HUMINT Instructions eBook

HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITHThank you for buying HUMINT. The HUMINT coin is a fun, versatile and stylish prop that adds an extra logical punch to truth and lie routines. Included with the prop is a small bundle of the cards I use for my The Biz peek method - this is a little practice set, I recommend using your own business cards. Featured here is my presentation, I’m sure you will find your own. EFFECT: “In my quest to learn as many ways as possible to work out what people are thinking I started studying interrogation methods.” “Not waterboarding or any of the nasty stuff, the methods that the military, police and intelligence services use that actually work. I actually met and worked a little bit with a guy who used to be a professional interrogator, and he explained that the trick is just getting people talking. They have this suite of ways to win people over, psychological tactics, and they just get them talking around the subject. Now, some of what they say will be true, some of it lies, and they have to be able to work out which is which and then combine all this varied information to find a core of truth. It’s actually an incredibly specific skill set and the people who can do it have quite a tight knit community. I never broke in, but he did give me this…” You produce a coin, which on one side bears the legend TELL A LIE, and on the other side says TELL THE TRUTH. “This is part training exercise, part pub game played for pints, and we’re going to play it now. Let’s pretend you are the subject of the interrogation. I want you to think of an object, it could be any object in the world, something small like the crown jewels, something big like, I don’t know, Tokyo. It could be Mount Rushmore, it could be an F1 car, it could be the Pope’s hat. The only condition is that it needs to be something where 1 I’m going to play a kind of 20 questions. you tell me a lie. you flip the coin and if it says tell the truth. then flip the coin: could you hug it?” They flip the coin. if it says tell a lie. 2 . Next question. so nothing impossibly obscure. Tough one. but good try. So. It is larger than a cow.HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH when you say what it is. you say the real answer. I’ve got to work out what’s a lie. “Yes.” “OK. and what’s true. but do you have something in mind? Great.” “Weird. you write another tally mark. and hopefully synthesise the central truth.” As they flip the coin you slide out a blank card from the stack and put the rest in your pocket. once you have the answer in mind. “OK take the coin. remember think of the answer. “No.” you had them a business card from a pile of cards wrapped with a band and a pen. so the first one is a gimme. so to keep it fair. you aren’t used to lying like this so the first one is always glaringly obvious. and you place the face down card into the centre of the stack of cards and (cleanly showing both sides) table the stack. and work out what you are thinking of. then flip the coin.” This they do. Here’s the first question… This object: is it larger than a cow? Think of the answer. so it’s bigger than a cow and you can hug it. except after every question. Here’s how this works. “I’ll look away and when you are done turn it face down so I can’t look.” “Now. so that one is true. I want you to write down what you are thinking of on here. everyone here knows what it is. the outcome of this game could determine either the fate of the free world. “Question one: Is it larger than a cow?” They think for a second. or who buys the next round. You put a tally mark on the card. Don’t tell me what it is. depending on the situation. “And that’s how you save the free world. “You know. the truth this time. 3 .HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH next question. and win a pint. That was question number three. remember think of the real answer then flip the coin. “OK.” You pick up the tabled card and show that that is exactly what you wrote.” You draw the third tally mark then cover the card and write something on it. what was the object you were thinking of?” “A giant redwood. “Fish and chips.” You look them dead in the eyes for an uncomfortably long period. What did you have for tea yesterday?” They flip the coin. there’s actually a lot more going on in this interrogation than I’ve lead you to believe.” you nod. before turning it over and sitting back. This done you IMMEDIATELY turn the pile over (so that within the stack the writing is now facing up and is on the card second from the top) and put it on the table.HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH METHOD: The method here is my (ingenious) The Biz peek. This isn’t a sleight or anything. My goal with The Biz is to leave it as late as possible in the process to do the peek. Here’s how it works. As you are turned away you hold the pile of cards and prepare them in a specific way: at the end nearest to you you get a break above the bottom card. see?) Thanks Dr Jon!) The actual peek of course DOES happen. This is beguiling (and messes with magicians) because if anyone suspects a peek you are making it super clear that one is not being done. a really flexible utility method for learning what someone is thinking. One of these is handed to the punter to write or draw on. but not now. You remove all heat from the stack. you are literally facing away so you just set it up and visually check it is all OK. and to find a spot with the maximum visual misdirection. In this case that is provided by the first time they flip the coin. Everyone will want to watch that and of course the punter in question will be looking carefully to make sure they don’t spoon it up. without saying. Your left hand comes 4 . You are. You have a dozen or so cards in a pile with an elastic hair band around them. As they do this you casually pick up the tabled pile of cards in the right hand and tilt it towards yourself. You turn back and pick up their face down card. (This insertion 2nd from the bottom with a gap held in front to visually imply where the card is really going is kind of an upside-down version of a variation of Marlo’s Tilt Move by my spooky-eyed buddy Dr. showing both sides. but the visual illusion (and what you say) is that it is going into the middle. You slide this into the break you are holding at the back of the stack. Jon that he called Zilt (like a Z Tilt. and you turn away. It’s a very strong illusion. At the far end you open the stack in the middle and hold it open with your thumb and first finger. 