Dynamo

Bus Levitation Trick

Revealed

One of Dynamo's best known public stunts is his bus levitation trick, in which he appears to be flying through London next to a double-decker bus, only mildly holding onto the bus with one of his hands. Hundreds of accidental spectators were shocked to suddenly catch a glimpse of a man hovering alongside the bus, cruising the city like the whole thing was nothing new to him at all.

Here is the video:

Explanation:

So, how did Dynamo manage to pull off this amazing feat? The solution is quite simple and pretty obvious once you really think about it – he used a fake arm. Notice how his right arm doesn’t really move or bend even slightly. That’s because it isn’t really his arm, but rather a firm metal rod attached to the bus, and disguised as an arm. His real arm is concealed under his clothes, squeezed tightly against his body. He wears a harness which is connected to the metal rod, and that is how he stays in the air. His legs and his left hand are of course free to move around, making the illusion more convincing.

The bus Dynamo is attached to is of course not a random bus he found in the middle of London. The bus driver knows what is going on. Dynamo didn’t just float up there, he was carefully attached to the bus, and only then the ride through London began. Same is true for the ending scene – he doesn’t just let go of the bus and levitate gently to the ground. It’s just a neat camera trick.

Other tricks by Dynamo

Street Magic XL Trick

Effect: A magician walks toward a person on the street and asks if he could demonstrate a quick magic trick. He tries doing the magic trick but then ........his neck starts to hurt really bad. He grabs his neck and starts to sneeze...... . He then sneezes hard and his head jumps down to the middle of his body. While one hand is holding his head, the other holds on to his jacket. The magician then pulls his head back to the normal position above his shoulders. The magician then calmly walks away.

Preparation: Get a black shirt, lay it out on a surface and carefully cut it with scissors so that it has a V shape cut down to the middle of the chest area. Then you will need a jacket and another black shirt but don't cut the second shirt ! You will also need a long metal coat hanger. ( See photos at bottom of this page )

Get Ready : Put on the first ( the uncut one) shirt on..Then put the cut shirt on, on top of the uncut one. Next, on goes the jacket. Now get the coat hanger and lay it out flat so that it looks like a long rod. ( Make sure that the hanger reaches from shoulder to shoulder ). Grab the rod shaped coat hanger and and put it between the cut and uncut shirt, so that it looks like you have big tough shoulders.

Performance : Outside in an area with a potential audience around, approach someone and ask them if you can do a simple magic trick. While you are trying to do the trick, you suddenly get a neck ache you then reach back with your left hand and grab a hold of your jacket collar (and the rod shaped coat hanger ).Then pretend to sneeze ! harder and harder ! on about the fourth sneeze, you pull your jacket up by pulling on the coat hanger rod and push your head down through the V shape in the prepared cut shirt. You then pull your head back up with your right hand. Remember to keep hold of your lowered head with your right hand.

1) Cut V shape along white dotted area..	2) Squeeze coat hanger into rod shape.
3) Insert coat hanger under cut shirt.	4) Pull coat hanger to give impression that head has lowered.

Practice this street magic trick in front of a mirror to get it right and also try performing the trick at a slight angle to the spectator and not directly face to face

Ace Shake Trick

This trick was performed in David Blaines second special where he made the spectator sign a card, the card was put back in the pack and was made to appear from between two aces.    

The only real skills necessary are good verbal communications and misdirection. Richard Marcus a renowned card cheat always emphasized the importance of misdirection. It was an invaluable tool as all of his casino moves have their foundation in this technique.                                                                                                    

This page will show you how to do a great version of David Blaines card trick.

Secret: Give the spectator, the two red aces and tell them to hold them.

Fan out the deck and tell the spectator to touch a card.

Square the deck up leaving their card stuck out to be signed and shown.

Now you secretly put the card into " palm position " when you square up the deck so you can easily palm the card when you want to.

It must stick out of the lower corner of the pack meeting your inner thumb .

Let them sign the card and then hand them the deck, secretly palming their card.

