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MIRRORby

MATT MELLO

© 2009 MATT MELLO

Artwork designed by Brian RodgersMental Playground Productions

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INTRODUCTION

I first started playing around with this effect sometime in 2005, I believe. Itbegan as a very intricate routine and very slowly changed into “Mirror”.

To give you a bit of history, this effect was highly inspired from an effect Isaw Derren Brown perform on one of his “Trick of the Mind” shows. Ibelieve it was from the first episode. He says something to the likes of “10p,learn to be a mind reader”. I immediately thought this was such a brilliantand funny idea. But, I thought it would have be even better if he hadsomehow incorporated the money that he had just taken from the spectator.

My initial idea was this. He would put the bill into his pocket not reallydrawing to much attention to it. He would have the spectator think of anumber. At the end he would remove the bill that the spectator had givenhim and the first two numbers of the serial number would be the number henamed.

That effect is what you accomplish with Mirror. The way the effect soundsabove is exactly what it looks like to the spectator. They hand you a bill,they choose a number, the bill is removed, and you show the first two digitsof the serial number to be the number they just selected.

It really is a very clean effect and I hope you enjoy it.

Matt Mello

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PRESENTATION

Performer: “If I told you that I could teach you to read minds for only adollar would you take me up on the offer? Just think of all the things youcould do with this ability.”

The spectator takes you up on the offer and hands you a dollar. You slowlystart to fold it up, then place it into your pocket.

Performer: “Do you know anything at all about mind reading?”

The spectator answers that she has no clue and has never taken part in anysort of mind reading before.

Performer: “It’s a very simple concept. All you have to do is put yourselfinto the other persons position. You are basically going to look through theother persons eyes. It will almost seem like you’re looking into a mirror.You’re looking from their eyes and you’re seeing yourself. Does this makeany sense?”

The spectator will be slightly confused, but goes along with it anyways.

Performer: “Once you feel like you are genuinely in tune with the otherperson you can begin to get inside their heads. Let’s try it out. I’m justgoing to think of a two digit number and you’ll try and guess it. Once again,try to see from my perspective. Just hold both your hands out in front of you.In a moment I want you to lower any amount of fingers on your right hand.”

The performer tells the spectator to drop any amount and she drops twofingers. This leaves her with a 3 in her right hand.

Performer: “Very good. We will now do the same thing with the other hand.This time I want you to drop a different amount. So you have a differentnumber on each hand.”

Once again the performer tells her to go and she drops only one finger thistime. Which now leaves her with a 4 in her left hand.

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Performer: “Very good. Now, you remember me telling you how you we’resupposed to look through my perspective. Did you actually do that?”

The spectator will usually say yes that she tried.

Performer: “Well, looking from my perspective right now, you’ve veryclearly made the number 34. If you decided to drop one more or one less oneither hand we would have a completely different number. Now, do you wantto know the particularly freaky thing about the number you just chose?”

The spectator is of course very interested in why she chose the number 34.

Performer: “It’s particularly freaky that you picked the number 34, becausethat’s the number I was thinking of. Seriously, you’re amazing. Give yourselfa pat on the back. That’s one dollar well spent.”

The spectator clearly doesn’t believe you so you try to explain yourself.

Performer: “Okay, I can see that you are clearly upset by this. So, I’ll giveyou a refund.”

The performer now goes into his pocket and removes the bill the spectatorgave him in the very beginning.

Performer: “It’s really a shame that you don’t believe me. I really wasthinking of the number 34. What if I could prove it to you?”

The spectator once again becomes slightly interested.

Performer: “What if I told you that I didn’t actually think of number 34 bymyself. But, I actually read it off the bill that you gave me in the beginning.Open the bill and have a look at the first two digits of the serial number.”

The spectator now opens the bill and reads the first two digits aloud. 34.

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METHOD

So there you have it. The effect really is that clean in actual performance.I’m going to now take you through everything you’ll need to know to startperforming this immediately.

