Mind control? Magic?
Where can we learn that?

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=cXscmPfgJWc

Tks.

I am also interested in this one. It could be done purely using psychological forcing methods but something tells me it's different...

1:35-1:40...

Mmm...

Pauldela

...let me do the next one...

It looks like he is basically just using suggestion via words and body language.

He tells her to "hold up any number of fingers. That is basic psychology right there. If you have 10 items (or fingers) and ask someone to choose a bunch of or some of them, then they will most likely pick a number in the middle such as 4,5,6. People tend to stay away from end numbers when you give them a choice of 1-10. So 1,2,3 usually eliminated and 10,9,8 usually eliminated.

However, if you give somone no time to think, or make them pick their first choose, then it is usually 7 or 3.

Also, while Derren is telling her to pick any number of fingers, you can see him constantly flashing six fingers, albeit very quickly.

Really noticeable at around 0.40 when he says " you might think someone is behind me telling me how many your holding up." As he says this, you can see his left hand is closed giving a thumbs up while his right hand has all five fingers extended, which equals 6.

Also, another basic psychology thing is that people will often pick the same object or number twice in an effort to trick you. Ever play rock paper scissors? Derren uses this idea quite often and it is even on the Devils Picture book DVD; the idea that people will pick the same thing twice. Throw in some suggestion like Derren does via body language and it is pretty surefire.

And yeah for the last part he says "let me do the next one, ill try to do one behind my back." And he also asks the other spectators if they "can see it." Again, it is singular, implying that he is holding up One finger.

What if he gets it wrong how do you cover up?

The magic of having a tv show. Nothing ever appears to ever go wrong.

Derren uses alot of pre-show work too, so who knows how long he talked to the girl before he tried this on her. He could have done a number of things before they started filming, which would have also greatly increased the chance of her choosing the correct number of fingers.

The thing I enjoy about Derren Brown is that they do frequently show him screwing up. With Mentalism though, it's not a bad idea to screw up, because it's natural.

Yes, I remember hearing abanchek speak a bit on miscalls and their importance to mentalism.

Yeah I noticed that but I was reffering too, well... Gloves, have a look.

Pauldela

WOW! Now that's a magic trick I'D LOVE to be able to do. So quick LOL!

I have another clip of him doing this finger thing. I watched this video with interest to see if the same numbers came up but they didn't and in the other one the person also does not do the same number twice. Clever Derren.

The most impressive thing about this one is when he says "Either you aren't holding up any or i don't know".

He did this when challenged on an interview with the host asking him to guess which hand the coin was in, once again Derren said he either didn't know or the guy wasn't holding a coin. The host wasn't holding one.
I find that more impressive than getting the fingers OR the coin hand right !!!

Derren Brown doesn't do much preshow work. He uses suggestion in order to accomplish what he does. Also, he notices body language, which can help as well.

Is that an educated guess or a fact?

Fact, according to Luke Jermay. Or at least it was true while he was working on the show.