After they are convinced that the card is well lost in the deck, ask for the two aces and sandwich the face down palmed card between the aces, showing only the aces face up.

Tell them to hold the deck openly and start to shake the aces  directly over the pack, tell them to watch their card rise from the deck into the two aces, shake a little more loosely and watch as to their amazement, their signed card appears from between the aces .

Jumbo Linking Paper Clips Trick

Jumbo Linking Paper Clips Trick

Challenge: Bet your friends that you can link two paperclips together without touching them. This sounds impossible but its easy when you know how. Find out how this easy magic trick is done by watching the solution on the magic instruction video on this page.

The trick can be performed almost anywhere as all you need to perform it are a money bill and two paperclips.

 

Amazing Vulcan Mind Trick

A famous twentieth-century magic inventor and author once said that if you know 100 ways to find a card and only one way to reveal it, your audience will think you only know one card trick. But if you only know one way to find a card and 100 ways to reveal it, it looks as if you know 100 card tricks.

Magic Category: Card Magic Trick with Stunning Revelation

Equipment Needed: Deck of cards.

Method: The Vulcan Mind Trick is another great revelation or way of revealing the identity of a chosen card. An example of an easy card prediction trick are shown below and how to perform this "mind meld" type finish are also explained. Take a full deck of cards and shuffle them.  Fan the cards on the table face down and ask an audience member to select a card from the fan.

Tell them to remember what card it is while you gather up the remaining cards and shuffle them some more. Now, with the deck of cards face down, cut the cards or lift half of the deck so that your audience member can place their card face down in the center of the deck. 

You will need to remember which card is on the bottom of the cut because that will be the card directly on top of the chosen card.  

Shuffle the cards some more, taking care to stay away from the center cut, or you can ask your participant to cut the cards a couple of times – or both a cut and a shuffle, it’s up to you how to present the trick.   

To conclude this easy magic card reveal trick, simply fan the cards face up on the table and find the card in the deck that is directly after the one that you memorized from the bottom of the cut, and that will be the card.  You can also flip the cards one by one until you come to it, or put your own swing on the trick to make it more fun and believable.

Card Revelation: This is the way that a magician announces, reveals or displays the chosen cards identity. The workings of a trick can be really easy but the real impact comes from the finale of the trick, the performance that you use to build an atmosphere of mystery and excitement.

To perform the Vulcan Mind Trick finish, practice your acting skills and continue as follows :- Place your fingertips on the volunteer’s temples and act as if you can catch a glimpse of their card by reading their thoughts. Tell them that human thoughts resonate at certain frequencies and vibrations and that they can be picked up by your fingertips with a little practice.

Reveal their card after a little struggle and battling with yourself between the choice of a few cards before narrowing the choice down to your audiences chosen card to make the finish of the card reveal, more interesting.

As mentioned before, the Vulcan mind meld trick is just one of almost unlimited possible themes that you could use for the card reveal at the end of the trick. Use your imagination and I am sure you can think of some entertaining routines.

Torn And Restored Illusion

Here is a simple magic trick where you can perform a torn and restored illusion with a paper straw wrapper. The illusion is easy to do but looks very convincing to your audience.

Method : You require a few straws that are covered with a paper wrapper. These are normally quite readily available in fast food restaurants. A little practice to learn some easy sleight of hand moves and you should be ready to try out this cool trick.

The video below, shows the performance of the paper wrapper being torn and restored. the explanation of the trick then follows for you to learn.

  

As with all good magic tricks, a little entertaining chat can really help to make the performance more entertaining both for your audience and for you the magician.

Money Making Magic Trick

Amazing free card trick where some magic happens with some blank pieces of paper.

Effect : Here is an excellent routine where some pieces of plain paper are magically transformed into dollar bills right in front of your eyes. With a little easy preparation, you can soon be performing this amazing trick,

The video below, first shows you the trick being performed, then reveals the clever secret. Look, listen, learn and most of all, enjoy watching this magic trick.

  

This trick requires a little time to prepare and even more time to practice, but I think that you will agree that the time invested is worthwhile to obtain a smooth effect.