We’ll start with the selection of the number. This is something that I saw onBanachek’s PSI Series. On volume 2, he has an effect called Phone Psychs.In that effect he has a page selected using number elimination involving yourhands. Basically, the spectator would bring up any amount of fingers oneach hand and then they would open to that page number in a phone book.The only problem with this, was that at the end of the selection process youhad 15 different possible outcomes. For instance, if you held up 1 finger onyour left hand and 1 on your right hand, you would get the number 11. Ifyou held up 2 on each hand. You would get 22. 1 and 2 would make 12. 1and 3 would make 13. All the way up to 55. This once again, gives you 15outcomes altogether. They are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 33, 34, 35,44, 45, and 55. So, I took that concept and I slowly started to make it smaller.The first thing I did was this. Rather than having them hold up any amountof fingers. I would have them start out with both hands showing a 5. I wouldthen have them lower any amount of fingers on one hand. And the lower anyamount on the other. With this sort of setup, it automatically gets rid of anynumber with a 5 in it. So, your choices are now 11, 12, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24,33, 34, 44. Next thing I did was I got rid of the option of having bothnumbers being the same by saying, “Drop a DIFFERENT amount of fingerson the other hand.” So, that now gets rid of 11, 22, 33, and 44. Which leavesus with only 6 possible outcomes of 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, and 34.

Right now, you might be asking yourself “Well, what if they put up a 4 ontheir right hand and a 3 on their left hand? Wouldn’t that make it 43 insteadof 34?”

The correct answer would be yes. But, you are going to control the way thenumber is called. So, no matter what, when you see the numbers 3 and 4held up, it will ALWAYS be 34. This is something that I didn’t like from theoriginal concept. It just didn’t look right when the numbers were backwardsand he called them off in the opposite order to make them fit. Which is whyI created the “look through the other persons eyes” presentation. So, if the

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number happens to come out in the correct orientation. Figure 1. Then yousimply say “Ok, now I told you to look from my perspective. I can seeyou’ve decided on 23.” If it comes up in the opposite direction like Figure 2,then you say the following. “Ok, so looking at your hands right now. Whatis the number you see?” They will have the two on the left and the three onthe right. So they will say 23. So either way you get the number 23. So,you’re either calling it from your perspective. Or, they are calling it fromtheir perspective. Either way you always get one of the six possibleoutcomes.

So, that pretty much covers the number selection. Just a quick recap. Theystart out with their hands up in front of them with all 5 fingers up on eachhand. You have them drop a certain amount on one hand, then a differentamount on the other hand. This will always leave you in a position to geteither 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, or 34. You just have to look at their hands andfigure out which way the number needs to be called out.Now, that you know how to narrow down the selection to those 6 numbers.I’ll take you through how you make the numbers on the serial number matchthe bill that they give you. It is very simple. But, it will take a bit ofsearching. Basically you need to find 6 bills with serial numbers that startwith the numbers you need. So, you will need serial numbers that look likethis….

12XXXXXX13XXXXXX14XXXXXX23XXXXXX24XXXXXX34XXXXXX

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I perform in restaurants so it only took me a day to find all the bills that Ineeded. But, for regular hobbyists, or people who don’t perform inrestaurants it will be a bit harder to find all of them. I’ll provide an alternatehandling at the end so you won’t have to find them. I just think the serialnumber reveal is the most hard hitting.

So, now we will get into how you are switching in one of these pre-arrangedbills for the bill that the spectator gives you. The answer I came up with wasa pocket index. But, I use something that I’ve never seen another magicianuse. This pocket index will be made out of a pack of gum. Figure 3.

It’s important to get a pack that has at least 15 sticks like the one above.This will make finding the correct bill easier. Once you’ve gotten the pack,you’re going to remove the top and remove all the pieces of gum. Be sure toleave the white sleeves. You should end up with something like Figure 4.

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As you can see, those white sleeves that normally hold the gum in placenow act as a perfect impromptu pocket index. I will usually take a pair ofscissors and cut it at and angle to make finding the bill slightly easier.Figure 5.

I’ll now show you how to fold the bills. It is fairly simple. You’ll just holdthe bill with the face towards you. Figure 6. You will then fold the left sideover to the right side perfectly in half. You will then do it again. And again.Follow figures 7-9.

