Sleight of Hand Expert Reviews Pickpocketing and Psychological Magic In Movies & TV | Vanity Fair
the first time I stole someone’s watch off without them knowing I was about 14 years old the last time I did it was I don’t know I would say 20 minutes ago fumi when I was talking to you that’s yours my name is Ben seidman I’m a sleight of hand expert I use psychological magic and pickpocketing to create amazing moments for people today we’re going to be breaking down sleight of hand and pickpocketing in film and TV Ocean’s eight it’s all the queen and then he’ll dream but don’t sleep don’t sleep because she might disappeared
wait right she came back though she like she likes you if you have someone running a con game like the three card Monty they would never do a magic trick to start off she makes that card disappear using a back Palm vanish I don’t mind tipping that because they actually show how it works in the clip they kind of reveal it but you’d never actually do this in real life if you’re running a con game you wouldn’t reveal the fact that you can do sleight of hand it’s a little like standing in line at the
bank and just loudly going so I’ve been watching YouTube videos on how to crack safes am I next and we’re following the queen
the table right there oh in my hand you think it’s right here yeah that’s why you never want to play this game for money people always think that the three card Monty is based entirely on sleight of hand that’s a common misconception it’s actually based more on psychological pressures there’s conditioning every time the operator that’s the person who’s tossing the game throws the cards for the first bunch of times you see it happen they’re actually throwing the game straight the money card does land where you think it is so they’re peaking interest but they’re working
with a whole team of people in almost every scenario so the mark That’s the victim who’s about to get taken advantage of will notice the action come over see other people winning that’s where fomo kicks in and then uh there’s a little bit of dun and Krueger because as you watch this game played you start to think oh I understand how this works I can beat it and then right when you place a big bet that’s when the sleight of hand takes place even if you guessed the correct one someone’s going to put more money
on a different one you’d never ever want to play this game on the street you literally cannot win there’s a hard feeling just watch at the at the exit in her hand it’s a little fast for real pickpocketing steel if you’re running a three-card Monty scam you’re also probably not pickpocketing because all of the focus is on you so even though Aquafina is hilarious and does a great job I don’t feel like the direction of the scene really matches a real life con my cousin Vinnie he’s showing they got straight sides he’ll show you how
they got the right shape he showed him tea in a very special way so that they appear to have everything a brick should have I love the fact that they did this without any camera Cuts you see one card and then he’s talking his whole case is an illusion a magic trick it has to be an illusion because you’re innocent and then it changes to another card we don’t cut away the camera stays on him the entire time Joe Pesci just nails that that’s about as good a demonstration of sleight of hand that you’re going
to see from a non-magician the fact that the narrative Works in tandem with the sleight of hand also really helps hide the method because your brain is attracted to what he’s saying and I just think it’s fantastic there’s literally thousands of ways to change one card into another there are volumes of magic literature written about this specific Topic in fact there’s probably more books on Magic and sleight of hand than there are any other performance art in the world a simple card change that you can learn involves taking the bottom card the king of hearts
and then changing it to a different card you’re essentially doing what’s called a second deal my buddy sale piacente covered this in his VF review on card cheating the top card stays where it is like this so I’m dealing that second card but I’m doing that same thing from the bottom if you want to learn how to do this get a deck of cards hold it in your hand in mechanic script this is how dealers would deal a game of cards and what you do is you come in you show this card you come in
and you push that bottom card out just a little bit and you take that second card and set it on the table and that’s called the Glide once again you take that that bottom card apparently but you’re taking the second one this requires practice most card changes are designed for a real life environment for a live performance if you’re sitting in front of me I could set down a card the three of clubs have this in my hand talk to you distract you put my hand on your shoulder take your attention off of it I
could literally do this switch the cards in a live environment you’re not gonna see it on camera of course that looks terrible we see the entire picture and so we see that happen when you’re designing magic for TV you want everything to be burnable burnable means the audience can continue to watch it with unblinking eyes even rewind the footage and still not understand how the deception Works keep your eye on the four of clubs if I’m designing a card change for TV I’m going to want to add layers of deception where I can show you
that the four of clubs is actually not there or on top of the deck what I wouldn’t do is show you where it ended up but that’s uh that’s a little secret we can keep that between us right the recruit most important thing you need to know is that you don’t know what you see what you hear nothing Is What It Seems Al Pacino you’re the greatest of all time but I feel like you were LED astray that really should look much better we literally see him rip up a newspaper and then we cut away
