Hey everyone, Just had a question about a particular Derren Brown Effect from the 1999 International Magic Convention. Normally I hate asking about Derren's effects simply because it makes me feel like a fan boy. Anyway, Here's a run down of the effect for those not familiar with the video I'm citing.
Through the performance portion of his lecture, Derren has been using a woman as his main volunteer (she is very suggestible). There comes a point when he has her close her eyes and picture an event she experienced. from then on, Derren asks multiple questions about the details of the event and before getting the answer, he writes his answer down and shows the audience. Every single one of Derren's "predictions" match up perfectly. I have found the YouTube link and it can be viewed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brfFCpVtvkY there. The actual effect I am referring to starts a little after 26:40.

I have heard of several effects that are similar to the one above. Paul Carnazzo's "Dreamweaver" comes to mind. My question is this: is this an effect that is based off of some sort of principle? If so, where might I find such information?

Thanks

Hey there,
The effect here is called 'Reminiscence' and was actually published in the comb-bound first edition of his book Pure Effect (not the hard back edition). There was only a very limited run of these before the actual publication where Derren removed Reminiscence along with another presentation called 'Lift' - probably thought they were a little too good to be out there. They pop up on ebay from time to time and go for hundreds of dollars as they are very rare.
I cant really name the principle at work here as that would completely expose the working of the effect. But I can say that the principle on which it is based is covered in Kenton Knepper's Wonder Words series. Yeah, its pricy but I think its worth it. Luke Jermay also uses the principle fairly extensively if you want to have a look at Coral Fang or 3510. And, though i don't have this one, I hear Patrick Redford's 'Mendacity' has a great routine with it as well as some convincers.
Hope that helps!

Read Peter Turners e-books.
He has done quite a bit of work using some of the methods you are seeing in that clip. He really pushes what can be done with this principle.