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You will fold all 6 bills in this manner. When they are folded you will addthem into the gum index. Figure 10.

Because there are 15 spaces, it allows you to put one bill in for every 3spots. This puts a small gap in between each bill which you can feel easilyfrom the side. I should also mention that bills have to be put in a memorizedorder. As you can see, my cut is on an incline. I put all the lower numberbills in the front. So it goes 12, then the second bill in is 13, and all the wayup to the top one which is 34. I can feel the orientation of the incline in mypocket and I know which bills to remove. It’s a fairly easy thing to count tothe correct bill in your pocket. Practice for a little while and you will get itdown perfect every time.

Now, that you know the basic workings, I’ll walk you through the entireroutine.

You will start out with the index setup in your right jacket or pants pocket.Left pocket if you’re left handed. You’ll start by getting a dollar from yourspectator. If they are reluctant to give you a dollar just assure them thatthey’ll get it back. Most of the time people don’t mind giving you a dollar.So, every time you perform this effect you’ll get a dollar unless they areadamant about not giving you their precious buck. So, the spectator handsyou the bill and you look over it really quickly. Just long enough so theyrealize that you are looking it over. When you are done you are going to foldit up the exact same way you have the bills in your index. Once its foldedplace it into the same pocket that holds the index. You are now going to askthem if they have ever had any experience with mind reading. You will thenwalk them through the “way” to do it mentioning how they are to lookthrough your eyes and all that. Have them hold up 5 fingers on each hand

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and then tell them to lower a certain amount of fingers on one hand, andthen lower a different amount of fingers on the other. We’ll say they lower 3fingers on their right hand and 4 fingers on their left hand. From yourperspective you will see the number 21. So, you would simply have themcall out the number they see. They will obviously see the number 12. Youwill have your hand in your pocket the entire time. As soon as you see thenumber 12. You can remove it from the index. I usually have it removedbefore I even ask them what number it is. Once they tell me I go into thelines about how its amazing because 12 was the number I was thinking of.They won’t believe you, so you offer them a refund. You take the bill out ofyour pocket and hand it to them. After a little build up you reveal thenumbers on the bill like in the presentation. At this point I will usually saysomething like… “So, I think you definitely got your dollars worth. I’ll takethat.” And just grab the dollar out of their hand and put it in my pocket. It’susually a funny moment and people don’t care at this point. Alternativelyyou could let them keep the dollar. But, you would just have to go back andfind another dollar which begins with the same two numbers that you justlost. Or, you could use one of the alternate handlings which don’t matter ifthe bills are given back at the end.

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ALTERNATE HANDLINGS

HANDLING ONE

Here are two different handlings that you can use with this effect. Instead ofusing the serial number I will sometimes carry a marker in my pocket. Whenthe bill is handed to me I will remove the sharpie and pretend to drawsomething on the face. Saying something to the likes of “If you ever get abill with a mustache on it, that was probably me.” This will usually get alaugh. I put the marker away and continue. Now, on the bills you have inyour index, rather then having the serial numbers match I have written thecorrect numbers in George Washington’s forehead. Figure 11.

So, on the first bill I’ve written 12. On the next, I’ve written 13. All the wayup to the last bill where I write 34 on his forehead. Now, at the end of theroutine when I hand the bill back rather then having them look at the serialnumber I say something like:

“Well, in any case your time wasn’tcompletely wasted. You remember when I drew something on the bill in thebeginning. That Matt Mello original will be worth a lot of money one day.Check it out.”

They open the bill and see that I’ve written the number they thought of onhis forehead. They can now keep the bill. All you have to do now is go intoa backroom and take out the original bill that they gave you. It will alreadybe folded up. All you have to do is unfold it and write in the number thatyou just lost. Place it back in the index and you’re good to go.

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HANDLING TWO

This is the handling that I think a lot of people will enjoy and probably usemore then the original routine. It doesn’t go into the whole “learn to be amind reader for a dollar” bit, but the routine is very fun and engaging foryour audience. It’s essentially a “drawing duplication/prediction” done withdollar bills.

