned. You cant trick the machine i'm afraid. Nonsense Derren nonsense and as for that whole pyrimid horse racing muck that somehow got onto t.v??? What a complete and utter joke.

It is 100% not a setup, though that guy on youtube who thinks that Derren can do really do Jedi mind tricks should probably get out more.

It's a *magic trick* this one uses sleight of hand, who'd have though that a magician would do something like that!

What I fail to understand is why Derren brown always invokes this response. When we see a magician cut a woman in half we know he didn't really cut the woman in half even if we don't know how he achieved the illusion. We know we saw an illusion, where we appeared to see a woman chopped in half, we don't look for an explanation of the trick in what medical advances must have been needed to put her back together.

It's the same with Derren, he showed us an ILLUSION where we think we saw a teller pay out on a losing ticket. This doesn't mean that the teller DID pay out on a losing ticket (in the same way as a woman isn't really just in half), just that Derren made US think that she did.

The person being tricked in the dog track scene isn't the teller, it's us! Yes the trick would be trivial if it was a total setup or she was a stooge, but it's perfectly possible to present what we saw in that trick using just sleight of hand without needing her to be in on it or having real Jedi mind powers like mr youtube believes.

Popinjay

^^^^What he said.

???

Yeah Derren's work is 99.99% tricks, 0.01% real psychology! The Amazing Randi has actually said that he loves Derren's shows and performances but wishs he didn't promote so much pseudoscience!!!

My opinion on why people instantly accuse Derren of using stooges and don't complain when someone is sawn in half is that what Derren does scares us. Derren seems to skirt on the realms of possibility, there's always that maybe maybe what he does has some truth to it and the thought that someone could control us like that is horrifying! A lot of his effects seem to be unaccomplishable by 'normal' methods and if you have no experiencewith what he really uses you would understandebly be baffled and given his persona it is easy to thing what he either does is really or that he uses stooges. And the idea of stooges make sleeping easier!

ShooterSF

I think the point of "The system" episode was to show people's ability (albeit negative) to develop a belief system without truly questioning it and willing to do anything when put in the context of said system. Its almost like pre-hypnosis. Instead of hypnotising people to bypass their critical sensor (think thats what its called) to affect peoples beliefs to make them more open to suggestion he simply installed a belief in the system and (without any questioning) she was willing to risk a huge sum of money on his system. Rather scary actually if you watch it as a pyschological experiment rather than a magic show.

???

It was a psychological experiment. People were just dissapointed cause they expected a magic show!!!

Kooli

??? wrote: »

My opinion on why people instantly accuse Derren of using stooges and don't complain when someone is sawn in half is that what Derren does scares us. Derren seems to skirt on the realms of possibility, there's always that maybe maybe what he does has some truth to it and the thought that someone could control us like that is horrifying! A lot of his effects seem to be unaccomplishable by 'normal' methods and if you have no experiencewith what he really uses you would understandebly be baffled and given his persona it is easy to thing what he either does is really or that he uses stooges. And the idea of stooges make sleeping easier!

Nope. I think the only reason people accuse Derren of using stooges is because they believe what he says that his tricks are based on psychology and suggestion. This makes them seem amazing and unbelievable. If he just admitted they were magic tricks - plain, traditional magic tricks - then it would be like the guy sawing the woman in half - we'd just say 'oh that's cool' and not try to figure it out.

It's just magic and illusions, NO NLP or psychology, and he distracts from the very basic magic by pretending to be using the power of the mind.

zuroph

in that sense, i think derren is the closest current magician who echoes back to the classic stage shows. Back then, people may have thought magic was real. stage shows and magicians were spectacles that people were scared of and in awe of. There was a beautiful level of respect for the magician. Whereas nowadays most people know there is plain old trickery involved, Derren brings the public back to that strange feeling of doubt, they're properly tricked into the illusion.

6th

He has a show on tonight on Channel4 I think.

r3nu4l

zuroph wrote: »

in that sense, i think derren is the closest current magician who echoes back to the classic stage shows. Back then, people may have thought magic was real. stage shows and magicians were spectacles that people were scared of and in awe of. There was a beautiful level of respect for the magician. Whereas nowadays most people know there is plain old trickery involved, Derren brings the public back to that strange feeling of doubt, they're properly tricked into the illusion.

