Scene-Stealer
by Steve Murray

About Steve Murray, from the guy that knows him best, Steve Murray: "Steve Murray works hard as a heart doctor in North East England. He wishes he could keep himself in the manner to which he has become accustomed by performing magic & mentalism, but his patients love him too much, albeit through a process of psychology, misdirection, and showmanship. Occasionally, some them even get better. He is a member of the Middlesbrough Circle of Magicians whom he describes as the down-right friendliest bunch of magi anyone could wish to meet and dedicates this piece to them."

Effect: A spectator randomly selects a movie title from 10. He is asked to merely
think of a memorable scene in the movie. Nothing is written down. Magic-boy picks up a pad and draws the very scene the spectator is thinking of, and may also reveal the title or even let another spectator guess the title from the drawing (depending on art skills, etc!) May be done entirely impromptu with 10 business cards and a pen.

Thinking & Method: I wanted to do a simple yet direct bit of work which went beyond just divining the movie title, so I've gone for 10 movies with classic scenes,
added just a smidgen of risk and devised a stack which should not be at all
obvious.

The ten films are as follows, along with the 'key scenes' most often chosen (NB some of these are riskier than others, but naming the film is you're final 'out' if needed):

• Jaws - shark swimming & dragging something through water.
• The Omen - usually David Warner's decapitation with sheet glass, but
  also often the nanny hanging herself.
• Carrie - usually bucket of blood covering Carrie, but also may be the 'hand
  through grave' end sequence.
• King Kong - big monkey on top of sky-scraper.
• The Shining - Jack Nicholson leering through a door, axe in hand.
• The Wicker Man (1960s version please!) - Edward Woodward singing 'The Lord is my shepherd' in a burning wicker man.
• Alien - usually the 'chest bursting' scene.
• Friday the 13th - usually the boy-from-the-lake end dream sequence.
• The Exorcist - Lynda Blair twisting around her head, and puking pea-soup on
  a priest.
• Reservoir Dogs - that torture/ear scene!

Taking the first letter gives the acrostic "JOCK'S WAFER" (don't ask me why, I just won't forget it!). Set up 10 cards with the movie titles on in that order will allow you to glimpse the bottom card and know which title is on top (e.g. 'Carrie' on bottom, then 'King kong' on top).

Performance: Ask to perform an experiment with a movie-buff. The experiment is based on memories and images of fear, distress and suffering. Consider patter about the psychological effects of disturbing imagery, etc, if you wish.

Show the movie cards, or better still write them out in front of the spectator, and make it look entirely impromptu. Draw attention that all the films have disturbing, distressing or highly charged images within them; ask the spectator to randomly select a film and then try and imagine a graphic & vivid image associated with that film.

Now you can either Sloppy-shuffle the cards, or just get the spectator to make multiple cuts. Once the top card has been selected move the others cards "out of the way" and get the glimpse of the bottom card. The trick, as they say, is done, and now it's all performance. Simply draw some 'impressions' on another card or drawing pad.

Play up the imagining process - colours, musical score if appropriate, emotions felt by the characters and also the viewer.

It's probably worth doing 2 things here: first draw some general impressions about the story, but also have a stab at a specific scene. For example, if the Omen is selected (actually a tricky one with several memorable set-pieces) draw 666, a child, then a decapitation with plate glass, etc. I would not suggest writing the title itself! It may be possible to construct a kind of visual cue which another spectator can interpret; e.g. look puzzled, say you're not getting it and show your
'impressions' to someone else, and let them go "Oh I know! It's 'The Omen'
isn't it?"

Additional notes: The drawing and imagery side of the routine is to get away from the cards - in fact de-emphasise them as much as possible. For God's sake don't try a force/shuffle the cards well/etc! If the scene you have drawn is not the one the spectator is thinking of, look puzzled, and say "Now don't tell me what the movie is, but give some other images or themes." When you show your drawing/impressions you will inevitably have scored some hits; this is your out. Again just blurting out
"It's 'The Omen' isn't it?" won't do!

I have to confess that when I debuted this at our local Circle meeting, I reversed the order of the stack, and completely screwed it up; I thinks that the both the strength & weakness of using an unusual stack!

For owners of 'Outlaw Effects' Kioku (and if you don't have it, basically get it!!) you could link 15 movies instead of the 'life-memories' and present it in that format (I won't say any more as it's a marketed effect).

Credits: There's nothing new here, but the most recent effects to inspire this were
Nardi & Spelman's "Hollywood or bust" and "Feel", and to a certain extent
Outlaw's "Kioku".

Finally I'd like to dedicate these ramblings to the guys at MagiCurios.com who, despite being craftsman for the Devil Himself, are an extremely friendly & enthusiastic team - cheers Simon!

Steve Murray