You begin by asking this question. “Have you ever gotten a dollar bill andfound that old George had an unexpected mustache drawn on his face?”

Everyone will agree that they’ve had a bill like this and it will usually get alaugh because of how you word it. Once they say they have I usually say…“Yea that was me. I drew it. And I knew you would find it and make yourway to me eventually. But in all honestly I do usually doodle random thingson my bills.”

I now remove a bill from my pocket and show that it hasn’t been defacedyet. I now turn the bill towards myself and make a drawing. While this ishappening I ask a spectator to remove a dollar bill. When I am finished withmy drawing I place the bill back into my pocket. I now talk about my mostfamous pieces.

“I usually draw one of six things. Never a combination. It will either be amustache, a beard, a pair of sunglasses over his eyes, an eye patch over oneeye, a hat, or I’ll put a tie on him. So, with your bill I’d like you to chooseone of those 6 things. Only one. And then draw it on your bill.”

The spectator chooses to draw on an eye patch. You remove your bill fromyour pocket and show that you’ve also drawn an eye patch.

The method to this should be very simple. Basically I have 6 bills and eachone has a different drawing. So, one bill has a mustache drawn on, anotherhas a beard, and so on all the way up to the tie. I usually like to put them inorder of height on the head. So hat would go at the top. Then glasses (I drawthem on his forehead flipped up). Then eye patch. Then mustache. Thenbelow that is the beard. And finally below that is the tie. So you can see howthey go in order. So, put them into your index in that order and you are good

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to go. Throw an extra “normal” bill into your pocket as well. You willremove this from your pocket and show it to everyone. They will see thatnothing has been drawn on it yet. I now turn it to myself and pretend todraw something. I’m really just running my finger along the bill to makesounds. While I’m doing this I have the spectator remove a dollar. I fold mybill up and place it back into my pocket. I now walk them througheverything that they can draw. Hat, glasses, eye patch, mustache, beard, andtie. They draw whichever one they want. You simply watch as they draw it.When they are finished you go into your pocket and remove the appropriatebill from the index and your all set. When you’re done go in the back andput the bill back in.

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ADDITIONAL IDEAS • You could always find bills with the numbers you need that are anywherein the serial number. For instance if its, xxxxx12x. You could grab a penand just circle those two numbers. Do this to all the bills that you findthe numbers on. So, now you have a bunch of bills with the numbersprinted in the serial number, it just isn’t the first two numbers. But, it willmake finding the bills much easier. So, when they hand you their bill inthe very beginning, you would take out your pen and just make a fakecircle on their bill. Fold it and put it in your pocket. Then simply removethe needed bill after you’ve learned the number. • Another thing is more of a presentation idea. Rather then facing thespectator when they are doing the number selection, face your back to them.This way it looks even more like you couldn’t have influenced theirchoice. You simply turn away and have them hold both their hands up.Tell them to lower any amount of fingers on their left hand. Ask themwhen they are finished. Say “There’s no way I could know how manyfingers you’ve dropped yes?” You will automatically get a yes. You thentell them to drop a different amount of fingers on the other hand. They dothis. You now turn around and go into the same thing of either calling it“from your perspective” or simply having the spectator call out thenumber they see. Once again, the only choices will be 12, 13, 14, 23, 24,34.

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CREDITS

As previously mentioned, Banachek’s number concept from PSI Series was abig influence on the number process that I use. I just took what he started andslowly whittled out some of the numbers to take it from a possible 15outcomes down to only 6.

I’ve never seen anyone use a pack of gum as a pocket index. So as far as Iknow that idea is original to me. Alternatively, you could use this idea foranything. You don’t have to use it for bills. You could just as easily use it asa billet index. You could load in more with billets as they would be thinnerand take up less room in the index. Just different things to think about.

As for the actual routine, Derren’s “Learn to be a mind reader” bit was a bigstep in creating this effect. It was basically created on what I thought Derrenwas going to do.

I haven’t seen an effect like this released before. There have been plenty ofserial number revelations and predictions, but I’ve never seen a spectatorguess it.

If there is anyone that I am forgetting please feel free to contact me atmtricks16@aol.com with any additional information.

Matt Mello