How Magicians Send Secret Messages

Editors in telly tend to fall into one of two categories for magic. They either adore the challenge of editing tricks—taking the time to cut around flashes and using their skills to drive the story and enhance the magic.

They feel like part of the team making the magic happen.

Or they do all of the above and brag about it—they’ll tell everyone the magician would look like a tit if it weren’t for them. I remember one such editor who told me the first time we ever met that he once “saved” a magician when he cut around a “massive error.”

The massive error was no fault of the magician and wasn’t an error. They had hidden a television screen within a speaker at the front of the stage. And it happened to be completely exposed in a wide shot from the live cut of the show.

I often think about this story when considering the types of cues to use in my work. I think the story serves as a reminder that even the most successful magicians use cues and choose their methods based upon their environments.

I also just really was not a fan of that editor.

What are secret cues?

We will define cues as any message given in secret to a performer for this post. You’ll have seen the most basic kind if you’ve ever gone to a stand-up comedy night — when the guy at the back flashes a light to tell the performer their time is up.

When you go to the Blackpool magic convention, you’ll see a talented host like John Archer fill time until a lightbulb at the front of the stage lets him know the next act is ready behind the curtain.

But these messages can be far more detailed. You’ll probably consider tech options like earpieces, thumpers and screens inside speakers. There’s only really one occasion when I would recommend these, and I’ll explain this in a bit.

Consider the environment.

These secret messages and cues are not reserved for the stage. We’ve used them for close-up, street magic and television filming. The most fooled I’ve ever been by Ollie Mealing was when Steven Bridges was using a thumper to tell him which card I had chosen. During my first week working for Dynamo, I watched him and Harry De Cruz configuring hand signals for close-up performance.

Each environment will bring with it a new set of problems and possibilities. Think long and hard about the context, who’s there, where are you and what objects surround you.

Instant, Delayed, & Pseudo-Delayed.

These are the three types of cues or secret messages I’ll teach today.

Instant: This is when an accomplice or technology must immediately relay information to the performer. An example of an instant cue might be when a spectator names their birth date aloud for the first time, and an assistant relays the day of the week, weather that day, and other celebs born on that date to the magician via an earpiece or screen.

Delayed: There can be time placed between the time the assistant sends the message and when it is received. Perhaps the spectator says their date of birth from within the audience before coming up onto the stage. When they reach the stage, the magician collects a microphone to hold for them. The microphone contains the secret information written and added by an assistant.

Pseudo-Delayed: This is when the magician has time, but the audience does not realise. Maybe the audience member wrote their date of birth on an impression pad in the audience before coming onto the stage. To the audience watching, there is no delay between when the spectator says their date of birth out loud on stage for the first time, and the magician starts revealing the cued information.

It’s worth noting that in the world of television editing, you can often use a delayed method and turn it into a pseudo-delayed method in an edit with a jump cut.

Some consultants split cues into open and closed categories. The most obvious type of open cueing is a code act, like the type Morgan and West teach. But it can be much simpler than this—and I’ll introduce some open cues in a future post.

Today we’re focussing on closed cues.

It’s all about motivation.

I remember the first time a magician taught me motivation as a child. They made a coin vanish and added the pseudo-method of a cigarette lighter. They added the lighter, so they had the incentive to go to their pocket and ditch the coin. They then had to add the pseudo-method to motivate them to use the lighter.

1. They shuttle-passed the coin.

2. Retrieved the lighter from their pocket and ditch the coin.

3. Used the light of the flame to melt the coin.

4. They opened their fist, and the coin was gone.

5. Miracle.

When arriving at a method for a secret message, consider motivation. Perhaps you need to drink some water, get a microphone for the spectator, collect a pen to write down your prediction.

Consider your motivation even if you do not need to grab an object to get your cue.

Why do you need to sit the way you need to feel your thumper?

Perhaps you need to sit in a kind of “thinking” pose.

Why do you need to look off stage at that moment to read a cue?

Maybe you place the spectator, so you look in their direction to get the cue.

Why do you need to switch pens to get the next cue?

Perhaps you want a different colour marker for the next prediction.

So that’s my advice. Start with motivation, and the rest will follow. When you have an accomplice/assistant available, you should strongly consider using this to your advantage, even as a backup.