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Dr. Matt Pritchard - Designing Deceptions
South London Magic Society
Tuesday 3rd October 2023
Reviewed by Simon Rosselli
On
Tuesday 3rd October we had something very different with Dr. Matt Pritchard giving
us a lecture on Designing Deceptions and his illusions and how he comes up with
them, his methods and the thinking behind them, but also trying to always improve
them. During the talk we deconstructed the development process of creating new
illusions, charted the journey from first inspiration, through practical
hurdles, to the final design and public impact. He also explained how optical
principles, smart materials, and even typographical word play can be exploited
in magic effects.
Matt would show a video on a screen and then ask us to work out how it was done
– 99% of the time we were wrong but it was very engaging and thought provoking.
We had a car go through a brick wall, words changing when viewed from different
angles, appearing elephants, mirror or no-mirror images. We had fun with a
matchbox which everyone liked and will be using in the future and then we
finished up with a number of teleportations. Some really interesting ideas and
thoughts/process to get from A to B, but also a good lesson in not being happy
with what you have, but trying to improve it and make it better.
Would thoroughly recommend and totally different to anything else we’ve had.
© Simon Rosselli, October 2023