and then we cut back and he opens up a different newspaper I don’t see the trick here I think it’s safe to say that nobody on set knew how to do this magic trick you have to at least see the pieces of the newspaper in the same shot before the restoration happens the restoration is the moment that something broken is put back together otherwise it’s it’s just not going to be impressive at all the take woke up to me and steal my wallet uh I mean it’s ridiculous I wouldn’t have a guy come up to
me in the street and ask me to steal his wallet it doesn’t work like that just do it well I’d I’d walk up to the guy avoid eye contact step to the side look him in the eye and then I’d be gone still there but the money’s gone see I took the wall the first time then put it back the second only without the money wow that still happens quickly is it possible yes is it plausible especially doing it twice in a row under repeat scrutiny that’s a little dicey although I’m not gonna say it
can’t be done it would probably take a little more direction of attention than he did if the wallet’s laying in bed they call it it means that the wallet’s tilted to the side or it’s it’s laying down that wallet would have had to be in the perfect position there was very little Fanning where he touches his body he just went right in and right out you didn’t see him kick the Poke at all hitting the person’s jacket to flip the wallet back up which allows you to do the dip and steal the wallet more effectively
we are here with Eric hey buddy hi how’s it going good how are you I’m really really great do you know what’s gonna happen here not exactly no you know you’re here to see something yeah like a magic trick right right perfect okay so let me ask you I might borrow a few things from you do you have your wallet on you yes you do okay do you keep your wallet like in your pants pocket or where no it’s in my jacket pocket in your jacket okay amazing okay and it’s on it’s on like this
side over here yeah yeah beautiful sometimes people carry it on like the outside but you actually you actually have it right here yeah perfect and then over here in that pocket what’s that I saw something yes uh my phone oh that’s your phone okay that makes sense a lot of people if you’re right you’re right-handed yes yes a lot of people with the right hand will keep it like down here but over there is your wallet correct yes beautiful would you be amazed tell me honestly would you be amazed Eric if I could make your
wallet and your phone switch places yeah what if I did it standing over here would that be amazing of course yeah search places yes okay you didn’t feel me take those no oh beautiful okay I did see do you have air pods in your left pocket yes okay you can always see the shape air pods are interesting actually uh because even if someone’s wearing skinny jeans you literally just ride them up and they pop out into your hand in a crowded area you can bump up against someone and just swipe those out very very easily
just because of the shape they naturally move through the pocket very easily Focus all right you ready yep there is so much goodness In that clip that’s a big Testament to Apollo Robbins and Ava doe who are the Consultants typically a wire mob is going to all work together to steal one specific thing at a time wiremap is a term for packaging team typically with the wire mob you have the steer the steer Scouts the mark and finds what they’re looking for then there’s the stick that person holds the mark in position they might ask
for directions or pretend to spill something on them then you have the shade this person is going to block the eye line of the actual steel from happening then the mechanic the dip or the wire that’s the person who we think of as the pickpocket they’re actually doing the steel then they’re going to toss whatever they steal off to the Duke man the Duke man goes south immediately they’re out of there and that way if authorities catch anyone in the crew if they don’t have any stolen goods on them so in this case you have
so many people working together you probably wouldn’t see that out in the street people doing all of these steals at the same time but you would see a crew working together to accomplish one steal at a time and I love how realistic these steals are the only one that I would question is the Rolex steel at the end it is possible to steal a Rolex I have taken many however doing it in that context is a little difficult a Rolex band has to be expanded and then once it’s opened it’s pulled over the person’s wrist
like this you see Margot Robbie pull it off of his arm watches that detach and then can just be taken off like this are easier to steal I’m wondering out of curiosity I think you’re wearing a watch is that correct yes okay beautiful would you hold out your hands so uh of course you’re a righty that makes sense so Eric I’m going to give you fifty dollars just to hold on to it you hold that your hand a little bit yeah just hold it like this I’m going to just crumple that up what I’d love
you to do hold on to that money but hold on very tightly okay so you can actually feel it in your hand I feel it yeah you don’t have to squeeze it so that it hurts it could actually hold on to it and then hold out your other hand like this okay foreign is imagine that the bill is not here but over here in this hand you know that can’t happen and while you’re paying attention to the bill that was in your hand yes a little gift for you oh my God okay so grab your
