This TV Show Uses Illusion Methods, and It's Amazing! Couples Therapy
Magicians should take note of how the Couples Therapy producers used magic illusion methods to hide cameras within the set.
One of the most exciting things about being a professional magic writer is seeing magic methods in everyday scenarios. One of the places you see them used most is on television and in movies. Is there any wonder why so many directors like JJ Abrams happen to be hobbyist magicians?
There are so many ways that magic methods can be used in marketing, product design, theatre and live music. And every time I see a method in use outside of the magic community, I leap up in the air and want to tell everyone immediately. How cool is that! I think to myself, and then I tell anyone who will listen.
I'm based in Porto for the month. The goal is to take it much more steadily than I have been recently and to finally catch up on writing my novel. So, the other night, I pulled out my iPad and opened a streaming platform. I started scrolling for a show to watch when something caught my eye, a show called "Couple's Therapy."
It didn't garner my attention because of its title or theme. I can't imagine watching couples have therapy is particularly entertaining. No, I tapped on the thumbnail almost immediately because I thought to myself, oh wow, that set design would perfectly hide a specific illusion method.
How funny, I thought, I should screenshot this so the next time I work on a similar illusion. At this point, I assumed the perfect set design was purely coincidental. And then I realised – oh my god – it IS the illusion method; they've built the illusion into the set!
And then I spotted the second half of the method they were using and all of the magic convincers, and I leapt up into the air.
This TV show uses a classic illusion method, and it's amazing.
I did some research and found out exactly why the producers of the show decided to use the illusion, how they built it, and what they found worked best. My favourite part of all this is when executive producer and director Josh Kriegman says, “It’s an old-fashioned trick”. It might be old-fashioned, but it's executed brilliantly, with a ton of thought-through magic convincers. We'll delve into the illusion and the key takeaways for magicians. But first, what's the method, and why are they using it...
