Derren Brown Trick or treat

Skipjack, Derren rarely uses assistants like the Person Switch experiment.. Actually I believe it's the only time he used anyone else, and all the rest of the things he's done the effects alone. So it would be pretty much pointless to change the disclaimer because of one effect, especually the kind that was obvious to everyone watching at home what it was all about. I don't mean to offend or anything, but you seem kinda petty about this issue.

About the padlock, yes it was a trick.. and a pretty obvious one when watching it again. But I love how he made it seem like the girl is the one who knew the combination. This is what mentalism is all about.
 
You may be right about the uniqueness of the person switch, but many other effects (including the padlock effect) would be easy using a stooge, so it's important to make the disclaimer very believable.

Okay then, DJM, which of my options (a) to (f) would you select regarding the padlock effect and why?
 
Don't want to say exactly because it could be an exposure. But he used a prop + showmanship to make it seem like something real.. why I think that? Because I watched that show.
 
Thanks for the message, but you're talking about a different effect, where he gave a locked case to an audience member, whereas I was referring to an effect where he gave just a Yale-type combination padlock to an audience member.
 
Where was that? Thought you were talking about Something Wicked This Way comes.
 
Correction - it was the effect in Something Wicked This Way Comes. Having viewed it again, I am not sure of the precise make of lock, but I've possessed a similar one which seemed usable for such an effect, rather than a prop. Thus, I think he relied entirely on showmanship/misdirection/psychology (with the emphasis on psychology, in that if you can't open the lock at first, you soon tire of trying), but used a real lock, not a prop. A prop would have had to be fairly sophisticated and would have been expensive. It is a theoretical possibility, but because it's the "obvious" method, I think it's highly likely that it wasn't the actual method. Using a real lock is much simpler, yet the method is harder to understand . . . except perhaps if you've possessed such a lock, as I have.
 
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skipjack said:
Correction - it was the effect in Something Wicked This Way Comes. Having viewed it again, I am not sure of the precise make of lock, but I've possessed a similar one which seemed usable for such an effect, rather than a prop. Thus, I think he relied entirely on showmanship/misdirection/psychology (with the emphasis on psychology, in that if you can't open the lock at first, you soon tire of trying), but used a real lock, not a prop. A prop would have had to be fairly sophisticated and would have been expensive. It is a theoretical possibility, but because it's the "obvious" method, I think it's highly likely that it wasn't the actual method. Using a real lock is much simpler, yet the method is harder to understand . . . except perhaps if you've possessed such a lock, as I have.
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Just to hammer a point home(excuse any exposure)but it was a trick lock.You can't even remember what you've seen now skipjack,changing from yale lock to something else.
Give it up you look ridiculous.
 
skipjack said:
A prop would have had to be fairly sophisticated and would have been expensive. It is a theoretical possibility, but because it's the "obvious" method, I think it's highly likely that it wasn't the actual method.
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That's where you are wrong. In magic usually the simple and obvious method is the correct one.. Once you know what's going on of course.
 
I wasn't sure of the make since the lock seemed to have a slightly longer hasp than the Yale lock I possessed and appeared slightly less shiny. In other respects, it looked the same. Bear in mind that I had my Yale lock quite some time ago, before I saw the show for the first time, and that the lock isn't shown in close-up on the show, so seeing the effect again on the internet didn't help a lot.

I agree that the correct method is usually simple and obvious. The method that will work with a real lock is simpler than using a trick lock, and more obvious once one knows exactly what these locks are like.
 
It just confirms my view that it was a real Yale lock. I can't prove that it was, but it certainly looks like one. What I know is that the effect can be done with a real Yale lock, so why would Derren have paid for a trick lock when he didn't need to? In contrast, you haven't presented any evidence for your assertion that it's a trick lock, or any justification for using the word "ridiculous".
 
What Mr. Azrael 5 means is that it doesn't really matter which kind of lock Derren was using, only that it was a trick rather than a psychological force of some kind as you considered at first.

BTW, all the things that he does on the stage show are tricks like that, nothing beyond.
 
skipjack said:
It just confirms my view that it was a real Yale lock. I can't prove that it was, but it certainly looks like one. What I know is that the effect can be done with a real Yale lock, so why would Derren have paid for a trick lock when he didn't need to? In contrast, you haven't presented any evidence for your assertion that it's a trick lock, or any justification for using the word "ridiculous".
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So you can psychologically force four numbers on someone can you? Wow you're better than any magician alive! It looks like a real Yale lock! That's the whole point skipjack! Do you expect it to look like anything else? Have a sticker on it declaring "magic prop"?
Evidence for why it's a trick lock? Because I know a hell of a lot more about magic than what you do that's why.

If he "made" the girl pick four numbers he wanted did he also make someone choose Daily Mail ,the page fourteen,and the word on it?!

Take a guess?
 
The spectator wasn't psychologically forced to pick the three numbers of the lock's combination, since that's impossible. I know an easy, simple method of accomplishing the effect using a real lock. You're disbelieving me because you don't understand how a real lock could be used, but I've possessed one and clearly you haven't. If you knew exactly what the real lock is like, you'd see how you've been fooled by Derren's presentation.
 
skipjack said:
A prop would have had to be fairly sophisticated and would have been expensive.
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Different lock, but just one example that's not very expensive:

Lock


It is a theoretical possibility, but because it's the "obvious" method, I think it's highly likely that it wasn't the actual method. Using a real lock is much simpler, yet the method is harder to understand . . . except perhaps if you've possessed such a lock, as I have.
Click to expand...

And the DB method using a "real" lock would be...?
(please PM if actual "exposure")
 
It's rather like convincing someone they can't crush a raw egg between their hands when the egg's positioned in a particular way. It's hard to believe until you've tried it for yourself. Experience of cooking eggs doesn't help.
 
JonWhite said:
Different lock, but just one example that's not very expensive . . .
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Not very expensive? The list price is $97.50, whereas the list price of the Yale lock is £11.49 (and there's currently one on eBay for £4.99 + delivery).
 
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