sunglasses but okay thank you Uncharted you know what it’s for the best I’ve been trying to quit I pickpocket working solo is often referred to as a Canon when you have a cannon with that little amount of shade and it’s that quick I don’t know it’s a little too much I think the idea there is good but I think that would be realistically a nearly impossible steal to do in public he would have had to study that particular bracelet I mean he does block the eye line with the lighter which I think is smart I
think they knew what they were doing but she would have seen that happen and it happens way too fast if he really wanted to steal that bracelet if he was working with a team someone pretended to spill something on her there’s a little bit of pandemonium someone’s like oh my God starts patting her with napkins someone moves her out of the way because someone’s like moving through if there was a lot more action and a lot more attention splitting where she’s going from one place to another I would believe that that steal would be possible
Modern Family oh comes the great snooze Deanie keep your eye on the cup with the potato under that one right is the potato here is the potato here oh this tricks are real lemon I mean that’s just so much fun that’s fantastic look at the moment of sleight of hand happens off camera they use a camera cut who cares they’re duplicating kind of a combination of two things one is the cups and balls which is one of the oldest magic tricks that we know of and also the three shell game very similar to three card
Monte it’s a game that you can’t win it uses three often times bottle caps and a little marble goes underneath one of the bottle caps and you have to keep track of it I’ll even show you that it stays in the middle it stays in the middle the entire time just remember that the marble stays in the middle the entire time you think it’s under one do you think it’s under two or do you think it’s under three and most people would guess number three once again not a game you should play for money according
to Sam sharp in neo-magic which was published in 1931 there’s five different types of effects there’s a vanish a vanish something disappears there’s a production the production something appears a transposition two things change places a transformation one thing turns into another one and then natural laws defied and this can be a levitation something floats a penetration one solid object passes through another what’s great about the cups and balls is it covers every single one of those effects so there’s a lot of bang for the buck when you’re talking about the cups and balls you’re talking
about loading a term for getting one item into another item without anyone seeing or hearing it happen that would be a load a vanish obviously putting something into your hand and having it disappear there’s plenty of vanishes in the context of this routine good night everyone when Phil vanishes at the end it’s a take on like a Trope of magic tricks just disappearing in a puff of smoke this is a very funny and great execution for a fun Magic Moment on camera even if it’s not actually being performed the prestige maybe one day I’ll uh
don’t mind pay your attention ask are you watching closely might be a magic word or two and then I’ll be gone how do you get so famous then eh that’s a great use of a red herring it’s a great way of taking the person’s expectations and using them against them as a weapon an interesting point Christian Bale’s character is using sloppiness to cover his skill in other words if I show you a card the Ace of Spades and I cut it back into the deck I might not show off in this way anytime I see
a magician showing off doing really fancy Cuts I feel like they’re revealing the fact that they are skilled as sleight of hand performers if you Shuffle the cards how they would be shuffled in an actual environment like if you were in a casino people would shuffle them on the table if you handle the cards in the way that are right for the situation then when that card is controlled it makes a little bit more sense also the sloppiness there’s a great idea where the cards can be shuffled on the table like this mixed around like
that and uh the performer appears to not have any skills with the cards shuffling like this makes uh makes the handling look a little more professional when you Shuffle and you use a more sloppy technique it helps hide the skill and that that way when cards are controlled it seems a little more impossible but truth be told I’m not actually focusing on any of those Aces or this one right here I’ve been controlling the entire deck hear that laughter that’s why we do what we do there’s a great piece of sleight of hand Theory which
is known as if you can’t change the move change the moment Christian Bale knows that he’s going to try to put that ankle cuff on the guard and that’s a difficult thing to do he’s under heat right the attention is on him but he’s going to distract by changing the moment like a pickpocketing move he’s moving the guard’s attention to something else and that draws the guard’s Focus that way his expectations are confirmed he relaxes when his guard goes down that’s when Christian Bale is going to attack so that’s how he changed the moment and
used it to his Advantage I’ll also say Christian Bale did learn how to Palm a ball it’s not the most advanced thing to do in Magic but it certainly does require practice and I think he did a great job executing it now now you see me too okay I do like how they’re using real methods for concealing cards you can keep the card in Palm and move it around and show both of your hands empty there’s certainly a lot of Jumping the Shark here I think but there’s also some realism you can certainly hide cards
