In theatrical magic, misdirection is a method of deceit that draws audience attention to one item to distract them from the other. Managing audience attention is the aim of all theatre, and is the primary requirement of all magic acts. Whether the magic is of a "pocket trick" variety or an extensive stage production that relies on misdirection, it is the primary element. The term refers to either the effect (the observer's focus on the unimportant object) or the sleight-of-hands and patter (the magician's speech) which creates the illusion.
It is difficult to say who was the first person to coin the term, but an early reference to misdirection can be found in the writing of a renowned illusionist and writer, Nevil Maskelyne: Admittedly, it consists of misleading the spectator's senses, to block out from being aware of certain information that require secrecy. The same time, the magician and artist Harlan Tarbell noted, Nearly everything about sleight-of-hand depends on this art of misdirection.
Many magicians who have studied and refined techniques of misdirection include Jon Finch, Max Malini, Tommy Wonder, Derren Brown, Tamariz, Slydini as well as Dai Vernon.
Henry Hay describes the central act of conjuring as a manipulating interest.
Magicians misdirect audience attention by using two fundamental ways. One leads the audience to turn their attention away for a short time, so that they don't detect some act or gesture. Another approach alters the viewers' perceptions, leading the audience into believing that an extraneous factor can be a factor in the success of the trick even though it isn't a factor in the result in any way. Dariel Fitzkee notes that The most effective magic is the ability he exhibits in influencing the minds of the viewers. Sometimes, a prop such as magic wands aids in the misdirection.
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Misdirection is the foundation of most successful illusions. Without it, even the a mechanical prop or the most skilled sleight-of-hand is not likely to manufacture the illusion of true magic.
Misdirection makes use of the limitations of human brains to create a false picture and memory. The brain of a typical audience member can only concentrate on only one thing at a given time. The magician utilizes this technique to alter the viewers' thoughts or perceptions of sensory input, leading them to false conclusions.
Many magicians have debated the use of the term, misdirection, causing a great deal of discussion about what it is and how it works.
The superb illusionist Jon Finch
made a distinction between direction and misdirection. One is a negative word, and the other positive. In the end, he sees both as one thing. If a performer, by some method, has influenced the thoughts of his audience to the conclusion that he did something he hasn't done, he's wrongly guided them into that belief; hence, misdirection.
Tommy Wonder has pointed that it's more effective, from the magician's viewpoint in focusing on the positive aim of directing the audience's attention. He writes that misdirection implies the wrong direction. It suggests that attention is diverted away from something. By constantly using this term the idea eventually becomes it is ingrained into our brains that we may begin to see misdirection as taking the attention away from instead of towards something.
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Slydini said that if the magician believes it, the audience will believe in it, and magicians are something that they cannot perceive. Misdirection is true when they accept what the magician says and then follow the magician. resource
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