Why David Blaine's Magic Feels So Alive

Let's cut to the chase. David Blaine is the best in the world at making his magic feel completely improvised and unrehearsed. That engaging sense of danger and unease in not knowing what will happen next has captivated audiences and celebrity spectators.

You've seen it. You're aware of it. But what makes Blaine so good at it? First, look at this infamous clip of Blaine performing a card in orange for Harrison Ford. It's the viral clip which ends with Ford telling Blaine to "Get the f*ck out of my house." It's a stunning performance.

As you watch it, be mindful of how improvised the routine feels and how Blaine creates this fantastic sense of freedom with the belief that he doesn't know where the trick will go next. He's not pretending he doesn't know how it works or is not responsible for the magic. What he's doing is making it feel like he's genuinely freestyling and making things up as he goes along.

We can all imagine that Blaine did not know he would be performing a card-to-orange when he entered Ford's house that day. The opportunist within him and his team makes these moments with celebrities feel rare and valuable.

If this was the case, and Blaine decided to perform the trick at the last minute when he saw Ford's fruit bowls in his kitchen, then it's likely responsible for a big chunk of why the routine feels so engaging and "alive."

But even so, Blaine must know how the trick is going to end when he begins. It's going to end with the card inside a piece of fruit. And yet, he seems oblivious to this at the start of the trick. Sure, he's in the same room as the fruit, but he hasn't drawn attention to it in any way until the end.

Even when Blaine asks Ford to pick up a piece of fruit, we still don't know what will happen next. Yes, he's made the card vanish, but he hasn't said he will make it appear inside the fruit. He never says this.

This scripting tool is called future pacing. It's something I'll spend more time writing about in the future. The technique is mainly employed by copywriters who encourage the reader to imagine themselves already having your product or using your service.

In magic, future pacing is employed when you're putting the idea of the ending of a trick into the audience's minds before you get there. Blaine doesn't say the card will end up in the orange, but due to the order of events, we can see Ford's energy changing when he realises what might happen next.

This technique makes us more invested in the routine; we want to see the ending to know if we're right about what will happen. And when it does happen, it's a satisfying feeling.

So, what about a trick that Blaine performs all the time? Not an opportunistic fruit bowl trick. Well, you'll need to watch one of his compilation tricks in his specials. This is when Blaine performs a trick he's comfortable with to multiple celebrities, and then they splice them together for television. The clever thing about this editing technique is that it secretly hides jump cuts. Blaine's editor can cut around parts of the performance they want to hide, yet the whole thing feels fair because they're cutting to another performance of the same trick.

Blaine is performing the same smash-and-stab trick in almost identical fashion for three different groups of spectators. And yet, when you watch it, it doesn't feel boring or overperformed. Each performance feels like the first time Blaine has ever performed the trick.

One thing I find fascinating about watching Blaine with a deck of cards in his hands is that he's almost always fidgeting with it. If any other magician did this while performing, I would find it excruciating, yet Blaine's managed to make it into this sort of weird tool of his own. His fidgeting creates unease and the sense that he's making it up as he goes along.

It takes me back to the kid in school who hadn't prepared his presentation and fidgets with his pen as he stands to give it to the class. The kid isn't nervous, but his brain is engaged, and the fidgeting creates a sense of improvisation.

Let's look at three things Blaine does to make his magic feel underrehearsed and more engaging. These are all things you can do too in your magic. Because the thing is, you can always use acting skills to make magic feel improvised, but employing these techniques means you won't even need to act.

Focus on beats, not scripting.

You'll notice that Blaine performs the trick in a nearly identical manner. But listen closely, and you'll hear that his scripting changes slightly each time. Even on a micro scale, in one clip, he says "this one," and in another clip, he says "that one."

It sounds mad to point this (or that) out, but having worked with big-name magicians, I can tell you it is impressive. After performing the same trick even ten or twenty times, it's almost impossible for magicians not to start honing in their script and feeling more rehearsed.

What Blaine does is focus on the beats he has to hit with his performance. His timing and order of events remain the same. He knows which moments are important to empathise and what needs to be said. But he's not writing scripts that he'll plan to say word for word. He's likely building the routine on its feet and not on the page. In fact, it's unlikely Blaine has ever written down a script but instead stood up and walked through the routine and it's beats with his team.

Make big and small changes.

As a teen, I watched Channel 4, and they had three sex therapists talking on one of the shows. Someone had asked for advice on ensuring sex didn't get boring in marriage. The therapist said, "Every time you have sex, change one thing about it." And they explained that it could be as simple as the location, what you're wearing, or even which way you face on the bed. She said you don't have to change everything to make something feel totally new.

I know that's a weird reference point, but it's true of magic, too. Blaine uses cups in one clip, and he uses paper bags in another. The locations are different, the size of the groups is different, the number of cups is different, and where Blaine stands is different. In one of the clips, Blaine walks off alone when they shuffle up the cups, but in another, he takes one of the spectators with him.

These are purposeful actions, and by forcing himself to make these small or significant changes in each performance, he's forcing himself to be engaged, responsive and active within the routine.

You can think of these big and small changes as a slap in the face that force you not to become complacent in your magic. Try standing in a different place for your card routine, use a different deck, and involve two spectators instead of one. Force yourself to adjust to a small or big change.

React to your spectators

Watch Blaine closely; you'll see he's always watching his spectators closely. He's the best magician in the world at reacting to his spectators. He's mindful and aware of them at all times.

One of the biggest red flags that a trick is overperformed and boring is when the magician is not paying attention to the spectators. When a trick feels like it would look the same if the spectators weren't even there, sometimes you'll see a clip of a wedding magician performing a card trick and think that trick would look and sound the same if they were practising in the mirror.

Slow down, look at your spectators, watch their reactions, and be responsive to their movements. When you freeze the frame in any of the smash-and-stab performance videos, Blaine almost always looks at the spectators with his head up. It allows him to bounce that energy back, connect with them and give genuine interactions.

When Cranson asks, "How much is riding on this?" Blaine is already looking into Cranston's eyes. He pauses, watching Cranston closely, and then responds, "Everything." Most magicians would be uncomfortable at the pause in their rehearsed performance; they'd want the trick to move along like they're used to. They only want the spectators to speak when prompted, and the magicians know roughly what they'll say.

But not Blaine. He's attentive and present, and mindful of his spectators. You need to do that too in your performances. They're the core element that will make your magic feel different with each performance because every spectator is totally unique in who they are, and there's a new one for each performance.