Welcome to One Ahead

Dual reality is a magic principle in which one person/group experiences a different reality to another, usually more important, person/group. More often than not, it’s simply two groups of people experiencing different tricks, or sometimes the same overall trick with different details. It’s something that’s utilised in everything from card magic to stage and TV magic. [Full Member-Only Article]

Pre-show is a magic technique which relies on part of the routine taking place before the trick for the larger audience begins. The main audience, be that one in a theatre or perhaps watching at home has no idea that something took place earlier, usually involving the hero spectator that's influencing the routine. Let's look at three ways you can incorporate the infamous pre-show technique into your existing magic tricks to make them more fooling. [Full Member-Only Article]

I do these consultancy calls over video with members. I enjoy them. It’s usually only TV magicians who work with consultants, so it’s a new arena. The other day I suggested using a ‘dumb force’ for something. The magician had never heard the term ‘dumb force’ before. It got me thinking. How many magic principles are well-known by consultants and TV magicians but unknown by most of the community? [Full Member-Only Article]

A narrowing force (sometimes referred to as a funnel force) is a type of force in which the spectator does not get forced a specific outcome but instead toward a much smaller range of choices. It’s a way of guiding a spectator toward your intended goal. By using a narrowing force, you are able to blend your methods. Here are three basic examples of narrowing forces. [Full Member-Only Article]

What’s amazing about this is most magicians already apply this thinking idea to restorations. Working hard to make a signed playing card appear ripped when it isn’t, for example.But now that you’re changing how you think about changes, you can push that thinking to an extreme…. Let’s examine a concept and principle used by successful consultants called the Never Change principle. [Full Member-Only Article]

You may have heard of the idea of cancelling. And you’ve probably read about tricks with methods that cancel each other. But how do you add cancelling to tricks you already do? How do you make it a regular part of your magic? The best way to make a magic trick more powerful, I believe, is to combine two or more methods. Doing so is the the basis of most cancelling I use. [Full Member-Only Article]

When should you use a pseudo-method? Well, spoiler alert: The end of the post will explain why I think you should always use a pseudo-method. But let’s start with the six reasons why magicians historically choose to use a pseudo-method. Then, we'll break down the three types of pseudo-methods successful magicians use all the time. [Full Member-Only Article]

Hobbyists need to acknowledge that a retention vanish has a significant flaw. Unless you've perfected the move, it isn't all that fooling to the critical audience. It certainly isn't that fooling in the context of a casual performance amongst friends. Whenever I've made small objects vanish using sleights like this, my friends turn into New York City cops and stop and frisk me. And the times when they exercised self-restraint, they definitely still wanted to check my hands, sleeves and pockets. [Full Member-Only Article]

Dual forces combine dual reality with forces. So, let's break those down. A force is when what appears to be a free choice for the spectator is not at all. You might force the spectator to choose a specific playing card in a deck of cards. Dual-reality is a principle in magic in which two sets of spectators experience two different tricks. Usually, the larger set of spectators experiences a better version of the trick. [Full Member-Only Article]

When I started writing a weekly magic newsletter, a few people asked whether I'd eventually run out of things to write about. The answer was and always will be, nope. In the ten years I've spent working on magic TV shows, I've absorbed a lifetime of magic knowledge. I can talk and not stop talking about magic. Putpocketing is totally new to One Ahead. I've never mentioned it in the three years we've been doing this every week! [Full Member-Only Article]