User:Exiled Encyclopedist/List of magic tricks

According to famed magician and atheist Teller, "Neuroscientists are novices at deception. Magicians have done controlled testing in human perception for thousands of years. You will be fooled by a trick if it involves more time, money and practice than you (or any other sane onlooker) would be willing to invest." According to David Blaine, there is a principle in theatrical magic that "the audience will often remember or describe an exaggerated effect."

Balducci levitation
The magician positions himself at an angle to his audience a little distance away, in such a way that the audience can only see the rearward portion of one foot and most of the other foot—concealing the toe end of the 'far' (upstage) foot. The audience group must be small enough that they can be grouped close together. The magician, with the rearward portion of his feet held together, lifts the 'near' foot off the ground, standing on only the front part of his 'far' foot (the one which is partially concealed) while lifting the rearward part of the 'far' foot and all of the 'near' foot and keeping his ankles together. The audience sees only one foot and the heel of the other (the 'far' foot), which appear to rise off the floor. The hidden part of the 'far' (upstage) foot supports the weight of the magician as he appears to levitate one or two inches.

Simply put: the magician stands on the front of one foot, while raising the one foot and the visible part of his other foot, blocking the view of the front of the supporting foot with the other foot and rear part of the supporting foot.

The reverse Balducci illusion is similar to the Balducci illusion, but the magician faces towards the audience at a 90-degree angle rather than facing away. The magician slowly stands on the heel of his 'far' foot as he lifts his 'near' foot and the front of the 'far' foot. To improve the appearance of the effect, the magician will try to maintain the near foot parallel to the ground.

Another variation that is sometimes shown on TV shows is done by performing a normal 'Balducci', filming the audience reaction, then later returning and performing the illusion with the aid of wires to get more height or to get a shot from the front or underneath. These shots will be edited into the footage of the original performance, thus allowing the levitation effect to be exaggerated, while still using genuine onlookers in the shot.

These psychological subtleties increase the probability that spectators will believe the illusion:
 * The spectators are informed ahead of time that the performer intends to levitate.
 * The performer pretends to put a good deal of care in choosing a place to perform the levitation.
 * The performer acts as if performing the levitation is difficult and physically straining.
 * The performer emphasizes the fact that there are no gimmicks (wires, etc.) used, and encourages that the area and the performers clothing be examined.
 * The performer provides a reason for the audience's position: a warning he may fall and require them to catch him.

These physical subtleties make the levitation seem more amazing:
 * The spectators are misdirected from the performer's method because they are concentrating on the movement of the feet and the space that appears between the feet and the ground.
 * When "landing," the performer will make a point of hitting the ground hard with the feet, and bending the knees to convince the spectators that the performer's feet were higher in the air than they actually were.

The effects of these subtleties can be seen in David Blaine's television performances of this illusion. For example, one spectator is asked how high Blaine levitated. She gestures a height that is obviously a few inches higher than the illusion is capable of producing, demonstrating that subtleties can often cause a spectator's interpretation of an effect to be better than the effect itself.

Rational wiki's many articles on magicians
Though lacking any census figure, there may be more atheist magicians than their are scientists by percentage of the profession, of course that figure would not include priests passing off stage magic as miracles.


 * Harry Houdini
 * James Randi
 * Derren Brown
 * Penn and Teller
 * Uri Geller