around your hands you can throw them people who get really good at card throwing cans scale them very very far and very hard Alexander Herman Howard Thurston those are two great historical magicians both used card throwing on stage as stunts also the late great Ricky J wrote a great book called cards as weapons and he was famous for throwing cards on stage and doing amazing stunts with them there are different grips used when throwing cards the Hermann grip which is holding the card at one of the corners like this with the thumb on top then
the wrist is snapped and the card flies off using the index finger as a pivot point I prefer the Thurston grip where the card is clipped like this Ricky J had his own grip but when you’re throwing cards you hold on you snap the wrist and I just made our cameraman duck sorry to scare you you all right Mission Impossible what do you mean this that’s not the least what’s the matter you you’ve never seen this trick it’s possible that CG was used it looked that great I mean Tom Cruise is so committed to his
roles that it’s possible that he did it for real I think though this is a combination of sleight of hand and also a gapis A gapis or a gimmick is some sort of trick apparatus that contributes to the effect one thing I love is that Tom Cruise closes a door when he flicks the CD and we hear the sound closing doors this is a magic and sight of hand term it means canceling out possible methods in the audience’s mind in other words if I have three coins and I want to make these coins disappear the
first thing I might do is show you that they are solid silver coins by showing you both sides next I would probably explain that my sleeves are rolled up I want to point that out so you actually see that my sleeves are rolled up I’m going to keep all of the coins in view in frame and I’m going to move slowly and with all of those things in mind if you watch the three coins your brain actually starts to trick itself into thinking that way you’re watching is real magic because if enough doors are closed
that is the only answer which is why I show you the front and back of my hands watch that second coin right here that one is gone and while you’re busy thinking about that second coin the third one has already left and that’s how you close doors the best type of magic uses combinations of methods layered on top of each other makes it much more difficult to deconstruct a trick and figure it out action replication with method alteration is also another one I might take a coin show it to you make that coin disappear like
this I might repeat that action over and over and over again I know that I’m going to do a sleight of hand move but by putting the coin from one hand to another I’m conditioning you to believe that the coin is where I want you to think it is and I do that by replicating the same action but varying what I’m doing jackass forever today I’m going to wow you with my Supreme skills of crested vegetation I know for a fact that there’s a magic consultant who worked on that film and that’s because I am
that magic consultant every now and then I got a call from Knoxville saying Hey I want to pull flowers out of my pants or something like that and then and then I help them out I designed that hat for them this is not sleight of hand this is a use of a prop it’s apparatus I literally designed the hat so it would do the work for him not all of the milk stayed in the Hat look there’s only so much I could do when that bow had him it was a lot of force but it
was a fun magic trick to include and anytime he calls me I’m happy to help work on the weirdest project imaginable Ant-Man and the WASP hey you trying to entertain a 10 year old when you can’t leave the house you know the lengths that I’ve gone to close-up Magic I learned that Vanishing a card and then bringing it back this is a classic piece of sleight of hand this is published in a lot of Beginner Books on sleight of hand I don’t use it because a lot of people already know how it’s done but there
are great card manipulators who take this and use completely different methods to achieve the same effect but by showing their hands completely empty the entire time and it adds those layers of deception and makes it really really amazing how’d you do it Scott do what the card trick seriously I think that most people who would learn this would be able to do it with just a few months practice probably can you knock three years later Randall Park’s character learns this he performs it James Wu FBI but I think they both did a relatively good job
Cruella stealing stuff really thank you really really good this is me what’s that expression from the movie Jerry Maguire you had me at Chihuahua with an eye patch it’s a fun scene I mean uh the pickpock thing he probably wouldn’t actually make eye contact as he was stealing because he wouldn’t want to be identified later he’s acting as the entire team himself the wallet’s still on the outer jacket pocket I do buy that I think Emma Stone did nail that but it’s just a fun scene overall I mean come on that dog who doesn’t want
that dog cool buddy don’t eat those oh look the sleight of hand here you can barely call it sleight of hand it’s pretty simple but he did learn it and execute it well I mean there was technically a vanish and a reproduction Will Ferrell nailed it it’s very funny I was just asked by our director fumi to spoil this and tell everyone how it works he pretended to take one and then he did it and then he showed his hand empty and then he had one in his hand and he pretended to take it out
of his hair we good never tell the secret thanks so much for watching I hope if you see a magician performing you can appreciate the deception that they’re trying to put into the world and I hope that if you see someone who’s trying to con you out of money playing three card Monty trying to pick your pockets I hope you’re a little more cautious when that’s happening