Excellent point, well made! The fact that people have posted 'plausible explanations' online is testament to this.

Mena

Sabotage wrote: »

He has a show on tonight on Channel4 I think.

I just finsished watching that, it was amazing.

MooseJam

guys, whats nlp

6th

Neuro Linguistic Programming.

zuroph

http://www.oxygen.ie/page/1529

Syke

I'm fairly sure that alot of Browns stuff is setup, not all of it mind, but some of the more complex tricks.

His psychology is slightly exaggerated but the principle is usually sound.

faceman

MooseJam wrote: »

guys, whats nlp

6th wrote: »

Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Brainwashing!

King Mob

From the other thread.

Maybe hes always been psychic himself but instead of taking the role of a psychic hes decided to turn his back the other way and take the pee outv of it. I often wondered watching him,is he just in denial or what.couldv had bad experiences or been ridiculed about it.just my thoughts.

Derren Brown: Closet Psychic?
Anyone else find this to be on the very silly side of ridiculous?

Reminds me of that bit in Life of Brian.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=krb2OdQksMc

"Only the true messiah denies his divinity."
"Well what sort of chance does that give me!?"



(Goddamnit, I love it when I get to use Monty Python to make a point.)

zuroph

derren brown is not psychic. not in any way. watched his live show the other night "something wicked comes this way". some of the very subtle touches he puts in to REALLY make it look like he's using mind stuff, his attention to detail is incredible.

King Mob

Its a mark of a really good magician when people start accusing you of using real magic I suppose.

nkay1985

King Mob wrote: »

Its a mark of a really good magician when people start accusing you of using real magic I suppose.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here.

His presentation in everything he does is very very impressive.

What a lot of people don't know about Brown is how accomplished a magician he is. Just card and coin stuff that he doesn't do anymore. Ever before he started mentalism he was a run-of-the-mill magician, but a very good one! I think someons already mentioned it but 'The Devil's Picturebook' showcases his talents. Hard to get your hands on but well worth a look if you can.

<snip>Post Edited: Please read the charter<snip>

???

Devil's Picture book's easy to get, it's on his site for sale. Just go to the magicians only area.

ShooterSF

Hey guys, seems as though there are a few magicians in here so bear with me. Im fascinated with derren brown but mainly as I've always loved to study human actions and the reasons behind them. Having just watched his theatre show "Something wicked this way comes" I was wondering if any of you more educated folk could tell me if its likely that the final trick was just subliminal or an old school sleight of hand trick? I think it would be fascinating if true, but like a lot of brown's work (and credit to him) you can never be sure, well atleast not without studying magic.
Oh and dont suppose anyone could tell me how to get into the magicians area on his site I Know I Know... but as the saying goes if you dont ask you wont get.

King Mob

Unfortunately magicians don't necessarily know how another magician does a trick especially if its a signature one like that one. And even if they did know they probably wouldn't tell non-magicians. But chances are my guess is as good as yours.

To get into the magicians section you must solve a series of three riddles encoded in the charter, each more devious than the last :pac:

Popinjay

King Mob wrote: »

To get into the magicians section you must solve a series of three riddles encoded in the charter, each more devious than the last :pac:

And perform the Rite of Ashk-Ente* backwards.

* Did I spell that right? I haven't read any of the books that mention it in a while.

6th

ShooterSF wrote: »

Oh and dont suppose anyone could tell me how to get into the magicians area on his site I Know I Know... but as the saying goes if you dont ask you wont get.

All you really need to do is be a contributor to the main forum here. Stick around for a while and drop me a PM after a bit.

ShooterSF

6th wrote: »

All you really need to do is be a contributor to the main forum here. Stick around for a while and drop me a PM after a bit.

Cool, this place is pretty cool so should be no problem Though the Rite of Ashk-Ente sounds pretty intense

Anyway I'm draggin this off-topic so for someone fascinated with derren browns style of tricks can you guys suggest anyone else to have a look at?

zuroph

my personal belief is that in the final trick, theres a bit of both in play. he says he tells her to choose page 14...but when she chooses it, she is unaware of the number of the page, just the advert he is reading out. theres several bits that are straight sleights, but his acting to make this look like a tough mentalism trick is what sells it. i particularily like where he lets her get the third number of the padlock code wrong, then corrects her.