5 . so it is natural to look at it. the card facing you now has the writing on it. any pocket is fine. You table the single card you just drew out as you simultaneously peek the writing and pocket the stack in either your shirt pocket or your inside jacket pocket or your outside breast pocket. but to preclude suspicion of any cards-moving-around shenanigans. but ideally you want it out of their view so there is no reminder of it. or even place it in your tabled wallet etc. and because of the structure of what’s happened it is almost completely invisible. draw the eye of anyone watching you and b. even if you want to drop it in your purse or handbag. The band around the cards is intended not only to keep everything compact and manageable. you have got your full card peek. it is gimmickless and sleightless and yet still extremely deceptive. Using the inverted Zilt move means that the card is placed automatically and by building your presentation around structural misdirection you apply a powerful coating of stealth to the peek. Even tabling the stack again is fine if you can manage the grabbers in your audience. I love The Biz. clearly visible. immediately turning this card around to a. and I’m sure you can find something similar through your own local Amazon service.HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH across and you slide the top card out as both hands are moving. Where to get the cards from? I buy the blank cards you got in the pack from this site: http://amzn.eu/dchkgIj This is an Amazon UK link. but realistically. That’s essentially it. With this card removed. Basically this left chest area is ideal because it means the stack has to cross your centreline and hence your gaze. Clearly you can’t cut or move the cards within the packet. which I think people somehow suspect. it’s not an affiliate link. or your shoulder holster or whatever. show that it isn’t the written on card. not something I sell. My original routine essentially played the game for real. because there is no easy way to spin the coin to convincingly show the other side does come up sometimes .HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH PRESENTATION: What I’ve shown above is a more commercial version of the routine with the three comical questions. and I used the questions to communicate my journey through the logic of the game to their answer. “Oh that? Actually there’s a funny story to that. I got an email from someone who had seen me perform my mind-reading stuff and wanted to know more . but of limited use as a method because any routine which hinges on this as a method becomes very fragile. This is cool. but he was an interrogator for military intelligence and he suggested that if I told him a bit about what I do. Its existence logically leads to the routine . above everything. THE COIN: My goal in designing the coin was. I generally reserve that presentation for more informal times when I think people really want to play. the coin has a secret that is not used in the routine I generally perform. they will pick it up. he’d tell me a bit about what he does…” Now.now normally I wouldn’t get drawn into that. jazzy in it’s flow. intriguing object. If you spin the coin. which sucks because it does. and it *feels* real. It can be fun at a party to play in parallel with a conversation. It is loose. If I am performing in a commercial situation I would be more likely to blow through the three question version.if you hand the coin to someone or show it to them. to create an interesting.the audience’s assumption will be that the coin always lands on LIE. but of course it also takes a while. 6 . it will always spin down with the LIE side facing up. ask about it. and you have a natural way to flow into the presentation. You will doubtless find your own. but gets to the meat a bit faster. www. The design is kind of intended as a Challenge Coin for an un-named military intelligence unit (Google ‘challenge coin’ if you want more details to flesh out your presentation).miscellaneousmiracles.co. but it isn’t explicitly that. Good luck putting it to work. but IMO it is still a fragile method. however you end up using it. Being quite a conversational performer I like to have a presentation which details the origin of the coin. and the Interrogation presentation is a nice organic way of doing that. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. you could just introduce it as part of a game you play to help learn to spot when someone is lying.uk 7 . and thanks again for supporting the project.NET Copyright © 2017 by Phill Smith All rights reserved. If you prefer a more pared-down presentation.HUMINT INSTRUCTIONS :: PHILL SMITH In cabaret situations you can demonstrate the spin and then miscall the result. This skips some of the mythology of the object. I hope you have fun with the coin. 2017 INFO@SUSHIDESIGN. In my opinion the coin is best used as a presentational gambit rather than a methodological core. ie. Phill Smith PHILL SMITH. to answer the question of wtf it actually *is*. I’ve been pleased with the manufacture and I think that if nothing else it’s ended up as an intriguing little object.